Read ‘The Law of Life’ Jack London Sample and Get Better at Studying Literature

Jack London’s works are impressively strong with the intensity of emotions they bring to readers. His ‘The Law of Life’ is not an exclusion. The author wants to show us that the most important task of being human is to appreciate life.

In this ‘The Law of Life’ literary analysis sample, every student can consider that Jack London demonstrates the negotiation of the norms of morality, because the only thing characters want to save is their own lives. They even don’t regret the death of their relatives. Also, one of the main themes is the human confrontation of the mind before death. On the one hand, people are afraid of it because of the suspense of this phenomenon, but on the other, they understand that there is nothing to fear. After reading it, people can realize that they lived really fair lives and can face death without mourning.

If literature is a complicated subject for you, please, don’t give up! Read our literary analysis sample on Jack London ‘The Law of Life’ and show new knowledge in your class. You’ll easily impress everyone with your skills in your field of study by reading more samples from our blog that our writers have made for you.

What Does Jack London Teach Readers in The Law of Life?

To better understand London’s perspective of the story, it is important to know beforehand a glimpse of his past, perceptions, beliefs, and ideals, which affect how he perceives the narration. All these aspects come from his perspective when he created the story. It is worth noting that this short story is from his second compilation, Children of the Frost (1902), where the judgment of the laws to the nomadic tribes was brutal and ruthless.

The tale interprets the story of the elder Indian Old Koskoosh from the north, who was left in the snow-filled forest by his tribe because he was too old to cope up with everyone. In the forest, he sits beside a fire, knowing that any minute he will take his last breath. Koskoosh’s son obeyed the practices of the tribe, to leave his father there, fully knowing the moment he leaves Koskoosh in the forest is his end. Dermot MacManus described in his review that his son made a huge sacrifice, but this event is to continue the cycle of their beliefs that elders who can no longer function for everyone should be left out.

While Old Koskoosh was simply waiting for the last minutes of his life, he was thinking of his childhood and remembering his early days, particularly about his experience encountering a moose, where its flesh was fancied by the wolves when he watched it as it died. However, during that moment in the snowy forest, it was he instead who was attacked by the wolves. He did not resist. That time, he knew he had to give up; he was accepting of his death with no bitterness, because to him, it was inevitable.

From the interpretation of Hà Lê Thị Thanh of the story, “old Koskoosh accepted his fate as something all living things in the world must undergo” (28). London may imply from his story that all must be ready to face death in many ways. Koskoosh adopts the easy path and embraces his fate. He accepted that his end had begun, even if it would be from the hand of the wolves.

As Mo Yan states in his novel, “Where there’s life, death is inevitable.” Life is for the living where everybody is going to enjoy it. But death will eventually prevail over human flesh at the end. It is inevitable.

Works Cited

Lê Thị Thanh, Ha. Expansion and Its Realization in the Short Story “The Law of Life” by Jack London. ULIS, 2008.
McManus, Dermot. “The Law of Life by Jack London.” The Sitting Bee. 4 Feb. 2019.
Yan, Mo. Big Breasts and Wide Hips. Arcade Publishing, 2014.