Post #5

I finished Reading White Fang, and I have started to read The Iron Heel and I have read to page 120

*spoiler alert!*

White fang is about a wolf who's mother is a dominate female she wolf. The she wolf teaches her pup about the world and tries to provided him food, but food is very scarce. One day the pup comes across a group of Indians, the she wolf tries to save her pup from them, but in the end they are captured by the Indians because the she wolf used to be a dog belonging to the that Indian tribe. One of the Indians names the pup white fang. The indians put White Fang into a pen with the other puppies. All of the other puppies hate him and he is attacked constantly. Because of this he becomes very strong and savage fighter. A while later he is sold by the Indians to dog fighter. Every dog that comes before white fang is defeated until the dog fighter brings out a pitbull. The pitbull rips a big gash in White Fangs neck. Then a rich miner,Weedon Scott, comes and saves him from death. Scott eventually returns to california. It turns out that the end of the this book resembles the begging of Call of the Wild because the both are in the same location, the santa clara valley. And both have Jugeges for masters. White fang has Judge Scott, Wile buck in Call of the Wild master was Judge Miller. They're are too many similarities to be over looked.

So far I have Only read a the first few chapters of The Iron Heel and I must say that not alot has happened. The book is written from the pont of view of a woman named Avis Everhard. It is a her journal that she was writing around 2600 AD, and was eventually found many centuries later. The book so far pushes the authors, Jack London, views on society and his favorable opinion of socialism. But so far I am enjoying this book, it was a surprise to me that The Iron Heel was going to have elements of a science fiction book.


The authors political view I think greatly affected his writings and his views on society. For my american author paper I would like the focus on something to do with society. Because all 2.5 books that i have read have been on society, either the return to society in White Fang, the running away from society in Call of the Wild, or the views people have on society in The Iron Heel. I really like how Jack London is able to use society to tell so many different storys.

Post #3

Over winter break i finished reading Call of the Wild. It was a very good book and i wish it were longer because its only 90 pages or so. So i guess I am going to have to read lot of his short storys as well to fill my reading requirements. I also have started to read White Fang and i hope to finnish that by next week. So Far i am enjoying White Fang.


Some possible themes i might talk about have to do with how the she-wolf in white fang or even buck in Call of the WIld are both the representation of human society or even human nature to move (in certain situations) from order to chaos in the way that things are done. In call of the wild buck is a great example of this. In the beginning he is a tame, obedient and trusting dog. However by the end he is a killer of men (and bears) and becomes extremely ferocious.

Post #2

Jack London's writing style is a matter of fact kind of style but also has a way of describing things that i like. For example in the book call of the wild when he describes the house that buck lived in he always would refer to the place as a the "sun kissed santa clara valley", wile just a "santa clara valley" would have done fine. The extra element "sun kissed" makes it almost come alive, and it makes me visualise the valley even more.

My favorite quote from call of the wild has to be,

(context: buck just pulled a 1000 pound sled 100 feet all by him self, Thornton is his owner)

"Gad, sir! Gad, sir!" spluttered the Skookum Bench king. "I'll
give you a thousand for him, sir, a thousand, sir--twelve hundred,
sir."

Thornton rose to his feet. His eyes were wet. The tears were
streaming frankly down his cheeks. "Sir," he said to the Skookum
Bench king, "no, sir. You can go to hell, sir. It's the best I
can do for you, sir."

American Author Proposal - Jack London

For my american author paper I have chosen to do the great american author Jack London. I chose this author because of the subject matter he writes about and because he is a local author who I have always wanted to know more about. As I said I enjoy the subject Jack London writes about in the books that I am going to read. He wrote a lot about the west and alaska. Some of the books are loosely based upon his own experiences in alaska durning the gold rush in the 1890’s. For me personal the gold rush era is my personal favorite time in history to study, even more so then the world wars. I don’t know what it is about the gold rush that I like I presume it is the thrill of discovery, adventure and great wealth that comes with mining or even finding your own gold.

Although Jack London is not a new author to me because I have been to his house that is located in Sonoma and I have read an annotated version of Call of the Wild, I would like to read more of his writing. None of this annotated nonsense, but some of his actually books in full. After doing a little research on Jack London I found out that there is not shortage of books and other works by him for me to read. He wrote over 50 books and a bunch of short stories. This is very relevant to what his life philosophy was, which was to not wast any of his time. I think he followed his philosophy very well in his life.

As I start to re-read Call of the Wild I am again reminded of how much I love reading about this specific time and place. The alaskan gold rush era has always delighted me in ways that I cannot explain, Its the wild and I love it. Its a strange fascination I know and its something my parents have picked up on. They have asked coming down to the kitchen after hours of reading “how are things up in the yukon?” and I reply “cold as ever”.

My Author

The author that I have chosen for my american author is Jack London. I chose him because I have only read short annotated versions of a few of his books and I am very interested in reading his actually book. This along with the fact that I like reading about the wilderness and pioneering adventures. The first book that I am going to read is Call Of the Wild, I'm not sure if i have the full book but i will get a copy of it by next week.