"The Sea Wolf" and Jack London

Jack London really is a fantastic artist of words, of psychology and ideals. London was born in 1876 to Flora Wellman and William Henry Chaney an astrologer. With the given name of John (Jack) Griffith Chaney.

Not born into wedlock his mother later married John London. Because he was born into a working class family (with two younger sisters) he began working at only ten years old selling newspapers. "Here life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness, both of the flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and tormented."-- "What Life Means to Me" from Revolution and other Essays.

His life was a hard one full of challenges and trying times. His professions in his early life were unskilled labour positions. At the age of sixteen he borrowed money and bought the sloop Razzle Dazzle and worked as an oyster pirate in the bay. "Alas for visions! When I was sixteen I had already earned the title of "prince" but this title was given me by a gang of cut-throats and thieves by whom I was called The Prince of Oyster Pirates"--(What Life Means To Me). When his vessel was pirated he decided that he had had enough. Homeless and wandering he found himself in many places he had not hoped to be; namely, begging the streets and "sweating bloody sweats in the slums and prisons".

Nothing could have shown him the disgust of the class system and given him a better perspective of honest human nature than to witness development of adventure in a crime filled setting. After he had hit this rock bottom of despair he began his quest for what he called "the frantic pursuit of knowledge". In 1895 he started at Oakland High School and later to the University of California at Berkeley but never finished as a result of inadequate funds. But it gave him just the head start he needed and he then began writing.

First he wrote Typhoon Off The Coast Of Japan then proceeded writing numerous essays, new items, short stories and novels. In 1897 he fell part of the gold rush. It was another monstrous challenge in the effect that he did not find gold and suffered scurvy in his now famous Klondike cabin. Where he continued to write and publish.

Back in Oakland he married Bess Maddern. Then had two daughters Joan and Bess. They divorced in 1904. The Sea Wolf was first published in 1904 and the novel was set in the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. I can't help but feel strong sorrow for London, The Sea Wolf has the most beautiful romance in it. To have the knowledge that he also was suffering through a marriage that wasn't doing well at the same time of writing about the soft wonders of falling in love. A love so pure and innocent, that just her hair being caught by the wind makes his heart flutter, also its not till the very end that his main character proclaims his love. Its about fighting together and becoming closer and more intimate through life experience, learning and stepping out of the comfort zone society has created; it is the real meaning of love, to find joy in the eternal progression with your other half. It's so powerful to me to know he was writing such beauty when he was suffering such pain.   

Yet he did marry shortly after to Charmain Kittredge in 1905. It is possible that the innocent love found in "The Sea Wolf" was the innocents of his own unproclaimed  love to Charmain.

He ended his life sailing all over the world then to exist on his ranch. His death to this day is a controversy. Some say that he committed suicide; while others say that that would be completely out of character. What we do know is the cause of death "Uremic Poisoning".

Jack London has an exceptional life story which I think was the key to his success as a writer (not to mention his talent). I still feel that it is kind of overwhelming how much he did with his life, even though his challenges where so great. I believe not only was he exceptionally well learned in philosophy but he was an amazing person and writer. The Sea Wolf is an outstanding classic.