Elena Agathokleous 
The vision of masculinity in Jack London’s ‘The Law of Life’ and ‘To Build a Fire’ 

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies – Literature, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: Jack London’s short stories “To build a fire” and “The law of nature” both deal with two men who are two distinctly different characters both in a struggle with nature’s mercilessness and by comparing the two stories we can infer what London believed about being a man in 1900 America.

Jack London was characterized as a naturalist writer because of his ability to write about nature realistically and mainly out of experience while at the same time he explored the issue of masculinity. Through the adversities of nature in London’s texts men are found in dire situations which push them to reveal their true self. London’s male protagonists are very often on a course through which they come against natural forces able to destroy them and very often men are led to their demise by their greatest enemy, nature. The idea of men’s struggle against hostile nature is persistent in London’s work which at times also stresses man’s weaknesses and limits.