The Power of The Sea-Wolf
Jack London’s novel, The Sea-Wolf, has many different interpretations. The story can be read as a combination of the naturalistic novel and the sentimental romance, both very popular around the turn of the century. London also brings into play literary naturalism, in which human beings are characterized as just another species in nature, subject to all of Her cosmic forces. The Sea-Wolf fits almost perfectly the archetypal pattern of an initiation story. Depth and interest are added to The Sea-Wolf by successfully integrating these three elements -- the combination of two popular genres, literary naturalism, and the initiation story.
One of the characteristics common to most naturalistic novels is the
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Two elements of the naturalistic novel are present in The Sea-Wolf -- humans fighting nature, humans fighting one another.
Jack London also uses another popular genre of the time -- the romance novel. This novel is very much about Humphrey Van Weyden and Maud Brewster falling in love. As soon as Humphrey sets eyes on her he's entranced: "She seemed to me like a being from another world; she smiled amusedly and sweetly, as only a woman can smile" (142). "She was like a feather in my arms, so slender, so ethereal" (276). Humphrey knew for a long time that he was deeply in love with her, but she didn't realize that she reciprocated the feelings until late in the novel. When she finally realized it, she smiled "a most adorable smile, whimsical as I had never seen it, for it was whimsical with love" (284). This combination of the naturalistic novel and the romance novel brings out the best sides of both and allows for a very interesting novel.
Throughout the novel, London brings somewhat into play the ideas of literary naturalism, in which human beings are treated as just another species. Many times, the idea is introduced of the enormity of nature and the fact that humans are subject to all of the cosmic forces. When trying to fix up the Ghost, Humphrey and Maud run into many problems resulting from the destructive forces of nature. At one point, Humphrey is blown off
Evolutionary origins of the eastern wolves have been a topic of debate among scientists and conservationists for many years, whether their evolution is independent of grey wolves and coyotes. Currently, eastern wolves are mainly identified as a subspecies of Grey wolves or as a hybrid, resulting from interbreeding between grey wolves and coyotes. Following the genotypic cluster species concept, this paper identifies eastern wolves (Canis Lycaon) as a distinct species because they show little similarities in genomic data with the gray wolves and coyotes and carry Y-chromosome haplotypes that are unique to eastern wolves only.
Terry Tempest William’s written essay, “A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness,” delivers to us, with intended purpose using shocking truths of greed and destruction. Actions took under the cloak and disguise of the needs of civilization, creating more jobs, or even to boost the rich man’s governmental legacy of our badly raped and abused national economy. How continued acts of greed and wanton disregard for the environment, are endangering nature the wilderness areas we have sought to protect? Acts that leave behind damage and destruction where once nature and wilderness thrived.
As a normal American citizen, we are not accustomed to being forced out of our homes and having to live as nomads like the people of Syria have been living like since the Arab spring of 2011 the event that started what is now known as The Syrian Civil War. This war has literally been tearing apart Syria and displacing 6.3 million people (Mercy corps). This crisis affects a lot of Syrian individuals including one Doaa Al Zamel. In the book “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea” we get a firsthand account of what life was like before the start of the war and also a view during the civil war and gives insight to life in the current state of Syria. Doaa’s life in “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea” had her moving around the Middle East for most of her early adulthood. Throughout her moves to different parts of the Middle East she had many experiences both good and bad. The government, daily life in the Middle East, and family problems that arose during the moves affected Doaa’s life greatly.
The Sea Wolf follows the adventure of Humphrey Van Weyden, a literary critic and essay writer who has never known any real hardship or physical challenge. At the start of the novel, Van Weyden boards a boat called The Martinez, wholly unaware that it is about to sink. As the vessel is pulled beneath the waves, Van Weyden jumps overboard and struggles in the freezing water. Fortunately, he is rescued by the passing vessel The Ghost
A. Seaworld has been struggling to maintain customers interested in their company ever since the arrival of “Blackfish”.
The Narwhal is a whale and is also known as the unicorn of the sea. It is in the family of bottlenose dolphins, orcas, and Belugas (World Wildlife Fund). The scientific name for the Narwhal is Monodon monoceros and it is Greek meaning one-tooth, one-horn. It can grow up to 13-16 feet in length and weighs almost 2 tons (4,000 pounds). The region they are usually located is around the Arctic waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. They are known as unicorns of the sea because they have a tusk, one of their teeth, coming out of the front of the skull. According to the World Wildlife fund (2014), “Males most commonly have tusks, and some may even have two. The tusk, which can grow as long as 10 feet, is actually an enlarged tooth.” The
Killer whales are one of the most fascinating displays of ocean life. The killer whale has characteristics that are important to its survival in the ocean. It is interesting to know that killer whales have a plentiful diet. It is astounding to see how killer whales behave in the ocean. I plan to tell you about the killer whale, its characteristics, its diet, and its behavior in the ocean as well as the predation of the orca.
The Killer whale was put on the IUCN list in 1989, in 1969 Keanu Allen (a trainer) describes being threatened by young female Keanu, she would open her mouth and show him her teeth, 3 deaths had happened between human and killer, and 1 known fact between woman and killer is that a killer whale had killed its own trainer at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium in Orlando,
The main character of the story is doomed from the start. London says, “The man broke through” telling the reader about the main character’s experience with the water spring (London 337). Nature gives him bad luck over and over again, showing us his doomed fate from the start. Naturalism also demonstrates the environment being indifferent; the environment does nothing to help its inhabitants. The Yukon does not cease the bitter coldness when the man is struggling to stay alive: “He was losing this battle with the frost” (London 344). This indifference makes survival the only possible goal to try to reach. Another characteristic of Naturalism is the force of instinct. London states in the story, “The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in its brain there was no sharp conscious or a condition of very cold such as in the man’s brain. But the brute had its instinct” (London 334). The dog’s instincts give it an awareness of the wilderness that is superior to or better than the man’s sense of judgment. The dog’s instinct also ties in with the Naturalistic characteristic of heredity. The dog, unlike the man, has physical characteristics that have been passed down genetically
The main argument of the book ‘The Sea-Wolf’ is about opposing behaviors of human being depicted by the role of nature in revealing the inner self of a person. In this regard, London uses two of his main characters to demonstrate the distinct opposing sides of human beings. The first part is about Humphrey, who is a young Dutch struggling with his demons and difficulties in the sea as he hope to change his life and those of fellow crews . Humphrey is initially weak, rich and naïve, and with straight morals . Humphrey believes on fairness, compassion, and all through the story despite being close to the evil Larsen he refuses to follow his footsteps .
Many of Jack London’s novels talk about how man’s struggle against nature and how they must overcome this force to survive. Jack London is well known for his books about the North such as his short story, “To Build a Fire” or his novels, “The Call of the Wild” and White Fang. If we look at White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf we can see how he uses characterization, survival of the fittest, and man vs nature throughout these stories.
The film The Sea Inside shares the heart warming real life story of a man named Ramon Sampedro. At the young age of twenty-six he suffered an accident while diving into shallow waters of the ocean that left him a quadriplegic. Now at the age of fifty-four, Ramon must depend on his family to survive. His older brother Jose, Jose’s wife, Manuela and their son Javi do their best to take care of Ramon and make him feel loved. Although Ramon is extremely grateful to his family and friends for their help all these years, he has come to see his life as aggravating and unsatisfying. He wishes to die with the little dignity he has left in his life. However, Ramon’s family is dead set against the thought of assisted suicide and the
As an adolescent, Jack London led an impoverished life and struggled to earn more money to support himself and his mother. In an attempt to find a small fortune, London joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Unfortunately, he returned home penniless. However, his adventures in the Yukon provided him the most epic experiences that guided him into writing some of his most famous, widely acclaimed literary works. His novels focus primarily on naturalism, a type of literature in which the characters are shaped by their environment through the practice of scientific principles. The author centralizes his themes around this literary technique. Jack London’s naturalistic portrayal of his characters explores
White Fang, written by Jack London, is a wonderful adventure novel that vividly depicts the life of a wolf by the name of White Fang. Throughout the course of the novel, White Fang goes through numerous learning experiences as he interacts with humans and other wolves from Alaska around the turn of the century. Jack London uses the events that transpire during White Fang's life to illustrate that only the cunning, intelligent, and strong will be able to survive. The ideas of Darwinism and survival are reinforced by almost every action that takes place in the novel. Man is shown defeating nature through superior intelligence, a wolf cub conquers his puppy-hood, and a young wolf survives despite the hardships placed upon him by man.
In the timeless novel The Old Man and the Sea, the hero is undoubtedly the old man, Santiago, whom us as readers become very acquainted with. Santiago is a hard-worker and perseveres through every problem nature brings to him. He is in the midst of a horrendous fishing drought, during which the townspeople laugh and ridicule him. Santiago just lets the criticism pass him by because he is confident that the fish of his lifetime is coming soon. In a sense, Santiago represents the ideas of honor and pride. He is also a hero to a young boy named Manolin who conveys the image that the old man is whom he would rather live