Humanism in The Grapes of Wrath

Why did you choose this particular book?

I chose this book because I like the author. The Grapes of Wrath is of course his epic masterpiece of social consciousness in its picture of helpless people crushed by drought and depression. Even here, though, as in all his works to follow, Steinbeck’s focus is upon man, the nature of man and his successes and failures, rather than upon the mere detached picture of an indifferent society, in contrast, for example, to some of Steinbeck’s immediate forerunners in a American fiction, such as Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser, who depicted man simply as a wisp in the wind of giant American industrialism and stampeding capitalism.

Humanism in The Grapes of Wrath

Abstract：

    Humanism is one of the most important philosophical strands to be traced through The Grapes of Wrath. All the major characters in the novel seem to move from a religiously based to a humanly based philosophy of life in the novel. Additionally, the humanistic philosophy we find in The grapes of Wrath has been attributed to the influence of transcendental philosophy,

Key word:

humanism, philosophy, spirit, sympathetic, justice

Humanism in The Grapes of Wrath

1. Brief Introduction of John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck was the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s. He was born in Salinas, California, the locale of much of his finest fiction. His sympathy for the migrant workers and the down-trodden, so evident in his writhing, was the result of firsthand knowledge of their struggles. From is boyhood he was self-supporting, he worked as a laborer, a seaman on a cattle-boat, newspaper reporter, bricklayer, chemist's assistant, surveyor, and migratory fruitpicker. His writing reflected his concern with the rituals of manual labor.

His major works are: Tortilla Flat (1935), In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Long Valley (1938), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952). Among them, The Grapes of Wrath, generally regarded as his masterpiece and his most popular novel, showed the migration of the “Okies” from the “Dust Bowls” to California, a migration that ended in broken dreams and misery but at the same time affirmed the ability of the common people to endure and prevail.

Steinbeck’s treatment of the social problems of his time, particularly the plight of the dispossessed farmer, earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and, in 1962, a Nobel Prize for literature.

2. Plot

The novel begins just after Tom Joad is released on parole from prison. He travels all the way back home only to find his family making ready to move westward. Being unable to repay the money they have borrowed from banks, the Joads, including Grandma and Grandpa, Pa and Ma, John, Noah, Al, Rose of Sharon and Connie, Ruthie and Winfield, are evicted from their land in Oklahoma. Tempted by the fertility of California, they decide to seek their fortune in this “land of promise.” The family, joined by Casy, an ex-preacher, starts on the long and hard journey in an old wagon. During the journey Tom’s grandparents die；Noah, Tom’s dull-witted brother, leaves the family and Connie, Tom’s brother-in-low, deserts them. The rest, however, continue. When they arrive in California, they can hardly earn enough to keep themselves form going hungry. They spend some time in a government-run camp, and later work on a peach farm. When organizing a strike, Casy is killed. Tom revenges his friend and is seriously wounded. In order to protect Tome from the police, Ma, the soul of the family, makes a decision that they should leave the farm. While hiding Tom, they work at picking cotton. But Tom at last leaves the family to carry on Casy’s work in trying to improve the lot of the downtrodden everywhere. Because the rains had made destroyed the Joads’ car, they came to a barn, which they shared with a boy and his starving father. Then the poor kept each other alive in the depression years.

3. Character Analysis

The Joad Family

Grandpa: Grandpa Joad is like a character out of Chaucer’s “ The Miller’s Tale”—he is lecherous, loud, cantankerous, and the Joads seem to secretly relish his consistency in this. Grandpa is an old ripper, and his “joie de vivre” is earthily and convincingly pictured. Early, he repeatedly insists on his intention to gorge himself on grapes when he reaches California. Ironically, though, Grandpa panics at the time of departure, has to be drugged with cough medicine, and dies of a sudden stroke on the first night out, to be buried on his home ground of Oklahoma.

Grandma: She is Grandpa’s spirited equal, whether eating, cussing or praying. She has a right with him for the duration of their long life together. Flighty as Grandma appears, her affection for her husband is obvious before Grandpa’s death. After Grandpa’s death, she retires more and more into a dream world, until she dies in Ma’s arms during the night as they drive across the desert.

Uncle John: Pa Joad’s older brother, Uncle John can be regarded as the black sheep of the family, in that he is an eccentric loner, and a lonely guilt-ridden man. His wife dies for him. The pattern of Uncle John’ life alternates between periods of severe abstinence and brief binges, alcoholic and sexual. Also, he has always tried to assuage his guilt by being good to people—candy and gum for the kids, a sack of flour dropped off on somebody’s porch..

Pa: The elder Tom Joad is a man who, when we meet him, is finding it hard to accept the brute fact of his eviction from the land, where he has labored all his life. His wife and children continue to show respect for him as the head of the family, but in point of act the leadership slowly passes out of his hands into Ma’s and Tom’s. He is presented as a stunned, bewildered figure, sometimes angry, sometimes passive.

Ma: Ma is a powerful though unassuming figure in the Joad clan. She is probably the ideal mother figure. She is patient in her unending labors, and in her determination to keep down fear and encourage joy in her family. She has a sense of humor and on occasion a kind of girlishness. Yet she can act and act vigorously, in opposition to the menfolk when it is for the sake of preserving the family unit. Throughout the novel she emerges as a symbol of love, as a person who instinctively practices brotherly love. She is a person of insight and intuition, and is able to communicate with the philosopher of the novel, Jim Casy, and his unconscious” disciple,” her son Tom.

Noah: Nobody ever knows what Noah thinks or feels or even whether he is slightly feeble-minded, as Pa fears, because of an accident at his birth. He does his work reliably and never raises his voice in anger. On the day before the family sets out across the desert, as they encamp by a river, Noah announces to Tom his decision to remain by the river and fish. And indeed, the parting vision of such a placid existence of r Noah is a natural one.

Tom: Tom is a central character, and perhaps the one who develops most－and survives－in the novel. He is individualistic and quick to anger if he feels he is being pushed around; however, in the same time, he is also kind, sometimes witty, and potentially strong in the moral and intuition that his mother is. In fact, Jim Casy becomes his teacher, converting him by words and by his won example to the idea that a man cannot just look after himself but should be in the spirit of compassion and be obligated to help others. Although still an outlaw of society at the end of the book, Tom’s status is actually changed: he is fighting for social amelioration, a better way of life for his people and for all struggling people. Tom, in other words, experiences re-education and re-birth in the novel.

Rosesharn (Rose of Sharon): Rose is beauty, kind-hearted, but also vulnerable, sometimes she is self-deceiving. When her husband leaves her when she is pregnant, she still believes that he will come back. Most of Rosasharn’s existence in the story is centered upon her unborn child, who at length, because of inadequate diet, unsanitary and harassing living conditions, and perhaps because of Connie’s eventual desertion, is born dead. However, good and honest, she saves the life of a famished stranger with the milk from her breasts.

Al: Sixteen-year-old Al is expert at two things: tomcatting and mechanics. He worries about his responsibility for the old Hudson, but his judgments prove sound and dependable for the family. Typically, Al is an admirer of his older brother Tom and wishes to imitate him. At last he has become engaged to Aggie Wainwright, whose family has shared a boxcar with the Joads.

Ruthie: She is 12, and seen in the novel at that point of suspension between girlhood and womanhood, ranging from lady like composure which excludes her young brother Winfield to giggling, frantic games and exploits with him.

Winfield: He is 10, and realistically depicted in the gaucheries, the awkwardness, and the mischievousness of a 10 year old.

Other Characters

Jim Casy: The ex-preacher is revealed form the first as an introspective man who retains the respect of the community in spite of－later, because of－the fact that he now refuses to preach. He has examined himself, he says, and has found that although he still strongly feels a call to lead and help the people, he can no longer in good conscience preach the religious gospel they are accustomed to. It emerges that he doesn’t believe the old-time “hell fire” and “promise of heaven” religion is realistic for their present needs. Jim Casy, who is the Christ-figure prophet until his martyr’s death, speaks thoughts which reflect various philosophies: Transcendentalism, humanism, pragmatism, socialism. He does in fact lead and comfort the people; and he lays down his life for Tom Joad, who has in effect become his disciple and eventually takes over his work for social betterment.

Muley Graves: He is a neighbor of the Joads in Oklahoma, and he represents one of the pathetic directions in which the ruined lives of the Okies ran. Although his family has migrated to California, “something” kept him form accompanying them. The way he now roams the countryside, living almost like an animal off the land “like a graveyard ghost”, as he confesses—he seems a little touched. He is a sad figure to all, as we get our final glimpse of him standing forlornly in the dooryard of the Joad homestead.

Floyd Knowles: He is a brave, stronghearted young man who can be singled out from among the various men encountered by the Joads as commentator on the conditions of the migrants. He bitterly describes the exploitation of the workers by the owners, and the injustice and brutality of officials. Floyd speaks up and demands his legal rights, and he is immediately arrested on the false charges of “red agitator”.

Mr. Thomas: Thomas is an interesting representative—a good man—of the small farmer or small businessman contingent in the hierarchy of laborers, owners, bankers, officials, etc. He is sympathetic to the situation of the migrants—for example, he himself is ashamed and angered that he must reduce their pay from thirty cents to twenty-five cents, and he does them the important favor of revealing the plan to cause a riot at the Saturday dance. He is one of the little men who will probably be squeezed out eventually by larger business interests; as it is, he is obliged to lower the wages because he is under the power of the Farmers’ Association, which in turn is controlled d by The Bank of the West. The power interests will not hesitate to wipe him out if he resists.

4. Comment:

The entire major characters in the novel, with Jim Casy and later, Tom Joad leading, seem to move form a religiously based to a humanly based philosophy of life in the novel. It is clear, of course, as soon as Jim Casy begins to explain to everyone why the cannot be a “preacher” any longer that he more and more finds the religious precepts of his and his people’s immediate past untenable in their present realities: some of Jim’s most memorable speeches early in the book are his declarations that he wants to help and comfort the people still, he feels things are changing and they are going someplace, but he can no longer look upon sin in the conventional Bible-belt evangelical way nor can he offer facile prayers or parade future heavenly glory to people whose lives are materially an psychically wretched in the present. In another important speech he claims the “spirit”—a feeling of which has always figured so largely in local religion—a feeling of which has always figured so largely in local religion—seems now to him to be more of a human spirit that the spirit of a remote God; at any rate it is this human spirit which he now feels sure of , just as he feels certain that the souls of all the people go to make up one great soul: the Oversoul spoken of before.

Tom Joad moves toward a philosophy of humanism in the novel, too. At the beginning, although he is a sensitive, kind and communicative person, he is still, rather naturally, “out for himself”—individualistic, we might say, focusing on his won personal and material well-being and of course, the welfare of the Joad family. His actions, that is, stem more form particular causes and crises rather than from any sense of general principle. As he says, “I put one foot down in front of the other,” and” I climb fences when I got to climb fences.” He is, however, an admirer and disciple of Jim Casy’s almost form the beginning, too, since Jim is the first person form his past whom Tom encounters on this way home form prison. Tom always listens with curiosity and interest to Jim Casy, and later he realizes, as he tells his mother, that he has absorbed more of Casy’s philosophizing that he knew. He takes over Jim Casy’s philosophy and his tasks, too, at that point after Casy’s martyrdom when he quotes the preacher and takes up his credo that “Two are better than one.” He speaks in terms of “our people,” of doing something so that they may live decently and happily again. Tom Joad has thus enlarged his compassion to all human beings, beyond the family unit.

The women like Ma and Sairy Wilson can of course be included among the “humanists” in the novel too, for (first of all as mothers) all their actions are outgoing and predominantly selfless. Ma Joad cars about human beings and understand s them strikingly will. There are countless examples of her insight and understanding: after Grandpa’s death, later in the evening, she instructs Rosasharn to go and lie by Grandma because “she’ll be feeling lonesome now”; she is constantly attuned to the complex emotions which come with Rosasharn’s pregnancy, compounded by the desertion of her husband Connie—Ma prevents Tom from needling her, yet encourages her to see Tom’s jokes about her swelling body as affectionate, which they are; she comprehends that the girl  in her loneliness wants to enjoy the Saturday dance at Weedpatch  but desperately fears the temptation of her flesh, so that she  and Ma go and sit together, Rosasharn secure in Ma’s promise to keep her out of trouble; and at the very lowest ebb of her daughter’s morale, shortly before her baby is due, Ma makes exactly the right move by giving Rosasharn the gift of gold earrings, one of the few family possessions salvaged, and further distracts her form her troubles by piercing her ears on the spot. Ma silently and without judgment whatsoever acknowledges Uncle John’s absolute need to get drunk on the night Jim Casy has stepped forward to go to prison in place of Tome; on another occasion, she breaks down with reasonable and sympathetic words the pathetic defenses of the mother whose hungry children have licked the Joad stew pot and gone home to brag and ask questions about it. One of the prime instances of Ma’s insight into and compassion for humanity is her exchange with the scared little storekeeper at her Hooper ranch, where her hard-earned dollar is so swiftly absorbed by the exorbitant pries set by the Hooper controls. She has complained with perfect justice about the unfair price on each item of their purchases. When finished shopping and on their way out, she realizes that she still has no sugar, which she has promised the family. She asks the man to trust her for the dime’s worth of sugar, which her family is earning at the moment out in the orchards. He cannot: company rule. Not even for a dime, Ma asks? “He looked pleadingly at her. And then his face lost its fear. He took ten cents form his pocket and rang it up in the cash register. There, he said with relied. While he cannot go against the owners, out of fear, he can loan money form his won pocket…. As Ma gratefully acknowledges his huge gesture, in relative terms, she makes her point about “humanism” among the poor people in general: “I’m learning one thing good. Leaning it all a time, everyday. If you’re in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help—the only ones.”

It might be added that the humanistic philosophy we find in The grapes of Wrath has been attributed to the influence of transcendental philosophy, which stresses man’s wroth and dignity and potential depth of character, and to Walt Whitman’s exuberant belief in the masses and love of one’s fellow man.

5. Conclusion:

The Grapes of Wrath is highly valued for its social and political message. Steinbeck in his panoramic descriptions exposes the incredible ruthlessness of bankers and fruit growers and the great sufferings of the agricultural migrants in the 1930s in America. Under the circumstances, humanism is a big question merit pondering. Or more exactly, be humane is the essential thing.

The Last Leaf

Why did I choose this particular book?

I am really into short stories whether by Maupassant, Chekhov or O. Henry. Within a certain small mount of word, we can go through the whole story and easily catch the author’s vision. It’s not time-consuming at all. On some occasion, o got a volume called The Best Short Stories of O. Henry of which I like The Last Leaf best, it arouse my great interest to go through the whole volume. Then I found that Henry’s work was extremely humorous and full of surprises which left a deep impression and is quite inspiring. He had also developed a peculiarly sense of humor through the use of reasonable exaggeration, thus resonating the readers as those stories often set on an ironic or coincidental circumstance. He is a humor-creator as well as a person who can truly understand the essence of life. I was amazed that while he was in prison, Porter wrote short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. Perhaps his most well-known stories are “The Gift of the Magi”, about a poor couple and their Christmas gifts which have learned in my textbook. When I first read The Last Leaf, this sentimental piece about two women artists and their failed artist friend, whose theme is unselfishness astonished me, yet it was defined as a warm story. In this short story, old Behrman’s masterpiece not only encouraged Johnsy, it also touched thousands of readers’ heart. It reminds me of the old saying: life is a box of chocolate, you never know what you gonna get. Meanwhile, old Behrman had become a typical representative in so many merely nobodies of O. Henry's stories who had won him the respect of people across America and in Europe, even in the world history of literature.

While the world is composed of innumerable folks who are unable to improve their current situation and change the fate of themselves, as O. Henry once said that Life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles with sniffs predominating. O. Henry knew it clearly so that he wrote about those helpless, full of frustration walks of life. His humorous, energetic style shows the influence of Mark Twain—a cynical major American writer skilled at poking fun on people. He really deserves the reputation “a writer of writers” as one of the greatest American short story writers. Besides, the annual O. Henry Prize Stories dedicated to writers who have a major contribution to the art of the short stories are broadcast on air every year. Those who got the prize had a great chance to be a national best-seller.

The Analysis of The Last Leaf

Abstract：

O. Henry was one of the greatest American short story writers, and most of his works had a theme on humanity．This paper appreciates one of O．Henry’s popular short stories and tries to  explore the humanity reflected in it. Often set in his own time, O. Henry's stories are famous for their humorous language and surprise endings, to the point that such an ending is often referred to as an "O. Henry ending." His stories are usually short. The plots are exceedingly clever and interesting; humor abounds, and the ending is always surprising and unexpected. The story of The Last Leaf shows us a classical picture of the genuine friendship and self-sacrifice between three poor artists. It suggests that despite the hardships of life, people should never give up hopes and try to overcome the obstacles and change the current state and pursue a better tomorrow. There can be miracles when you believe.

Key word:

O. Henry, The Last Leaf, friendship, self-sacrifice, humor

1.     Brief Introduction of O. Henry

O. Henry was the pseudonym of the American writer William Sydney Porter in the beginning of the 20th century. Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter, a physician, and Mary Porter who sometimes wrote poetry. When William was three, his mother died from tuberculosis, and he and his father moved into the home of his maternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels. At the age of 17, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and two years later, he was licensed as a pharmacist. Porter traveled to Texas hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. There, Porter took a number of different jobs over the next several years and learned a lot, first as pharmacist then as a draftsman, bank teller and journalist singer and musician. He also began writing as a sideline. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped and got married with Athol Estes who encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Then, he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers. But he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job and later was arrested when Porter returned to Austin from Houston where he started writing for the Houston Post and he began popular in that his wife was dying. Unfortunately, Athol Estes Porter died from tuberculosis. Porter was sentenced to five years jail and imprisoned, but as a licensed pharmacist, worked in the prison hospital as the night druggist. He had fourteen stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison. Porter was released for good behavior after serving three years. Porter's most prolific writing period started in New York City where he wrote 381 short stories, a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. However, despite the success of his short stories being published in magazines and collections, Porter drank heavily thus his health began to deteriorate which affected his writing, he died in 1910.

2. Plot

This story talks about the genuine friendship and self-sacrifice between three poor artists in Greenwich Village, district west of

Washington Square

. Johnsy and Sue are best friends who met by chance, one from Maine and the other from California. A young girl, Johnsy dying of pneumonia watches the leaves fall from a vine on a building out the window. She decides that when the last leaf drops, she too will die. Old Behrman, An old French man, their neighbor, is an artist and her older sister, Sue's tutor, and struggles to paint his masterpiece. One night, during a bad storm destined to tear the last leaf from the tree, the sister closes the curtains so as to prevent her sister from seeing it fall. Much to their surprise, on the next morning the leaf remains. The last Ivy leaf ignited her desire to live and paint the Bay of Naples. In the night, the weak man had painted the leaf onto the wall with the vine, but the attack is acute. There is no hope for him to recover from the same disease, he saved her life by sacrificing his own.

3. Character Analysis

Johnsy is a girl painter suffering from pneumonia and lost her heart. She was ill and weak believing that if the last of the old Ivy leaves drop off a confounded vine, she would leave the world as well. But later as the “last” leaf staying on the tree, she realized that “It’s a sin to want to die” and became optimistic that she was going to get well and make her dreams come true. Eventually she recovered.

Sue is a loving, kind-hearted, sympathetic artist paving her way to Art who is the best friend of Johnsy. She felt very sorry about Johnsy’s illness but still tried whatever to comfort and encourage and take care of her. As the story tells“when she learned from the doctor that Johnsy only have a one- in-ten chance to recover, she cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp, but she entered into Johnsy’s room whistling ragtime”obviously she wanted to cheer Johnsy up.

These two young artist gave each other help and relief in time of poverty. During their struggle for survival they went through thick and thin together. From only a few descriptions we can see the sincere friendship between them.

Old Behrman was an old, weak, poor painter who was past sixty living on the ground floor beneath them. He is the hero appeared in the middle of the story. He was a failure in art and earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. For the rest he was a fierce little old man always talking of his coming masterpiece, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, but who regarded himself as protector the two young artists in the studio above. When he learned Johnsy’s silly idea, he attempted to conceal his true feeling, but the reader can tell it from his eyes. Then he painted his masterpiece—the “last” leaf after the last leaf fell on the dreadful night to help Johnsy to have desire to live and then catch the pneumonia which lead to his death but saving Johnny’s life.

4. Comment:

As one of America’s best loved writers, he is an expert and genius at contriving the surprising but logical ending. He portrayed the social life of America, the characters in his stories are usually plain and simple people portrayed in vivid and terse words. The Last Leaf is no more than 5000 words, this story is by no means long, but its plot has a great appeal to the readers and its artistic power is strong. When I finish reading the story, I closed the book, a kind of sadness welled up in my mind. I felt an irresistible impulse to speak to the main character in this story the Old Behrman: how kind you are! Your long-cherished wish, painting a masterpiece has come true. The leaf you painted at the cost of your own life will never wither nor fall.

The reason why Henry chose such a title for the story was to show the noble spirit of the Old Behrman—to sacrifice for others. The young woman-artist lying on her death bed was almost spiritually collapsed. From my point of view, the hero in this very story is Old Behrman, but at the beginning of the story, the other two main characters appeared instead of Old Behrman. He didn’t turn up until a few passages of description of them. He may be unimportant in readers’ eye, and the description of him “Behrman was a failure in art…He drank gin to excess, scoffed terribly at softness in any one…” didn’t make a good impression on readers. Surprisingly, it was this old man who painted the leaf which prompted the dying Johnsy to cast off her spiritual burden on a windy, stormy November night. This kind of indirect description of the main character shows Old Behrman’s kind, loving heart, though ugly in appearance. His noble spirit wipes out the bad former impression from my mind and I have bountiful admiration towards him.

O. Henry praised the love and humanity of life. Old Behrman sacrificed his life to paint that leaf and he created a miracle. When Johnsy’s saw the leaf clinging to its stem against the wall after the heavy storm, the loneliest thing in the world is a soul when it’s ready to give up hope of survival. The leaf is more than a leaf, it’s a symbol of the continuing of Behrman’s life, a conjunction between Johnsy and friendship in secular world, a mercy among the poor in this miserable world. It comforts the loneliest soul through the roaring north wind and the down-pour. “Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die” under this very faith, and she survived at last. Behrman gave her the greatest gifts all over the world—the most unselfish, unconditioned love and friendship and with these Johnsy regained her strength to go on her life. As the doctor put it whenever the patient began to count the carriages in her funeral procession, 50 percent should be subtracted from the curative power of medicines.

The last leaf is not afraid of coldness and chilliness, nor tempestuous gale or heavy rain, it never fades away, always there never falling down. It is the masterpiece of Behrman and symbol of his sacrifice. Using his own life to save the young artist’s, his body decreased, however, his art life remains eternally.

Love and friendship give people the power to rebirth. When he found Johnsy in bed, his red eyes streamed. Though being poor and miserable, he is full of sympathy, kindness and humanity. A never-falling leaf connects two lives, how marvelous the conception is! What a startling and reversed ending! Only in the last passage did readers and the two painters realized that the leaf was painted by old Behrman for the sake of Johnsy not by God or other magic. We got the truth by implying from the last few sentences rather than being told directly, and that gave free play of readers’ imagination. I can imagine on the dreary night, the last leaf dropped the old Behrman managed to drag the ladder with great efforts and climbed shakily the ladder high enough to paint the leaf on the wall with a lighted lantern in one hand.  He got wet from head to toe by the icy rain drops, he must be shivering with cold in the rain. When he finished how joyful would he be! When he was ill in bed he might be satisfied that he finally protected those two young artists as always. On the other hand, it was not completely clueless but logical and reasonable if readers meditate more profoundly. The deep sympathy and the sincere friendship among people from lower class make it especially pleasing and moving.

Being one of the three greatest short story writers, besides Maupassant and Chekhov, The O. Henry Award is a prestigious annual prize named after Porter and given to outstanding short stories, we can see the immense influence of O. Henry. Porter read the works of Maupassant, they are both gifted with a clear style and a keen observation of details and many of his stories set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century tell about the lives of poor people such as clerks, policemen, waitresses in New York, as well as in other places. His stories are usually short. The plots are exceedingly clever and interesting; humor abounds, and the ending is always surprising and unexpected. As Porter said: “There are stories in everything”, in his stories, it was at these inconspicuous and ordinary places that the unexpected and accidental coincidences took place all the time. It could be this restaurant, the street, that corner. He is really adept at writing about ordinary people of middle or lower social class in everyday circumstances. The author’s rich life experiences became the source of depicting such a variety of occupations. 

As being mentioned over and over again, Henry had a fine sense of humor. He uses personification to describe the Pneumonia germ as if it was a visible evil with teeth bared and claws out spread, as if it really “stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers”. When we read this, we would surely be deeply grieved by the misfortune of the two young poor artists and detest the villain-like germ.

His wit, characterization and plot twists were adored by his readers, but often panned by critics. Due to the limitation of the time and his attitude towards life, O. Henry’s stories stay on the depiction of a specific character at a specific time, he didn’t touch the root of the capitalism nor did he analyze the phenomena of society, therefore it confined it’s expression of realism. As he once confessed: he wrote to make a living to entertain the readers. He failed to represent a more realistic and profound aspects of the situation in that period. Too much did his stories rely on coincidence which made them astray from the reality. Those unexpected endings brought people surprises, yet from another point of view they are lack of depth and social commentary and criticism. But there is no doubt that O. Henry is a master of short stories, a original genius, a man of the people. And he is able to see a world in a grain of sand which is the essence of realism.

Conclusion:

In less than five thousand words, the story covers a bountiful content of society and the special charm of O. Henry’s work. When the ending is revealing, it reached its climax and its end. From every aspects, The Last Leaf is a masterpiece that was popular and is widely appreciated and will be treasured and cherished.

To make a comprehensive view of O. Henry's work, he not only chiefly portrayed the hero’s mentality but also fully revealed the American social reality in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century. O. Henry's work provides one of the best examples of catching the entire flavor of an age written in the English language and investigates the tensions of class and wealth in turn-of-the-century New York. As a writer from the bottom of society he always took sympathy on ordinary people. The Last Leaf contained a far-reaching significance and remained us that despite the hardships of life, people should never give up hopes and try to overcome the obstacles and change the current state and pursue a better tomorrow as long as there are all the goodness of life: friendship self-sacrifice. There can be miracles when you believe.

Faith——Invincible Power

Abstract：

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe, mainly describes the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave with faithful religious belief, who dies the death of a Christian martyr. It is also a novel which vividly depicts the reality of slavery while also reflects that Christian love can overcome the devil slavery.

Key word:

Uncle Tom,   slavery,   religious belief

Faith-Invincible Power

1. Introduction of Author and Background Knowledge

Stowe is the daughter of a preacher. People around her are all eccentric and intelligent. In her childhood time, she learned Latin and wrote a geography book. She devotes herself to the abolishment of slavery in her lifetime. Stowe once lived in Cincinnati, of which experience enables her to see the both sides of the slavery debate without losing her abolitionist’s perspective. She often writes some satirical articles on the subjects for the local papers there.

Before creating this work Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she has done a lot of efforts. She writes to Frederick Douglass and others for help in creating a realistic picture of slavery in south. Her black cook and household servants also help her a lot by telling her stories of their slavery days.

The main purpose of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is to convince the readers, especially the northern readers of necessity of abolishing slavery. Most immediately, this novel also serves the response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal to give aid to slave. Through this work, Stowe reveals the horrors of the southern slavery to the people in the north. And also emphasizes the importance of Christian love in eradicating oppression. At meantime, she also works in her feminist belief, showing women as equals to men in intelligence, bravery and spiritual strength. Looking through the text, to its impact on its society, the readers may gain understanding of the historical forces contributing to the outbreak of war.

2. Plot

  The story begins with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farmer because of heavy debt. Although he and his wife are both warm-hearted and they build a good relationship with their slaves, he still has to sell two of the slaves to Mr. Haley to raise money——one is Uncle Tom, a middle aged man with a wife and children, the other is Harry, the young son of Mrs. Shelby’s maid Eliza. When Mr. Shelby tells his wife this idea, she feels every shocked because she has promised Eliza that they will never sell her son. When Eliza overhears Mr. Shelby’s taking, she decides to run away for she doesn’t want to lose her beloved son. With the help of Quakers, they arrive in the safety. Meantime, Uncle Tom is sold and placed on a riverboat. While on board, Tom meets a young white girl with the purest heart name Eva. Soon, they become good friends. One time, Eva falls into the river, and Tom saves her. To express gratitude, Eva’s father buys Tom from Haley. The time Tom spends with Eva is the happiest time during his lifetime because they share the deep Christian faith. However, happy time is always not long, after Tom has lived with the St. Clare for two years. Eva grows very ill and then dies. Eva’s death has a deep effect on everyone who has known her. St. Chare decides to give Tom free. However, before he could carry out his promise, he dies when trying to settle a brawl.

St. Clare’s cruel wife Marie, sells Tom to a cruel farmer named Simon Legree. Legree takes Tom to a rural Louisiana, where he meets Legree’s other slaves, including Emmeline. Legree always beats Tom severely because Tom refuses to take his order of beating other slaves. While at plantation, Tom meets Cassy, another slave of Legree. Cassy and Emmeline escape successfully finally. However, when Tom refuses to tell Legree where Cassy and Emmeline have gone, Legree orders overseers to beat Tom and finally Tom dies. George Shelby arrives with money in hand to buy Tom’s freedom but it is too late. He returns to the Kentucky farm. After his father’s death, he sets all the slaves free in honor of Tom’s memory.

3. Character Analysis

Uncle Tom: a kind and warm-hearted person with faithful belief in God. Tom insists in his faithful belief in God all the time even at the worst time. Later, the cruel treatment that Tom suffers at the hands of Simon Legree threatens his belief in God, but Tom stands all the sufferings and finally dies as a Christian martyr.

Arthur Shelby: the owner of Uncle Tom in Kentuchy. Although he is well-educated, kind and warm-hearted, finally he sells two of kind slaves to the cruel farmer, of which action is intolerable. Maybe in the grand background of slavery, a lot of people without their own intention of attending the devil slavery are forced to take part in.

Emily Shelby: Mr. Shelby’s wife. She is a woman full of love and wisdom. In the story, she tries her best to influence her husband to help the slaves.

Eva: a white angelic girl. She is so kind and warm-hearted and shows deep sympathy to all people around her including the slaves. She feels great pity about the existence of slavery. In her opinion, there is no difference between the black and the white. Her death also makes deep effect on the people around her.

Simon Legree：A cruel slave owner. His goal is to demoralize Tom and break him of his religious faith; he eventually orders Tom whipped to death out of frustration for his slave's unbreakable belief in God. The novel reveals that, as a young man, he had abandoned his sickly mother for a life at sea, and ignored her letter to see her one last time at her deathbed. He sexually exploits Cassy, who despises him, and later sets his designs on Emmeline.

4. Style

Uncle Tom's Cabin is written in the sentimental and melodramatic style common to 19th century sentimental novels and domestic fiction (also called women's fiction). These genres were the most popular novels of Stowe's time and tended to feature female main characters and a writing style which arouse a reader's sympathy and emotion. Even though Stowe's novel differs from other sentimental novels by focusing on a large theme like slavery and by having a man as the main character, she still set out to elicit certain strong feelings from her readers (such as making them cry at the death of Little Eva). The power in this type of writing can be seen in the reaction of contemporary readers. Georgiana May, a friend of Stowe's, wrote a letter to the author, saying, "I was up last night long after one o'clock, reading and finishing Uncle Tom's Cabin. I could not leave it any more than I could have left a dying child."

 Despite this positive reaction from readers, for decades literary critics dismissed the style found in Uncle Tom's Cabin and other sentimental novels because these books were written by women and so prominently featured "women's sloppy emotions." One literary critic said that had the novel not been about slavery, "it would be just another sentimental novel," while another described the book as "primarily a derivative piece of hack work." In The Literary History of the United States, George F. Whicher called Uncle Tom's Cabin "Sunday-school fiction", full of "broadly conceived melodrama, humor, and pathos."

5. Themes

      The most obvious theme this novel depicts is the evil and immorality of slavery. Although in most parts of the novel, the relationship between slaves and masters seems positive and amicable, that doesn’t mean slavery just narrowly exists. In fact, the author wants to depict such a truth that slavery exists anywhere even in the most ideal place. We can see a lot of characters like Shelby and St. Clare, although they are kind and clever, their tolerance of the slavery still depicts the weakness in the moral. We can see that the slaves still could not escape their sad fate even they meet kind master, just as Shelby still sells two of the kind and loyal slaves under a heavy debt. The slaves even couldn’t escape their suffering fate with the kind master, not alone the evil and cruel slavery. Eva, the most perfect character in the novel, stick to think that there is no difference between the black and the white. While the cruel and evil Legree, with no belief in Christianity, practices slavery almost as a policy of deliberate blasphemy and evil.

      Another theme this novel depicts is the moral power of women. We can see that the time the story happens is the late 1800s, when the women’s rights movement are widespread. Some people this novel behave morally conscientious, committed, and courageous. Throughout the novel, we may see many examples of idealized womanhood, of perfect mothers and wives who try their best to protect and save their children and husbands. Maybe their own effect and force are limited，however, this influence do exist in the history.

5. Comments and Thoughts

     After reading this novel, the most impressive two figures on me is Uncle Tom and Eva. Next I will talk something about these two figures according to my personal perspective. Although I know the author Stowe tries her best to depict an ultimately and completely faithful and loyal figure — Uncle Tom, and this kind of personality may achieve significant effect on that special period with deep religious atmosphere. In my personal perspective, I have very complicated feeling toward Uncle Tom, on the one hand, just as the author tries to describe, I admit Uncle Tom’s loyalty, faithfulness toward God, his kindness, and warm heart . I’m not only once impressed and touched by Uncle Tom’s sacrificial spirit. As a slave, he is always loyal and faithful to all his masters, including the devil and cruel Legree; He is always ready and willing to help other slaves who have the same unfortunate fate as him; He tries his best to show his mercy and kindness to all the people around him；He even forgives Legree and the overseers when he is near death. It seems that he never considers his own life and his own value. The more feeling I have towards Uncle is the pity and anger about his weakness. He behaves so passive and accepted of the slavery and always please his white masters and happy to accept his own position of inferiority. It does exist some chances for him to escape and get rid of his fate as a slave, however, he gives up and misses once chance by another. Uncle Tom’s weakness is reflected more obvious compared wit other slaved who tries their best to fight against the fate and seek freedom and happiness.

      In the beginning, when Mr. Shelby decides to sell the slave, Eliza and uncle Tom give the totally different response towards this decision. When Eliza overhears Mr. and Mrs. Shelby discussing plans to sell Tom and Harry, she determines immediately to run away with her son, because she fears losing her only surviving child. She proves the force and motherly love as well as her strength of spirit by making a spectacular escape. Her brave and decisive action forms sharply contrast with Uncle Tom’s willingly accepted his fate and is sold to cruel master. I feel such great pity that Tom doesn’t take this chance, maybe he could escape and fight against his unfortunate fate as Eliza does, however, he doesn’t.

      As the story goes on, when I read this part Cassy comes to Uncle Tom in the night and tells him that she wants to kill Legree. Tom tells her not to, because it is a sin. I feel rather furious. If killing such a devil and cruel person is a sin, then how about other innocent slaves killed by Legree. Every man is born equally. Every life is precious and we should treat all the lives equally, no matter the black and the white. What’s more, when he encourages Cassy and Emmeline to escape, he himself never considers escaping and getting rid of the unfortunate fate. That’s really so weak and ridiculous of Tom to do so. When I know Legree beats Tom all night, and then he orders Sambo and Quimbo, the overseers, to continue the beating. Tom prays and remains pious to the end, touching Sambo and Quibo’s hearts. Tom prays that their heats can be saved. I really show much sympathy on Tom. However what I strongly doubt is whether it still belong to the faith this kind of acceptance his position of inferiority with happiness and his selflessly endure his trials and love everyone. I suppose the faith of Christianity is to own a kind and warm heart to all living creatures——undoubtedly include the precious and valuable life. Life is always the most precious. It is only with life that Tom can show this mercy and kindness to the people around him. In my personal perspective, to value life is to respect life; to respect life is to respect the faith in God. Thus, I suppose Uncle Tom’s behavior of standing firm in his so-called values and submitting to being beaten for his beliefs and not capitulate or run away is unbearable. It is a reflection of weakness and incompetence. Maybe I’m still too young to fully and deeply understand the whole image of the character of Uncle Tom, however, I’m haunted with complicated and contradictory feeling towards Uncle Tom all the time when I’m reading this novel.

      Another figure impressing me most is Eva. She is so kind, pure, like an angel, full of love in her heart. It seems that she always tries her best to use the power of love to influence and educate the people around her. I even feel that the author tries to take advantage of the power of love to overcome anything devil and cruel, especially the deep-rooted slavery. I feel great pity and sorry for Eva’s death, however, I must believe this kind of death is a kind of quiet and beautiful death. From the novel we can see that Eva’s death proves the crucial catalyst in Ophelia’s transformation, and she comes to love Topsy as a human being, overcoming her racial prejudice. What’s more, after Eva’s death, her father decides to give Tom free. I suppose all these changes should own to the power of love. Although after Eva’s death, Uncle Tom doesn’t get rid of his unfortunate fate and the deep-rooted slavery still exist in society, this power of love does make great influence on that society and also touch and shock my heart.

      When I’m reading this novel, the several supernatural instances the author use make the novel more vividly and also arouse my great interest and appreciation. For example, when Eliza leaps over the Ohio river, jumping rapidly between blocks of ice without fear or pain, the text tells us that she has been endowed with a “strength such as Good gives only to the desperate,” facilitating her escape from oppression. Similarly, when Tom’s faith begins to lapse at the Legree Plantation, he is visited by religious visions, thus sustaining him in his passive resistance of Legree. Another example is before Eva’s death, she glimpses a view of heaven and experiences a miraculous presentiment of her own death, I suppose, the author wants to take advantage of all the supernatural forces to fight against slavery.

      What’s more, when Legree beats Tom, he has an upsetting vision of his dead mother and becomes uneasy and feeling that he is haunted by the ghost in the fog. The fear weakens Legree to the point that Cassy and Emmeline can trick him into believing that ghost haunt the garret, which enable them to escape successfully. Some people may doubt this kind of fabrication. However, in my personal perspective, it is this fabrication that makes the whole novel full mysterious and fantastic colors. I couldn’t help to appreciate author’s great wisdom and ingenious writing skills.

One of the reasons why I like this novel very much is that I appreciate all the happy ending novels. Near the end of this novel, George Shelby frees his slaves and he tells them that when they look at Uncle Toms’ cabin, they should remember their freedom and delicate themselves to leading a Christian life like Uncle Tom’s. It seems that Uncle Sam’s cabin becomes a permanent memory and reminds us now and then that Uncle Tom has suffered a lot as a slave. When I finish reading, the image of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is so close and directly to me firstly and then at the back of Uncle Tom’s cabin we may read and feel the deep meanings. Thus I would rather compare Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a house which opens on eternity.

After I finish reading this novel, I may have a deep understanding of what is the devil slavery and what influence and suffering it bring; I sense the power of love and people’s strong will of overcoming difficulty; I’m deeply touched by the beauty, goodness and truth that exist in all the corners around the world.

This book really taught me a lot. At least, it teaches me to be more optimistic and strongly convinces me if everyone own a gratitude heart, the world will be better. Also this book makes me to have more thoughts on life: add love to a house and you have a home; Add righteousness to a city and you have a community; Add truth to a pile of brick and you have a school; Add all the beautiful things together, we will have a future lighted with the radiant colors of hope.

Understanding of the Call of the Wild

Why did you choose this particular book? Typical reasons might be:

1. It is a masterpiece by the famous author Jack London who I like very much.

2. I’ve heard of the name of the masterpiece even when I was in primary school.

3. As well as being both a nature story and an exploration of the human condition, The call of the Wild also operates on the level of myth, and it attracts me a lot.

4. The story of Buck touched me a lot. Buck’s story of defeating his bitter rival, replacing Spitz’s leadership, conquering the harsh living environment by his perseverance gives me lots of inspirations

5. I am fond of the subjects and this kind of book

                 Understanding of the Call of the wild

Abstract：

    In August 1896, a group of prospectors in the Yukon Territory hit what would prove to be the richest lode of gold in the world. This discovery soon drew hundreds of thousands of people to a gold rush in the frozen north. Eleven months later, in July 1897, Jack London, then a poor twenty-year-old with literary ambitions,, left his home in Oakland, California,, to join the hordes seeking fortune and adventure on the Klondike River. The Yukon in those days was filled out not only with fortune hunters, but with dogs., for dogs were the only means for transportation over the ice and snow. London and his party camped nearby, and frequently visited with the Bond brothers, friends form California who had also come to mine for gold. London took a special liking to a big dog, Jack, across between a St.Bernard and a shepherd. Five years after his return and launching his career as a writer, he published his most popular book The Call of the Wild, about a dog named Buck inspired by his friend’s dog, Jack. This thesis focuses on analyzing Buck’s adventurous life from which we can see the human condition at that time. This thesis will help us form more profound ideas on Jack London.

 Key word:  Jack London; gold rush; hardship; human; hero; wild

Understanding of the Call of the wild

1. Brief Introduction of Jack London

Jack London, an illegitimate child born in San Francisco in 1876 and reared in poverty across the bay in Oakland, California, had become the highest-paid, most widely read, and best-known writer in America by the time he was thirty-seven years old. In part, Jack London achieved such tremendous popularity because he was the quintessential American adventurer, a westerner living in a country that culturally thrived on and was identified with exploration of unknown territory. He lived an adventurous life and then used events from his own life as fodder for his profession as a writer.

2. Plot

In nineteenth century, the gold discovered in Alaska causes waves of people come to Alaska. These people need a lot of sled dogs to help them pull sleds. Therefore many dogs are sold to the north to take to the hard work of pulling sleds。

Buck, a Saint Bernard-Shepherd dog, lives a comfortable life in the Santa Clara Valley with his owner, Judge Miller. One day, Manuel, the Judge's gardener's assistant, steals Buck and sells him in order to pay a gambling debt. Buck’s life totally changed.  Buck is then shipped to the "man in the red sweater" to be broken. Then Buck is shipped to Alaska and sold to a pair of French Canadians named Fran?ois and Perrault (for $300), who were impressed with his physique. They train him as a sled dog, and he quickly learns how to survive the cold winter nights and the pack society by observing his teammates. He and the vicious, quarrelsome lead dog, Spitz, develop a rivalry. Buck eventually bests Spitz in a major fight, and after Spitz is defeated, the other dogs close in, killing him. Buck then becomes the leader of the team.

Eventually, Buck is sold to a man named Charles, his wife, Mercedes, and her brother, Hal, who know nothing about sledding nor surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. They struggle to control the sled and ignore warnings not to travel during the spring melt. They first overfeed the dogs, then when their food supply starts running out, they do not feed them at all. As they journey on, they run into John Thornton, an experienced outdoorsman who notices that all of the sled dogs are in terrible shape from the ill treatment of their handlers. Thornton warns the trio against crossing the river, but they refuse to listen and order Buck to mush or move on. Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck refuses and continues to lay in the snow not moving except for breathing and blinking. After being beaten by Hal, Thornton recognizes him as a remarkable dog and is disgusted by the driver's beating of the dog. Thornton cuts him free from his traces and tells the trio he's keeping him, much to Hal's displeasure. After some argument, the trio leaves and tries to cross the river, but as Thornton warned, the ice gives way and the three fall into the river along with the neglected dogs and sled.

As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck comes to love him and grows devoted to him. Buck saves Thornton when the man falls into a river. Thornton then takes him on trips to pan for gold. During one such trip, a man makes a wager with Thornton over Buck's strength and devotion. Buck wins the bet by breaking a half-ton sled out of the frozen ground, then pulling it 100 yards by himself, winning over a thousand dollars in gold dust. Thornton and his friends return to their camp and continue their search for gold, while Buck begins exploring the wilderness around them and begins socializing with a wolf from a local pack. One night, he returns from a short hunt to find his beloved master and the others in the camp have been killed by a group of Yeehat Indians. Buck eventually kills the Indians to avenge Thornton. After realizing his old life is a thing of the past, Buck follows the wolf into the forest and answers the call of the wild.

3. Character Analysis

In order to make a better character analysis of Frederic Henry, I want to first briefly analyze other main characters that helped the development of the story and foiled the man in the novel.

Buck：The protagonist of our story, Buck is part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd. At the beginning of the story, Buck is a domesticated, but atypical dog who lives in the home of Judge Miller in California.

He is a massive, strong, regal dog with rich coat of fur. He is intelligent, courageous, self-confident, and even-tempered except when pushed too far. After being kidnapped and taken to Alaska to become a sled-dog, Buck's wild nature is reawakened, and he slowly returns to the ways of his ancestors. He is as fierce as any wolf in the wild. He is sparing with his affection, but protective of his weaker team members and capable of great loyalty. The chief theme of the novel is his growth through adversity. Not only is Buck the central character of the novel, but the story is primarily from his point of view.

Spitz: An experienced and clever Husky, Spitz is the original lead dog of Buck's dogsled team. He fears and hates Buck, whom he sees as a rival. He is eventually killed by Buck in a fight for leadership.

Curly: A sweet Newfoundland dog, one of Buck's first companions after he has been kidnapped. She is unexpected killed for trying to make friendly advances toward another dog.

Dave: Another one of Buck's first companions, he is one of the most knowledgeable dogs on the team. Mostly aloof, new life springs into him the moment he is placed in a harness. Not only does he help teach Buck the procedures, he also embodies pride in his work.

Sol-leks: Another member of the team. Like Dave, he is aloof until attached to a sled. At first only wary of being approached on his blind-side, poor treatment makes Sol-Leks more and more unfriendly.

Billie: Another member of the team. He is good-natured and sweet, and he shows Buck how to make a bed in the snow. He is killed by Hal.

Joe: Another member of the team, Billie's brother. Unlike Billie, Joe is always snarling and defensive.

Pike: Another member of the team, often referred to as "the malingerer." He rarely gets up on time, and he will steal food and generally undermine the expedition. When Buck becomes leader, he forces Pike to shape up and become a helpful member of the team.

Dub: Another member of the team. He is an awkward blunderer who gets blamed for Buck's thievery.

Dolly: Another member of the team, Dolly goes mad after being bitten by wild huskies, tries to attack Buck, and is killed by Francois.

Skeet: A motherly Irish setter who belongs to John Thornton. She nurses Buck through his recovery and engages him in play.

Nig: A huge black dog who belongs to John Thornton. He has laughing eyes and a good nature.

Lone wolf: The "wild brother" that Buck meets in the forest. He understands Buck's wild nature.

Judge Miller: Buck's original owner. He is presumably a sedate and prosperous man with a large family.

Manuel: The gardener's helper on Judge Miller's estate. He kidnaps and sells Buck to fund his gambling habit.

Red sweater: Also known as the man with the club. He metes out discipline to all dogs that will be sold for sledding. Ruthless in his repeated beatings of unruly creatures such as Buck, he maintains composure and control. He does not beat out of cruelty, it seems. Rather, he looks to teach these dogs the lessons that will allow them to survive in this harsh environment. Buck never forgets the law of the club.

Francois: A Canadian Frenchman, the original dogsled driver. He is knowledgeable and understanding of his dogs, but still very strict.

Perrault: Francois's superior and an agent of the Canadian government. He is admired by Buck for his fearlessness in blazing their trail, disregarding the threat of ice that might break.

Hal: A young man of nineteen or twenty who purchases Buck and his team once they have used up their usefulness to the government. He has ambitions to find gold, but his incompetence and laziness are out of place in the harsh environment. He has no understanding of the dogs, and mistreats them terribly.

Charles: Hal's brother-in-law, a weak figure who does not say much. He basically follows Hal around and does what he is told.

Mercedes: Sister of Hal, wife of Charles. She is exceedingly self-centered, and spends most of her time crying and complaining.

John Thornton: The man who rescues Buck from Hal's cruelty. He is by far the most admirable human character in the story, kind but full of the uncompromising strength that is necessary to survive on the trail. John is the ideal master because his nature is so dog-like.

    Pete: One of John Thornton's partners.

Hans: One of John Thornton's partners.

"Black" Burton:A notorious troublemaker, he picks a fight in a bar and John Thornton steps in.

Matthewson: The man who bets John that Buck cannot pull a ton of weight.

Jim O'Brien: The man who loans John the money to make the bet against Matthewson.

Yeehats: The group of Valley Indians that raids the camp of John Thornton and his companions and kills them. They are terrorized when Buck returns and kills most of them. From then on they speak of a dog inhabited by the devil that roams the forest.

4. Comment:

On an individual level, Buck seems to parallel Jack himself. Like Buck, London was born and grow up in north California. After leaving home, he travelled deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness, as Buck does,, observing the depth to which the human beings can sink in their treatment of each other and the savagery of nature itself. As a young man, London began to experience the violence and hardship caused by nature Jogos Dora and man in the jobs he took on for survival: working on ranches, farms and canneries in California, where living and working conditions were abominable. He got his glimpse of hardship in the sweatshops operating around San Francisco. His search for adventure brought him into contact with the violence of nature during a seal-hunting in Hawaii, where he was also shocked by what man had done to man. He also got glimps of human degradation during his march across the country in what was known as “Kelly’s Army” to protest economic conditions and the plight of the poor. For the portrait of Buck, who was caged and chained after his kidnapping,     London seemed to draw on his own experience during the march: his imprisonment for vagrancy in Erie County, Ohio. Like Buck, he was aghast at seeing nature in the raw in the Klondike during the gold rush. Even this, however, was appealing as what he witnessed in London, England, shortly after he returned from the Klondike and while he was composing The Call of the Wild. His letters reveal that he could scarcely take in the extent of human suffering among the lower classes in a country so wealthy and “civilized”. This experience strengthened his commitment to socialism, for he saw what civilization, specially capitalism and governmental incompetence, had done to those on the bottom of the economic ladder.

The number of dog characters in the dog characters in the novel equals the number of human characters. At the beginning of the story, we meet two small house dogs and miscellaneous hunting dogs on Judge Miller’s ranch; and at the end, among John Thornton’s dogs are two favored pets, killed by a group of Indians called Yeehats. In between, eleven dogs with distinct personalities are introduced: the naive and friendly Newfoundland, Curly, who is slaughtered by a pack of dogs in the port city of Dyea upon their arrival in Alaska; Spitz, the lead dog and Buck’s bitter rival; Dave, the old dog who want to be left alone and who tries to insist on working even while he is dying; Billee, the friendly appeaser; bad-tempered Joe; old, one-eyed, angry Sol-leks; Dolly, who goes mad; Pile, the shriker; Dub, the thief; and Koona and Teek, the two dogs who join the team just in time to perish the ice.

Moreover, the story is not only a story of dog’s adventurous transformation, it is also a story in which a dog’s life reflects the truth about the human condition. In this case, the story dora games bears some resemblance to the literary from known as the beast fable, which gives human characteristics to an animal in order to illustrate or satirize human society or human nature.

As well as being both a nature story and an exploration of the human condition, The call of the nature also operates on the level of myth. When Buck defeats Spitz, he insists on the lead and performs his job in rare fashion. His legendary staus grows when he breaks the sled out of the ice. At the end, he has become the Ghost Dog. He is no longer just a dog, but a supernatural being.

The ending was neither tragic nor comedic. It was significant and thoughtful. He kills human (savages), the noblest creatures on earth, and he knew what it means. Buck answers the call of the wild finally and joins the pack. The ending was kind of legendary: Buck is successful in passing his excellent genes to future generations. In legends Yeehat’s folk tell about a Ghost Dog who leads a pack of wolves through mysterious forests.

5. Conclusion:

This book is an all-time classic. It's told from the viewpoint of a dog, something that instantly appeals to an animal lover like me. It has a lot of graphic violent imagery, especially toward the end, so it might offend some of the more squeamish readers. Also, it was written a very long time ago, so if we're not familiar with old literature, some of the language may sound a bit archaic. But it's worth the read; it starts slow, but it becomes really fascinating as the climax draws near.

We can read London’s adventure tale The call of the Wild from the aspects following: adventure and myth, the Alaskan Panhandle and the Yukon Territory, the Yukon gold rush, the sled dog, cooking games online and the most important and human’s relationship with animals. The most vivid and touching aspect the story shows us is the complex relationships between man and nature, and animals’ struggle with their own nature in man’s world. So The Call of the Wild is really a masterpiece worth our in-depth reading and researching.