Post #5: Jack London and Naturalism

This having been my first read of anything Jack London, I was quite surprised that I enjoyed the short stories. Similar to many, I had assumed that his stories would read like journal entries from a lost hiker, counting the days of survival. However, I found his connections to the environment, nature as a whole, and social order, to be quite enthralling.

"Law of Life," London's first published story, seemed quite original. In the story London describes the character's tribe as purely naturalistic, they have a process in which their elderly will die, and it is according to the cycle of life. The story is told from the old man's perspective. But what I found most interesting was not his need to survive, but rather his acceptance of the cycle itself. This is also an example of the racial/cultural expression of the tribe, detailing one of their oldest and most honored traditions. However, when hearing that this was in fact London's first published story, I was initially confused. I had simply assumed that the story "Mauki" was the first to be published. That story describes a Caribbean native and his constant struggle to escape from slavery. In my eyes it had seemed to be the first because of the number of repetitions and shifts, as well as the overall choppiness. However, what one must remember is that this may also just be a portrayal of the main character, and his constant struggling tug of war between escaping and being thrown back into the slave world.