Glazebrook 1

Grant M. Glazebrook

Mr. Kahl

American Lit Honors

16 February 2007

According to Author Jack London, What is the Significance

of the Role that Love Plays in Everyday Life?

Love. It’s a short, simple word, but is also one of the most important and complicated

words in the English language. According to the Bible, God is love. According to a famous

proverb, love makes the world go round. According to the Beatles, “All You Need is Love”.

Even the wealthiest and most popular American author of the early twentieth century, Jack

London, was not immune to the power of love. London (1876-1916) was an American literary

naturalist and the most successful American author of his time. An avid reader since childhood,

he realized at an early age that making a living using his brain instead of his back was his best

chance to elevate himself socially and to avoid the back breaking labor of the working class to

which he was born. As an adult, he disciplined himself to rise early every morning and write a

minimum 1500 words, no matter what. To learn more about writing and to improve his skills, he

spent hours each day at the public library, reading literary magazines and carefully

deconstructing and critiquing the stories. In the evenings, he studied the works of the most

important and influential scientists and philosophers of his time, including Darwin, Spencer,

Marx and Nietzsche, and often incorporated their theories and philosophies into his work

(Schroeder 68-69). As a result of his personal adventures on a sealing schooner and later in the

Klondike and as a result of his studies, many of London’s works dealt with man’s struggle

against the environment and with the concept of survival of the fittest. In addition to the

sophisticated underlying themes in his novels, though, London couldn’t help but include the

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universal theme of love. He saw love as a force of nature that rivaled the harsh cold of the

Klondike or the untamable winds and waves of the open sea. Three of Jack London’s most

important works, The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf share a common theme

about the power of love, and in them London asserts that pure love, with its unrivaled ability to

change, sustain and enhance life, is the most important and powerful force in life.

In each of his three novels, The Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea-Wolf, London

demonstrates that the power of love is unparalleled in its ability to rehabilitate, reform and

transform lives, and by extension the world, no matter how bad things have become. For

example, in The Call of the Wild, after unrelenting, violent abuse and hardship turn a naïve St.

Bernard-Scotch shepherd mix named Buck into a wild, primitive beast, the love and devotion of

a man named John Thornton miraculously transforms Buck back into a gentle, domesticated pet.

When Buck suddenly gets kidnapped and thrust into the primeval world of sled dogs in the

frozen North, it only takes a few days of torment and abuse for him to shift into survival mode

and morph into a savage beast. “His eyes turned bloodshot and he was metamorphosed into a

raging fiend. So changed was he that the Judge himself would not have recognized him”

(London, Call 17). In order to survive, Buck taps into the instincts of his wolf ancestors that are

buried deep within him and becomes a supreme example of “survival of the fittest”. Jim

Thornton, the “ideal master”, rescues Buck when he is at the brink of death and gives him the

gift of pure, unconditional love, which Buck has never before experienced. “But love that was

feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to

arouse” (London, Call 86). The effect of the love is so powerful and compelling that Buck

becomes tame again and is ecstatic in his loving relationship with Thornton and his dogs. “Love,

genuine, passionate love, was his for the first time” (London, Call 86). Thornton’s two dogs, an

Irish setter named Skeet and a bloodhound-deerhound mix named Nig, are very caring and

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friendly, readily accept Buck, and help care for and play with him. Their behavior completely

contrasts with Buck’s experiences with most other animals in the Klondike, where animals

routinely compete in a kill or be killed, eat or be eaten world.

Through this story, London is suggesting that savage, violent behavior in people is not

necessarily a permanent condition and can be reversed with love and the right circumstances.

London brings the three dogs of different breeds together here to further make a point about the

transforming power of love. It is significant that the dog group includes a purebred and mixed

breeds because it is representative of people in the real world; some are purebreds and many, if

not most, are mixed breeds, not only in terms of race, but also culture and creed among other

things. The unreserved acceptance and support Thornton’s two dogs give the new dog, Buck,

along with the unconditional love they lavish upon him and their inclusion of him in activities,

hastens Buck’s convalescence and begins his positive transformation. Surely people of different

classes, races and religions in society and the world are capable of as much of these dogs, if not

more, instead of automatically perpetuating old behaviors and stereotypes and jumping to rash

assumptions and reactions like the more primitive animals in the wild.

Likewise, in White Fang, London tells the story of a wild wolf cub named White Fang

who is captured and transformed by abuse and a hostile environment into “the most fearful of

wild beasts”, only later to be rescued and rehabilitated by love. Under the abusive hand of his

cruelest owner, Beauty Smith, “He now became the enemy of all things and more ferocious than

ever” (London, White 156). After rescuing White Fang from certain death, Weedon Scott and his

assistant, Matt, are alarmed by his viciousness and, doubting the ability of a wild animal to

change, conclude he is unsalvageable and should be killed. After careful consideration, they

decide that White Fang deserves a second chance because he is “too intelligent to kill” and

because the viciousness, which stems from a past filled with abuse and hardship, is not his fault.

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“He’s got intelligence, and we’ve got to give that intelligence a chance” (London, White 178).

Scott is gentle, patient, kind and gives White Fang the only pure love he has ever known. “He

talked softly and soothingly, with a gentleness that somehow, somewhere touched White Fang”

(London, White 180). Scott’s persistence, along with frequent encouragement and petting helps

White Fang develop feelings of affection, which gradually grow into feelings of love. “This was

a god indeed, a love god, a warm radiant god, in whose light White Fang’s nature expanded as a

flower expands under the sun” (London, White 188). The absolute bliss that White Fang

experiences in his loving relationship with Scott empowers him to suppress his primitive, wild

instincts and live a fulfilling life as Scott’s ultimate faithful and loving best friend. This

viewpoint is shared by Vil Bykov, a Jack London scholar, in his work entitled In the Steps of

Jack London when he writes, “London led White Fang through the angry world of Beauty Smith,

who fueled in him fierce animosity toward every living thing. Later in the story, London showed

the taming of the little wolf, thus emphasizing the victory of omnipotent love and care.”

London uses this story as a way of demonstrating that people and society are often too

quick to pass judgment, jump to conclusions, embrace stereotypes and give harsh, undeserved

reactions or punishments before stepping back to evaluate the situation, take into account a

history of abuse or hardship, and determine the true intention of actions. London is leading the

reader to conclude that if a dog is too intelligent to kill, certainly humans deserve the same, if not

more, consideration. He uses the animals in this story to impart his belief that given enough love

and the right circumstances, even the worst humans have the potential for rehabilitation and

healthy, loving relationships. Candyce Norvell further supports this notion in her “Critical Essay

on White Fang” when she states, “White Fang is rehabilitated by love, which suggests that

Beauty might be, too, given the opportunity. Beauty is three-dimensional because behind the

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length and breadth of his evil lies the same potential that lies within all creatures: the potential to

be improved by improved circumstances.”

Along these same lines, in The Sea-Wolf, Humphrey (Hump) Van Weyden’s love for

Maud Brewster is powerful enough to neutralize all the hatred and bitterness in his heart and to

erase his desire for retaliation against Wolf Larsen, the savage, abusive ship captain whose name

is no coincidence. Before Maud joins the ship, Hump views Wolf as little more than an

uncivilized beast who deserves to die and often contemplates killing him. Maud’s presence

changes Hump’s focus and brings out the best in him, his honorable, civilized side. His

perspective and outlook on life completely changes from negative to positive. After Wolf

purposely and viciously destroys Hump’s difficult and time-consuming ship repairs that would

have enabled them to escape the deserted island, love helps Hump cope with the trauma and

remain calm and keep perspective instead of flying into the violent rage he is entitled to. “The

blessed woman was an unfailing fount of power to me. What did it matter? Only a setback, a

delay” (London, Sea-Wolf 256). He even manages to see the bright side and is philosophical that

things could be worse. “He might have waited and destroyed our work more effectively when we

had more accomplished” (London, Sea-Wolf 256). Hump has multiple chances to kill Wolf, who

more than deserves it, but the joy and fulfillment he gets from love restores his humanity and

refocuses his priorities on love and life instead of hate and revenge. “And as I looked into

Maud’s clear brown eyes, I forgot the evil he had done, and I knew only that I loved her and that

because of her the strength was mine to win our way back to the world” (London, Sea-Wolf 257).

London uses this story to again illustrate the redemptive power of love. Love has the

power to heal wounds and allow goodness to triumph over evil. Before Maud’s arrival, Hump is

becoming progressively more and more violent and calloused as a result of his confinement and

continued exposure to Wolf’s violent world. The experience of love snaps him out of it and

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causes him to regain a healthy perspective. It is the ultimate reality check. Hump’s heart is

transformed and because he now looks through loving eyes, he respects and sees value in all life,

in spite of the fact his life remains so callously disrespected.

Ironically, the indomitable Wolf, the living embodiment of all that is wild and hostile in

the world, is suddenly stricken ill and near death. Hump and Maud would be justified in taking

advantage of the sudden shift in power to abandon or kill Wolf, but instead take the high rode

and personally care for him. Their love for each other sensitizes them to the value of life, even if

it is destructive and evil. Their unending patience and kindness reflects their belief in Wolf’s

potential for redemption and their unwillingness to give up on that possibility. Unfortunately,

Wolf remains obstinate, keeps his defenses up and is unwilling or unable to respond to their

compassion. This is his problem, though, not Hump and Maud’s. London wants us to know it is

important to be persistent and keep trying in situations with difficult people because all life has

value and everyone has within him the potential for rehabilitation and a meaningful, productive

life if given a chance, especially in the presence of love and support. This same notion is

expressed in Vil Bykov’s In the Steps of Jack London when he discusses the potential for

redemption by the evil, beastly Beauty Smith, a character very similar to Wolf: “In London’s

view, high humanity and human intellect, and not violence were able to work miracles, to

conquer even a wolf. A person like Smith, uninspired by love, loses the ability to be human.

Such a human being becomes more like a beast, but even more disgusting.” Unfortunately, Smith

shares the same fate as Wolf and dies with his vicious, savage nature intact.

A second common denominator between the three novels is London’s recurrent message

that no matter how big the challenge, love has the power to sustain, strengthen and inspire. In

The Call of the Wild, Buck’s utter devotion for Thornton inspires him and gives him the strength

to perform unbelievable feats in the name of love. “Nothing was too great for Buck to do, when

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Thornton commanded” (London, Call 89-90). For example, while Thornton and his partners are

sitting at the edge of a three hundred foot cliff, Thornton suddenly decides to test Buck’s

devotion and tells him to jump. Thornton is barely fast enough to save his dedicated dog from

going over the edge to his death. “The next instant he was grappling with Buck on the extreme

edge, while Hans and Pet were dragging them back to safety” (London, Call 90). Along the same

lines, Buck risks his own life and heroically saves Thornton’s life on two separate occasions.

When a man punches Thornton in a bar fight, Buck defends his master by attacking the man and

ripping his throat open. Buck nearly dies in an effort to save Thornton from being swept

downstream and drowned in the wild rapids but refuses to give up until he succeeds. In yet

another instance, love is a source of inspiration that gives Buck the impossible strength he needs

to pull a frozen, thousand pound sled for one hundred yards to win a bet for his master. When

Thornton whispers the words “As you love me Buck” into Buck’s ear just before the race, “Buck

whined with suppressed eagerness” (London, Call 98).

An additional effect of the power of the love that Buck feels is that it inspires him to stay

with Thornton of his own free will. Buck’s love for Thornton overrides the strong, persistent

“call of the wild”, so even though he is free to come and go at will, Buck always returns to

Thornton after a visit to the forest. “John Thornton was eating dinner when Buck dashed into

camp and sprang upon him in a frenzy of affection, overturning him, scrambling upon him,

licking his face, biting his hand—‘playing the general tom-fool,’ as John Thornton characterized

it, the while he shook Buck back and forth and cursed him lovingly” (London, Call 113).

Similarly, in White Fang, the power of love inspires, sustains and strengthens White Fang

in his struggles to adapt to domestic life at Scott’s country home in California. White Fang must

continuously struggle against his natural instincts in order to civilize himself and behave

appropriately on the ranch, so he can stay with Scott. In the name of love, he struggles as he

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learns that domestic animals are off limits, but wild animals are OK to chase and as he

overcomes his dislike of children and fear of their hands. “Life flowed past him, deep and wide,

continually impinging upon his senses, demanding of him instant and endless adjustments and

correspondences, and compelling him, almost always, to suppress his natural impulses” (London,

White 217). When Scott falls off his horse and breaks his leg, White Fang is reluctant to leave his

side. He draws strength and inspiration from his love for his master in order to leave him and

return to the ranch house where he persists and struggles to communicate the need for help. “For

the second and last time in his life he had barked and make himself understood” (London, White

225). In the climax of the story, when an escaped convict breaks into the house to murder Scott’s

father, White Fang’s devotion gives him the inspiration and strength he needs to attack and kill

the vicious intruder while almost sacrificing his own life.

Comparably, in The Sea-Wolf, Hump is literally physically and mentally inspired,

sustained and strengthened by his love for Maud. As Hump and Maud walk through a herd of

seals, it is very dangerous and they are both terrified, but suddenly Hump finds the strength and

inspiration to complete the task at hand. He performs superhuman feats in killing several seals

for food and skins. “She leaned against me, so light and lily-frail, and as her trembling eased

away I felt myself a match for the most ferocious bull in the herd, and I know, had such a bull

charged me, that I should have met it unflinchingly and quite coolly, and I know that I should

have killed it” (London, Sea-Wolf 228). Facing the hopeless task of making major ship repairs by

himself, a job that normally requires several men, and without the proper tools, knowledge or

experience, Hump is inspired to do the impossible. He single-handedly repairs the damaged

schooner so they can escape the deserted island. “She had such faith in me! And the thought of it

was so much added power. I remembered Michelet’s ‘To man, woman is as the earth was to her

legendary son; he has but to fall down, and kiss her breast and he is strong again.’ For the first

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time I knew the wonderful truth of his words. Why, I was living them. Maud was all this to me,

an unfailing source of strength and courage. I had but to look at her, or think or her, and be

strong again” (London, Sea-Wolf 246).

Hump and Maud’s love for each other inspires them and fills them with unthinkable

compassion and sustains them with patience to care for their worst enemy, Wolf, even though he

is ungrateful and continues to torment them. Hump and Maud feel sorry for Wolf as he

physically deteriorates and treat him with dignity and respect right up until the time he dies. “She

was divinely altruistic, and she was a woman. Besides, I was myself aware of hurt at thought of

this man whom I had tried to kill dying alone with his fellow creatures so near” (London, Sea-

Wolf 242). They feed Wolf and care for him continuously and make extraordinary efforts to

continue communicating with him as his physical condition deteriorates. In spite of the fact Wolf

remains unreceptive to their kindness, Hump and Maud go to the trouble to give Wolf a dignified

funeral and a burial at sea out of a sign of respect for his strength and spirit and because they

believed that he deserved it as a fellow human being. “But the spirit of something I had seen

before was strong upon me, impelling me to give service to Wolf Larsen as Wolf Larsen had

once given service to another man” (London, Sea-Wolf 283).

The example set by Hump and Maud is London’s way of telling us that hateful

retribution is not the answer to hateful acts. The vicious cycle of hate and violence needs to be

broken with love, compassion and caring. No one, no matter how bad, is unworthy of the effort.

Finally, a third important message about love in all three of London’s novels is that

personally experiencing the essence of true love, even for a short time, is the ultimate, most

gratifying experience in life. In The Call of the Wild, Buck starts out with what appears to be the

perfect life with people who care about him, but it pales in comparison to the ecstasy he later

experiences in his relationship with Thornton. Buck lives on Judge Miller’s huge ranch in

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California, where “the whole ream was his” and he has a carefree, easy life with no stress. “…

For he was king—king over all the creeping, crawling, flying things of Judge Miller’s place,

humans included” (London, Call 10). During the day he swims with the Judge’s sons, strolls

with his daughters, romps with his grandsons, and on cold, winter nights lies at the Judge’s feet

in front of the fireplace. “During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a

sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was ever a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen

sometimes became because of their insular situation” (London, Call 10). After meeting

Thornton, Buck realizes that his relationships at the ranch were actually superficial and consisted

of a “working partnership” with the son, a “pompous guardianship” with the grandsons, and a

“stately and dignified friendship” with the Judge. “But love that was feverish and burning, that

was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse” (London, Call 86).

Similarly, in White Fang, the love and devotion White Fang feels for Scott is deeper and

more gratifying than he can express. When White Fang is separated from Scott, he becomes

physically ill, can’t eat, and loses the will to live. “White Fang had ceased eating, lost heart, and

allowed every dog of the team to thrash him. In the cabin he lay on the floor near the stove,

without interest in food, in Matt, nor in life” (London, White Fang 190). He only snuggles with

this master and saves his growling “love-croon” just for him. “This expression of abandon and

surrender, of absolute trust, he reserved for the master alone” (London, White Fang 212). A cuff

from the master is too light to cause physical pain, but is mentally far more painful than the

worst beatings he received from Beauty. “It was an expression of the master’s disapproval, and

White Fang’s spirit wilted under it” (London, White Fang 213).

In a parallel experience, Hump thinks his upper-class life of education, wealth and

privilege is the best possible existence until he meets and falls in love with Maud in The Sea-

Wolf. Hump has a background as a “scholar and dilettante in things artistic and literary”. He is a

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sissy bookworm who lives off his inheritance and has never done manual labor. “I had lived a

placid, uneventful, sedentary existence all my days—the life of a scholar and a recluse on an

assured and comfortable income” (London, Sea-Wolf 38). The wealth, ease and prestige of his

old life are meaningless compared to the quality of his new life with true love; Hump has never

been happier in his life, even though he lives in very harsh environment and has to work

unbelievably hard. Hump is so happy with his newfound love, he is not even sure he wants to be

rescued when a passing ship spots them. “‘We are saved,’ I said soberly and solemnly. And then,

in an exuberance of joy, ‘I hardly know whether to be glad or not’” (London, Sea-Wolf 284). In

the end, Hump and Maud “attained the truest comradeship that may fall to man and woman” and

Hump experiences the essence of true love he had only read about and feels a great sense of

fulfillment.

It is a universal truth that hate and violence generate more hate and violence, and love

and kindness generate more love and kindness. The absence of love results in many unfulfilled,

wasted lives in the world and a lot of pain and suffering in life. It’s never too late, though, for the

power of love to step in and turn things around. The vicious cycles of hate and violence can be

broken with kindness, compassion and caring. The value and importance of love in life should

never be underestimated; it can transform, sustain, strengthen, and fulfill like nothing else.

London’s ultimate message to us is that those who have had the privilege of the experience of

true love have lived life to the fullest.

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Annotated Bibliography

Bykov, Vil. In the Steps of Jack London. 1962. The World of Jack London. Trans.

Julia Istomina and Charles Hoffmeister. Ed. Susan M. Nuernberg, PhD., Earle Labor, PhD.

and Hensley Woodbridge, PhD. 2004. 10 Feb. 2007 <http://www.jacklondons.net/

writings/Bykov/ihs_chapter6.html>. Bykov, a Jack London scholar from the Soviet Union,

wrote his perspective about the life and works of London based on research he did in the

United States in 1958, including research at UC Berkeley, books and articles he read,

family members and acquaintances he interviewed, and personal visits he made to the

places London had lived and worked. Because Bykov has been such a passionate, lifelong

fan of London’s, his admiration and praise of London is not surprising, and his viewpoint is

a little biased, but understandable. It is very useful book because it is full of good

information and is written in a simple, easy to understand format, unlike some of the

pretentious, impossible to understand works by other London “experts”. This book was

translated into English and published online in the United States in 2004.

London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. New York: Viking, 1903. Buck, a domesticated dog who

lives a soft, easy life in sunny California, is kidnapped and suddenly thrust into the wild

Yukon. Through use of in-your-face, graphic writing, the reader co-experiences the process

Buck undergoes as he “decivilizes” to a wild, primeval state and, as a result of the

unrelenting harsh environment and brutal circumstances, transforms into a ferocious, wild

beast. He becomes the ultimate survivor as he adapts, grows strong, and taps into the

collective instinct and wisdom of his ancestors. Buck is rescued from the brink of death by

Thornton, and through the power of love, readapts and has a loving, fulfilling life with his

new owner. When Thornton dies, Buck is free to follow his instinct to return to the wild,

and because of all he has been through, he is prepared and succeeds. London’s visit to

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Alaska gives him the firsthand knowledge and experience he needs to make the story and

setting very vivid and real. He uses the dramatic, harsh setting and an unlikely dog hero in

a creative, interesting way to explore multiple themes, including the survival of the fittest,

the impact of environment on individuals, natural instinct, cooperation, and the power of

love. In Call of the Wild, London provides an exciting story and a lot of food for thought to

the reader.

---. The Sea-Wolf. 1904. Cutchogue, New York: Buccaneer Books, 1976. This book is basically

a rewrite of The Call of the Wild, but this time with humans and the ocean instead of dogs

and the Klondike. An overly domesticated, naive, rich, sheltered young man named Van

Weyden is suddenly thrust into the harsh environment of the open sea on a schooner with a

violent, abusive, beastly Captain. Like Buck, Van Weyden rises to the occasion in true

“survival of the fittest” fashion and is similarly saved by the power of love. London’s

previous experience on a schooner gives him the knowledge and credibility to write a

realistic, riveting, action-packed adventure. He again explores themes of the impact of the

environment of individuals, the survival of the fittest, cooperation, the value of life, and the

power of love. Even though the book is redundant, it works because it is so exciting.

---. White Fang. New York: Viking, 1906. White Fang also features a dog in a survival of the

fittest struggle, but in the reverse of The Call of the Wild. White Fang, a wild wolf-dog, is

first driven to an extreme state of savage viciousness as a result of the harsh environment

and cruel treatment he must endure, then is rescued by Weeden Scott, who uses love to

slowly tame the wild animal. Here again, London’s use of an animal as the main character

and the unique Klondike setting give him an interesting way to explore recurrent themes

such as the effect of the environment of individuals, the survival of the fittest, the value of

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life, teamwork, and the power of love to transform. London’s personal Klondike

experiences and his obvious detailed research on the life of wolf cubs make the story so

real, readers might think they are watching an episode of National Geographic on

television. The story is a little far-fetched in the end, but that is easy to overlook because of

how interesting it is and the important points it is making.

Norvell, Candyce. “Critical Essay on White Fang.” Novels for Students, Vol. 19. 2004.

Literature Resource Center. Thomas Gale. Los Altos Public Lib., Los Altos, CA. 12 Feb.

2007 <http://galenet.galegroup.com>. Norvell discusses the important role that humans

have in shaping White Fangs experiences and personality. She explains how each human in

the book represents a different, important part of humanity. Bill represents those who fail to

adapt and die, Henry represents the ultimate survivor, Gray Beaver represents those who

are practical and uncommitted, Beauty represents the lowest form of humanity, and

Weeden represents the best in humanity. Her detailed evaluation of the human characters

and the important roles they play in effecting White Fang is well organized, easy to read,

and easy to understand. The only criticism she offers is that Gray Beaver’s character is

weak, distracting and unnecessary. The essay was helpful and definitely worth reading

because it helped me gain a deeper understanding of the characters and the book.

Schroeder, Alan. Jack London. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1992. This is a basic

biography on the short, but jam-packed life of London. I chose it over several other

biographies because it was short, easy to read and had great pictures. The author did a good

job presenting London’s life story from birth to death. It was logical, interesting, and had

all the basic, relevant information about London’s life I felt I needed. Learning about his

life, adventures, philosophy, struggles, successes, failures and dreams gave me more

insight into London’s perspective and definitely made his books more interesting and

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meaningful. Reading a basic biography about London will definitely enhance the reader’s

understanding and appreciation of his work.