Analysis Of The Themes In Jack London’s Short Stories: Law Of Life, Amateur Night, And The Leopard Man’s Story

Jack London is credited for creating themes of the brutality and fragility of life in his short stories. Readers of London’s stories are often intrigued by the adventurous and grappling nature of his stories’ characters. In an effort to depict a man’s resiliency and limitations, Jack London relies heavily on “man versus nature” and “man versus self”.

In Jack London’s short story “Law of Life,” he depicts his classic theme of man versus nature as the protagonist faces the predictable brutality that nature brings upon his old age. London understood that the emotional appeal of man versus nature significantly contributed to his literary pieces. Critic Servanne Woodward recognizes London’s use of this theme as he states, “this brutality with which London appears to be unable to come to terms, originates in nature, eventually depicted as amoral, arbitrary, uncontrollable, and unpredictable--except in its destructive violence”. London demonstrates the adaptability man must develop against nature in his short story “The Law of Life”. Moreover, the personification of nature London uses in this story helps to appeal to the reader’s emotions. This specific use of personification is effectively demonstrated in the story as London writes, “It was the law of all flesh, Nature was not kindly to the flesh, she had no concern for that concrete thing called the individual”. Stylistically, London’s use of personifying nature communicates to readers the vulnerabilities that man has to nature. Furthermore, London often uses the suffering of man against nature to demonstrate humankind’s limitations against a stronger force. This is also shown in “The Law of Life” as London writes, “It alone stood between him and what lay beyond the death that opened before him...the measure of his life was a handful of sticks...only by one they would go to feed the fire, and just so, step by step, death would come closer to him”. London’s use of metaphors illustrate the fragility of his character’s life. Xiu Zeng notes in her critical essay of London’s use of naturalism that he, “makes use of naturalistic writing techniques to interpret the reality of American society and convinces us that man has been predetermined in birth and thus has little control over his own fate”. London uses this naturalist writing technique in his short story, “Amateur Night”. As the protagonist in this story strives to make herself a well-known journalist, she is described as having a, “robustness in her carriage which came of the soil rather than of the city pavement...that told of a hereditary of seekers and fighters, and that molded her to be a doer of things”. London is intentional in portraying the difficulty of climbing the social ladder in the 1800’s. For example, London also writes of his aspiring character that, “the city seemed crowded with inexperienced stenographers and typewriters, and she had nothing but her own inexperience to offer”. London realizes the harsh realities of American society at the time he wrote “Amateur Night” and effectively portrays the theme of man versus nature. The man versus nature theme in this story specifically refers to the struggle of being born into a low social class and the limitations it puts on the protagonist. Additionally, critic Xiu Zeng also comments that London uses the fragility of humans against nature to demonstrate that, “the ones most responsive to changes will thrive in nature and they must adapt themselves to the environment for survival”. London introduces a bit of a survival of the fittest theme into his short story, “The Leopard Man’s Story”, which relates to his overall theme of man versus nature. In this short story, London portrays the tragic and accidental death of the protagonist at the hand of nature. London demonstrates once more how human kind is prey to nature’s will as he writes, “and that was the end of King Wallace...Old Lion Augustus never meant to chomp down, he only sneezed”. Moreover, London incorporates the idea that nature does not inflict death on purpose, it is just simply the cycle of life. London shows how the protagonist’s death in this short story was caused by nature due to the survival of the fittest. Throughout these three stories, London effectively expresses how mankind is at the brutal will of nature.

In Jack London’s short story, “The Law of Life”, he depicts the theme of “man versus self” as the protagonist faces the harsh reality of accepting his death. London understood the internal struggle that exists between man and himself well and expressed it in numerous of his short stories. Critic Robbins recognizes how London uses the story’s theme of man versus self to “speak of man’s need to find meaning in the sufferings of his solitary existence in an environment which is both hostile and indifferent to his sufferings”. London demonstrates how his character falls victim to his internal struggles in his short story “The Law of Life” when he writes, “why should he so desire life? He asked himself and dropped his head hopelessly on his knees, what did it matter?”. Furthermore, London realizes how a man must fight his own mind to find meaning in his suffering. London shows how the protagonist must battle his inner thoughts and emotions that cause him to ultimately give up when he writes, “and he was very close to death now, the thought frightened the old man for the moment”. In an emotional sense, London realized the theme of “man versus self” is a common theme that resonates with all men. Additionally, critic Zeng notes that, “Jack London demonstrates the power of heredity and environment in determining and shaping one's mind and behaviors”. London not only uses the struggles of “man versus self”, but also portrays how man can easily be swayed against himself depending on his environment. In London’s short story, “Amateur Night”, he tells the story of an upcoming journalist who is struggling to overcome the difficulties she faces in her new environment. She struggles internally to defeat a hostile environment as “she felt her journalistic ambition departing from her, and was aware of an overmastering desire to be somewhere else”.

London depicts how her struggle is one of ambition and confidence against fear and rejection. Additionally, London illustrates how his character inwardly struggles with her own self-control, a common struggle of mankind. Readers are shown the character’s inner battle, “as her Scotch blood went cold and angry”. London’s stories that contain a man versus self-theme prove that humans become determined and gain resiliency when in the midst of something difficult. London is intentional to write about the fragility of the human race contesting with inner desires and emotions. Upton Sinclair, a former friend of London and critic, stated that London, “wrote about tremendous battles in his character’s souls — battles fought in spite of their own philosophy”. In Jack London’s short story, “The Leopard Man’s Story”, he demonstrates once more the theme of man versus self in a new light. The antagonist of the story struggles internally with hatred and revenge that he feels towards the protagonist. London writes how the antagonist is battling internally with the idea of revenge and whether it is moral to kill the man he despises. The narrator watching this antagonist struggle states, “the look troubled me at the time, for not only did I see hatred in it, but I saw triumph as well”. London shows readers how a man struggling with his own moral philosophy, is a cause for disaster. The narrator can clearly see how greatly the antagonist is struggling to contain the battle of revenge in his soul as he observes, “I made the mistake of looking over at De Ville whom I noticed staring at Wallace with undisguised hatred”. Throughout these three stories, Jack London effectively uses the theme of man versus self to appeal to readers and demonstrate the fragility of man.

Jack London appreciated and valued both the fragility and brutality of life, and wrote about both in such a way that gives readers a deeper insight to his understanding of the world. He lures readers in with stories of adventure, death, life, and revenge. Using themes of man versus nature and man versus self, London presents both a man’s determination and breaking point in life.

Works Cited 

• London, Jack. “The Law of Life.” Short Stories and Classic Literature, American Literature, americanliterature.com/author/jack-london/short-story/the-law-of-life. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• McEwen, Fred. 'Jack London: Overview.' Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, edited by Laura Standley Berger, St. James Press, 1994. Twentieth-Century Writers Series. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/ H1420005058/LitRC?u=wat23456&sid=LitRC&xid=a729a70c. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• Paul, Ronald. 'Beyond the abyss: Jack London and the working class.' Nordic Journal of English Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 2010, p. 25+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https:// link.gale.com/apps/doc/A351949139/LitRC?u=wat23456&sid=LitRC&xid=45a6b618. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.
• Projects, Contributors to Wikimedia. “Short Story.” Wikisource, the Free Online Library, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 16 Apr. 2012, en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Amateur_Night. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• Projects, Contributors to Wikimedia. “The Leopard Man's Story.” Wikisource, the Free Online Library, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 16 Apr. 2012, en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/ The_Leopard_Man%27s_Story. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• Robbins, Richard. “The Existential Theme in Jack London's ‘To Build A Fire.’” The Existential Theme in Jack London's 'To Build A Fire', www.lonestar.edu/tobuildafire.htm. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• Sinclair, Upton. 'About Jack London.' Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Dennis Poupard, vol. 9, Gale, 1983. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/ doc/H1420016051/LitRC?u=wat23456&sid=LitRC&xid=4d113766. Accessed 5 Mar. 2020. Originally published in The Masses, vol. 10, no. 1 & 2, Nov.-Dec. 1917, pp. 17-20.
• Woodward, Servanne. “The Nature of the Beast in Jack London's Fiction.” Bestia, edited by Tom Burns, vol. 1, May 1989, pp. 61–66. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/ apps/doc/H1420066682/LitRC?u=wat23456&sid=LitRC&xid=a79fd240. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.
• Zeng, Xiu. 'On the Reflection of Naturalism in the Main Character in The Call of the Wild.' Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 8, no. 11, 2018, p. 1530+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A566681526/LitRC? u=wat23456&sid=LitRC&xid=f211d88c. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.