Analysis of the Reasons for Jack London’s Disillusion

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Abstract：Jack London is an outstanding realistic writer in the American modern times， creating 19 novels and 125 short stories. He came from a poor working class family. Through his hard work， he finally became a world famous writer. However，he ended up with suicide of his 40-year-old life after his success. Jack betrayed his success in the way of death. This outcome is not only the end of life， but is also a negative to the empty life. What on earth is the meaning of life？ This paper analyzes the reasons for Jack’s disillusion from the aspects of his family background， the era he lived， his experience， his education， his works and his outlook on life.

Key words：Jack London； disillusion

中图分类号：I106 文献标识码： A 文章编号：1672-1578（2015）03-0001-02

1 Introduction of Jack London

Jack London （1876-1919） is an outstanding realistic writer in the American modern times， holding an important position in American literature. In his literary creation he created 19 novels and 125 short stories. Some of them are realistic works， which review and criticize the bourgeoisie and capitalistic system； call on the poor people to struggle for liberation. But some are plunged into the bourgeoisie moral concepts. Even in his outstanding works， the weakness exits in the strong.

The contradiction of his work shows the contradiction of his outlook on life. On one hand， he wasn’t satisfied with the reality and had the spirit of rebel against the capitalist society. On the other hand， he had the strong idea of individualism. He managed to get rid of his poverty by his own struggle and to step into the upper class of capitalist society. The shaping of the contradiction can’t be separated from the era in which he lived， his family， his education and his experiences.

2 The era in which Jack London lived

Jack London was born in 1876 in San Francisco. During his youth， America stepped into the imperialist stage from capitalist stage. American monopoly bourgeoisie committed foreign aggression and at home cruelly exploited the working people. The capitalist economic crisis brought disaster to the people. Where there is oppression， there is resistance. At the period American working class developed trade union activities and went on strike. The scale of the socialist movement became stronger and stronger. Facing the awakening of the working people， for one thing American bourgeoisie carried armed suppression. For another， they bought over labor aristocracy by money to separate and destroy the working-class struggle. Besides， American bourgeoisie employed men of letters to propagate the “American life style”. In this way they wanted to lull the fight will of the working class.

The maturation of industrial capitalism had led to fundamental changes in the nature of American life and most artists responded in varying degrees of fight and flight. As a member of the society， London was unavoidably subjected to the influence of fight and flight to the reality.

3 Jack London’s family

Jack London was the illegitimate son of Flora Wellman and an itinerant astrologer. Later in 1846 Flora married John London. His mother was a driving woman with pioneer spirit. She was constantly plunging into schemes for making a fortune overnight. His stepfather， a quiet gentle man with love of soil and animal breeding， was unable to cope with either her ambition or her terrible fits of temperament. She drove him into a series of business fiascos all over the San Francisco Bay area desperately striving to improve their condition and inevitably making it worse. The pattern of failure and flight seared London permanently.

In Flora， the boy respected driving and overbearing individualism， the first impulse toward becoming the Nietzschean superman. But influenced by his stepfather’s sympathy for the poor， London laid the roots of his concern for the working people and socialism. The contrast between their working-class conditions and Flora’s middle-class values intensified London’s aspirations： in spite of his position in the economic cellar of society， London was determined to succeed.

4 Jack London’s experience

London’s shame and guilt about his poverty and illegitimacy worked with these conflicting impulses and led him try to convert his liabilities into assets. Filled with rebellious aggressiveness and self-destruction， London alternated between try to be a “work beast” or a beast of prey， between flight from the society and aggression against it.

From working in a cannery， London switched to being an oyster pirate. At 17， he signed on a boat as a seaman. When he returned home， the depression of 1893 forced him back to work in a jute mill， and then in a power plant. In revolt and revulsion， London became a tramp and hit the road. After joining “Kelly’s Army”， he not only became part of a mass-social protest group， but also lived off the countryside begging from the farmers. After leaving the Army and wandering around the country， London was finally imprisoned for vagrancy in New York.

The penitentiary and Kelly’s Army reinforced the lessons of his early experiences. His hostility and rebellion against society increased because of the cruelties and injustices he had seen and endured. He developed an interest in socialism which became superimposed on his individualism. The two contrary impulses were to co-exist for the rest of his life. In addition， he found physical labor wore out too quickly and was paid for too cheaply； if one wanted out of the social pit， one had to sell brain power： it last longer and paid better.

As a result， London decided to return home to become a “brain merchant”. The real beginning of his literature career was in 1898 when he came back from the gold fever of Alaska and Klondike. Back in Oakland， penniless， London threw himself into efforts to become a writer， studying and working with energy and purpose. He found a mine of literature ore more precious than gold， a vein which made him rich and famous.

5 Jack London’s education background

Early at the age of 8 years old， London found a real favorite in his life -- reading. Though poorly schooled， he studied himself. He usually went to the Oakland Public Library. Even when he was an oyster pirate and s seaman， he read with great eagerness. During years of 1895 to 1897， he went back to school， first to Oakland High School and then to the University of California. He read many books， involving philosophy， economics， anthropology， biology and the theory of evolution， etc. Because he lived through poverty and exploitation and was dissatisfied with the society， he easily received the idea of Communist Manifesto -- the analysis and revealing of the capitalism and bourgeoisie， the prediction that socialism would eventually replace capitalism. But the works of Nietzschean and Herbert Spencer also had an important effect in shaping his outlook on life. The consciousness of superman： the survival of the fittest， the race to the swiftest and victory to the powerful man， London received completely. Thus socialism and individualism co-existed in his mind. So his literature creation at every period reflected two sides： on one hand， to plead on the poor people’s behalf， on the other hand， to beautify and sing the praises to the powerful man.

6 The reasons for jack london’s disillusion

In the cellar of the society London had embraced two opposing methods of escape： individualism and socialism -- the first an assertion of his strength and cunning for personal and material success； the second avowing mass strength and political revolution for social justice and the transformation of society so that there should be neither cellar nor abyss. For a long time， London had maintained the conflicting ideas side by side， but individualism gradually dominated socialism， and though it never conquered altogether， it became London’s primary mode of belief and expression.

From that time on， though he was to become world-famous and a millionaire， London was dogged for an intensified sense of failure and hopelessness. He was estranged from his first wife and his children. His second wife proved less the “mate woman” than he had hoped. He was alienated from his old Socialist comrades and finally resigned from the Socialist Party. He publicly supported the imperialist aggression and aggrandizement. He was now a confirmed alcoholic. Slowly， inevitably， the two well-springs that had sustained him， his writing and his socialism， were poisoned. Though he forced himself to write， his inventiveness and creativity flagged so badly that he began to buy plots and plagiarize other books， and his writing was no longer seriously received.

In his country retreat in Sonama County， London built a great $70，000 manor， the “Wolf House”. It mysteriously burned down， uninsured， before he could live in it. It gave him a heavy blow.

Finally， bitterness and bafflement overwhelmed him. On the night of November 22， 1916， only 40 years old， Jack London committed suicide by taking an overdose of morphine.

Like Antaeus， the hero in Greek myth who was killed by the enemy after being tempted from the land， London， who came from an extremely poor family and ever received the socialist idea， took the road to ruin after being separated from the working class and socialist movement by his individualism and bourgeoisie life style.

References：

[1]http：///wiki/Martin_Eden

[2]http：///wiki/Jack_London

[3]桂扬清，吴翔林.英美文学选读[M].中国对外翻译出版公司.1985：376-377.

[4]Jack London. Martin Eden[M]. Modern Library. 2002.

作者简介：秦宏莉（1969年-），女，硕士研究生，副教授，桂林旅游高等专科学校大学外语部英语教师，研究方向英语语言文学和大学英语教学。

张玲（1963年-），女，高级工程师，桂林旅游高等专科学校大学外语部英语教师，研究方向多媒体英语教学。