Jack Londons The Law of Life depicts the indifference of nature to the

approaching death of an old man. Abandoned in the snow by his tribe, nearly blind
and lame, old Koskoosh lies beside a fire with only a handful of twigs to keep him
from freezing. He is aware of his imminent end, but calmly accepts the fact that all
men must die. In the few remaining hours of his life, he reflects on the never ending
cycle of life and death, on how even the most vigorous animal would fall prey to old
age and its predators. In all this, he concludes that nature did not care whether a
man lived or died: the perpetuation of the species was all that mattered. Koskoosh
recalls how the Great Famine ravaged his tribe, against which they were all helpless.
Here, London brings into focus an indifferent nature, heedless of the wailings of the
villagers until nearly all of them starved to death. Koskoosh also remembers how
the times of plenty awakened the blood lust in his people until they revived ancient
quarrels and waged war on their enemies. In this case, the brute within man,
another frequent theme of the naturalistic work, is awakened and unleashed.

Leaving a sick member of the family to die alone in a harsh environment may seem
cruel to the more civilized peoples of the world, but to the native tribe of Koskoosh,
inured by times of great famine and constant struggle with wind and snow, such
custom is not only imperative, but an act of kindness: a man who has outlived his
usefulness does not have to endure the humiliation of being a burden to his kin,
who are themselves struggling to survive. In his final moments, the old man
remembers a moose that fought off wolves until it was overpowered and fell on the
bloody snow. That recollection is a foreshadowing of his own death: wolves are
closing in on him as his small fire is almost extinguished. But unlike the moose
which fights to the very end, Koskoosh calmly awaits the inevitable.

Jack London's short story The Law of Life follows Koskoosh, an elder member of an
indigenous tribe in the Klondike, through his final living hours. Because of the harsh
environment, scarcity of food, and the importance of the group's survival, the tribe
abandons the blind, old man in the tundra with only a fire burning nearby and a few
pieces of wood to sustain it. While the man waits for death, the reader learns,
through Koskoosh's memory, of his life, his tribe's traditions, and the laws of nature
to which he'd always known he was subject. This essay will explore London's tale by
explaining its attractiveness to a broad audience; by detailing Koskoosh as a
character; and by illustrating some "laws of life" to which London introduces the
reader, both explicit and implicit.

If the description of The Law of Life read simply "The Death of an Indigenous
Tribesman in the Klondike", many readers would immediately turn away. Worded like
that, the topic appears irrelevant to the average American audience. Still, London
managed to bring an audience whose lives are vastly different from the story's main
character, people who would never find themselves in Koskoosh's situation, into the
story by focusing on a something all human beings eventually face regardless of
their lifestyles: the inevitability of death. The reader does not have to know
anything about the tribe to relate to the character; the thoughts before death of this
man reflect what many imagine their own thoughts will include: memories of youth,
life, and family mixed with fear.

In addition to the common ground upon which both the reader and the character
stand, the story itself is written in a manner that allows for widespread readership.
Though the topic is complex, the words themselves are not. London does not use
flowery language nor does he over-complicate to get his point across. Instead, he
opts to tell his story naturally and simplistically. This straight-to-the-point technique
works well in a story that deals with abandoning something unnecessary for the
good of the whole. To convolute it would injure the story itself and discourage the
audience from reading it in the first place.

Although the story's length limits the amount of growth one can expect to see in a
character, the reader understands that the dying, old Koskoosh in the story is not
the same Koskoosh of his youth. While he did not complain about his fate, he
becomes sympathetic to other living beings that were abandoned when the group
deemed them a burden, though in his childhood he would not have given further
thought to leaving an old tribe member behind to die. He had even left his own
father when it was his time (London 392.) The reader witnesses this change of
perspective the most when he relates the tale of the moose being chased by
wolves.

When he was a child, Koskoosh and his friend wanted to watch the moose die, and
were even excited about it, remembering, "How Zing-ha and he felt the bloodlust
quicken! The finish would be a sight to see!" (393.) He then goes on to tell about
how the moose, against the odds, fought the wolves because it wanted to live.
When the wolves encircle Koskoosh in the end of the story, he again recalls the
moose's final stand (394.) While he decides that fighting the wolves in his case is
hopeless, he's still very sympathetic to the moose's desire for life. Even he had
been upset that his granddaughter did not bring him more wood, despite her duty
to the tribe. Likewise, he still held out hope that his son would return for him. (393)
But in his own youth, he would have done the same as they had, but as death gets
nearer, he gets a bit upset that they are following tradition.

Though as a person, I did not want Koskoosh to be devoured by wolves in the end,
as a reader, I understand that that was the only way to end the story without losing
its legitimacy. Had his son returned or had Koskoosh died peacefully, the entire "law
of life" theme would have been rendered irrelevant. To make such a bold statement
as "nature did not care"(391), and then end with a rescue or a quiet death would
have shown some benevolence on behalf of the environment, contrary to the whole
story from the beginning. Though Koskoosh feels some sympathy for those who
have been through what he is going though, he does not feel regret because deep
down he understands the death is a law of life, and, like the ending of this tale, it is
merciless. It could not have been written any other way.

Besides illustrating to the reader that death is an inevitability, there other lessons
one can draw from this story. First, there is the fact that while Koskoosh grew up
understanding the laws of nature, most Americans do not live "close to the earth" in
a sense and may not know these laws (391.) Despite this, all humans, whether they
know them or not, are still subject to them. Second, the survival of man relies on
nature. When there was a great famine, the tribe almost did not make it (392.)
Likewise, industrialized society would not make it if not for agriculture in rural areas
or in other parts of the world. Although it is not seen everywhere, nature still has a
huge hand in the lives of all humans.

One major theme that stands out in the story is the question of the ethical
treatment of the elderly and dying. London does an expert job at allowing the
reader to pity Koskoosh without viewing his tribe as cruel. While it is understood
that this must happen to ensure the survival of that particular group, the reader still
sees the functioning and living mind of this old man. According to the philosophy of
dualism, " -- a human being is a combination of two distinct parts: a body and mind
-- " (Creel 240) This is a very common assumption. Most people believe that a
person maintains their personhood so long as their mind still functions. One can
presumably go blind, lose the ability to walk, and become in other ways
unproductive, but as long as there is comprehension, then there is a person that
requires treatment suitable for a person.

Koskoosh did not lack comprehension; and while his society had little choice but to
leave him behind, that does not explain why members of modern Western society
can live plentiful lives and afford many luxuries, but still throw their dying elderly
"to the wolves" by either talking about old age in a negative light, devaluing them
when they want to contribute, or simply ignoring them. According to Podgorski,
Langford, Pearson, and Conwell, "although adults over age 65 compose 12.4% of
the U.S. population, they account for 14% of all suicides." While mental illness will
account for some of this, society's low opinion of the elderly does not help.
 The APA's Monitor on Psychology included the following quote in its article Fighting
Ageism: "My peers and I are portrayed as dependent, helpless, unproductive and
demanding rather than deserving," Roberts testified. "In reality, the majority of
seniors are self-sufficient, middle-class consumers with more assets than most
young people, and the time and talent to offer society." It is interesting how,
although there are the resources to care for the elderly in this society, for some
reason Westerners still think of them as useless, even when their minds fully
understand every insulting statement or behavior toward them, as Koskoosh
understood everything happening around him, although he could not physically see
it.

Jack London's The Law of Life is more than just an entertaining story. All humans
can relate to its most apparent topic: death is unavoidable. Likewise, there are other
parallels a reader draws as well. These morals are timeless and can easily be
applied to day as is apparent in that we still rely on nature for survival, there are
still ethical questions of "abandoning" the elderly both physically (as in the story) or
symbolically (as our society has in many ways), and we are still subject to nature's
laws, no matter how far away from the earth we feel we are.

In the short story, The Law of Life, Jack London captures an episode from Native
life with his story of the aging Koskoosh, chief of an Eskimo tribe. Centered in the
Yukon, the elderly chief is abandoned by his tribe and left to die alone in the
wilderness. The story is a reflection of the culture of the Native Peoples and their
attitude toward life, death, and aging.

The Open Boat

Stephen Crane

Plot Overview

It is just before dawn, and not far off the coast of Florida, between the open sea and
the surf, are four men in a dinghy. The ship on which they were sailing sank
overnight, and they are the only survivors, left to bob up and down in the waves
until their bathtub-sized boat capsizes and they too drown. They do not have a
moments peace. The ocean is so rough that one indelicate move will upset the
dinghy and send them into the winter waters. Each man, despite not having slept
for two days, works tirelessly to keep the boat afloat. The correspondent and the
oiler share the work of rowing, while the cook huddles on the floor of the dinghy,
bailing water. These men take their direction from the captain, who was injured
during the shipwreck and sits grimly in the bow, the memory still fresh of his ship
engulfed in the sea and the crews dead faces in the water.

As day breaks and the cook and correspondent bicker about being rescued, the men
begin to make progress toward the shore. Fighting hopelessness, they row silently.
Gulls fly overhead and perch on the water. The gulls are at ease on the ocean, so
much so that one lands on the captains head. The men see this as a sinister,
insulting gesture, but the captain cannot swat the bird off because the sudden
movement would likely topple the boat.

Eventually, the captain shoos the bird away, and they go on rowing until the captain
sees a lighthouse in the distance. Although the cook expresses reservation that the
nearby lifesaving station has been abandoned for more than a year, the crew
heartens at approaching land, almost taking pleasure in the brotherhood that they
have formed and in attending to the business of the sea. The correspondent even
finds four dry cigars in a pocket, which he shares with the others.

The mens optimism evaporates when, approaching land yet unable to master the
turbulent surf, they realize that help isnt coming. They again make for the open
sea, exhausted and bitter. Another sign of hope comes when the captain sees a man
on shore. Each crew member looks for signs of hope in the mans gestures. They
think the man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and
perhaps a boat being rolled down to the shore. They stubbornly think that help is on
the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black.

During the night, the men forget about being saved and attend to the business of
the boat. The correspondent and oiler, exhausted from rowing, plan to alternate
throughout the night. But they get tired in the early hours of the morning, and the
cook helps out. For the most part, the correspondent rows alone, wondering how he
can have come so far if he is only going to drown. Rowing through phosphorescence
and alongside a monstrous shark, the correspondent thinks of a poem he learned in
childhood about a soldier dying in a distant land, never to return home.
When morning comes, the captain suggests that they try to run the surf while they
still have enough energy. They take the boat shoreward until it capsizes, and then
they all make a break for it in the icy water. The oiler leads the group, while the
cook and correspondent swim more slowly and the captain holds onto the keel of
the overturned dinghy. With the help of a life preserver, the correspondent makes
good progress, until he is caught in a current that forces him to back to the boat.
Before he can reach the dinghy, a wave hurls him to shallower water, where he is
saved by a man who has appeared on shore and plunged into the sea to save the
crew. On land, the correspondent drifts in and out of consciousness, but as he
regains his senses, he sees a large number of people on the shore with rescue gear.
He learns that the captain and cook have been saved but the oiler has died.

Character List

The Correspondent - A reporter and the central character of the story. The
correspondent is presumably young and able-bodied, given that he shares rowing
duties with the oiler. The correspondent is also, by virtue of his profession, inclined
to be cynical of men. He is pleasantly surprised to find his heart warmed by the
brotherhood that he and the crew have formed in the boat. Several times, the
correspondent curses nature and the gods who rule the sea and wonders whether
he is really meant to drown.

Read an in-depth analysis of The Correspondent.

The Captain - The captain of the ship, injured when the ship floods. The captain is
calm and quiet, talking for the most part only to give directions and lead the crew to
shore. The captain commands complete authority, and although he does not take
part in keeping the dinghy afloat, he bears the full responsibility of getting everyone
to safety. He is always alert and cool-headed, even when it looks as though he
might be sleeping.

Read an in-depth analysis of The Captain.

The Cook - The ships cook, who maintains a positive, even nave, outlook on the
mens rescue. The cook is the first to suggest the presence of a lifesaving station
and cannot help but turn his mind to the simple pleasures of living on land, such as
his favorite pies and meats. Although he is not fit enough to help with the rowing,
the cook makes himself useful by bailing water.

The Oiler (Billie) - The only refugee from the ship to die in the final attempt at
reaching land. Before the ship sank, the oiler worked a double watch in the engine
room, and he is most likely to be exhausted in the dinghy. The oiler is staunch,
obedient to the captain, and generous and polite to the correspondent whenever he
is asked to row. The oiler also seems to be the most realistic of the men, never
losing sight of the task at hand or the slim chance they have of surviving.

Analysis of Major Characters

The Correspondent

For Crane, each crewmember is an archetype that, when joined with his fellow
castaways, constitutes part of a microcosm of society. The captain represents the
leaders; the cook the followers; the oiler the good, working men; and the
correspondent the observers and thinkers. As his profession as a reporter suggests,
the correspondent functions as the eyes and voice of the story. Crane underlines
this point in his introduction of the characters in the first section. While the cook is
cowering on the boats floor and the oiler is silently working at his oar, the
correspondent watches the waves and wonders why he is caught on the ocean, a
question that reveals the correspondents search for purpose in life. With this
question alone, the correspondent begins to shape our perceptions of the ordeal the
men are undergoing.

In the first five sections of The Open Boat, the correspondents challenges to the
sea, which he associates with nature and fate, reveal his desire to make sense of
surviving the ship only to drown in the dinghy. Although he understands that nature
and fate do not act and think as men do, the correspondent nevertheless goads
them because he believes that there is a purpose to nature, that it in some way
validates his struggle for survival. The correspondent initially thinks he finds the
answer when he considers the subtle brotherhood of men that develops among
the crew in response to the overwhelming cruelty of nature. At this point, he takes
pleasure in the pain caused by rowing in the rough sea because he believes that
this pain is the healthy byproduct of his effort at community, which nature has
forced them to create and is the only thing that really matters. As the men realize
that no one is coming to save them, however, the correspondent comes to lose
hope in the subtle brotherhood that had seemed to be the noble purpose of
submitting to natures punishment.

The Captain

The captain is the consummate leader, a man who never shirks from the
responsibility he takes for those who have entrusted their safety to him. When he
loses his ship to the sea at the beginning of the story, the captain suffers infinitely
more than the other survivors. Deprived of his ship, he becomes a broken man who
has lost the very thing that grants him his authority. Yet the captain, through his
dedication to guiding the men to safety, retains a degree of dignity to go with the
ineffable sense of loss he feels at having failed in his charge. In this sense, the
captain is at once a majestic and tragic figure, one who has not measured up to the
standards he has set for himself but continues to fight for his fellow men. His quiet,
steady efforts in the boat are not self-motivated and afford him no personal
redemption. Instead, his actions are directed toward the others.

The Oiler (Billie)

Of the four characters in the boat, the oiler represents the everyman, the one whom
Crane intends to resemble the average person most closely. The oiler functions as
the lynchpin of the crew, holding everyone together through his staunch heroism.
He has the fewest delusions about the mens physical plight, but he never gives in
to the hopelessness that the others mask with idle talk about nonexistent
opportunities for rescue or meditations about the cruelty of nature. Instead, the
oiler maintains an image of strength, warmth, and integrity. He echoes the captains
orders, reinforcing the social structure of the crew and instilling confidence in the
others, whose outlook rises and falls with the waves.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Themes

Natures Indifference to Man

Despite the narrators profusion of animistic (animal-like), humanistic (manlike), and

deistic (godlike) characterizations of nature, Crane makes clear that nature is
ultimately indifferent to the plight of man, possessing no consciousness that we can
understand. As the stranded men progress through the story, the reality of natures
lack of concern for them becomes increasingly clear. The narrator highlights this
development by changing the way he describes the sea. Early in the story, the sea
snarls, hisses, and bucks like a bronco; later, it merely paces to and fro, no longer
an actor in the mens drama. In reality, the sea does not change at all; only the
mens perception of the sea changes. The unaltered activity of the gulls, clouds, and
tides illustrates that nature does not behave any differently in light of the mens
struggle to survive.

Crane strengthens the idea that nature is indifferent to man by showing that it is as
randomly helpful as it is hurtful. For every malevolent whim that the men suffer,
they experience an unexpected good turn in the form of a favorable wind or calm
night. The fact that the men almost seem to get assistance from nature destroys
the notion of nature as an entirely hostile force. Nothing highlights this point so
much as the correspondents final rescue. Plowed to shore and saved by a freak
wave, the correspondent must embrace the fact that the very thing that has put
him in harms way has saved him. This freak wave, however, may also be
responsible for killing the much hardier oiler, a turn of events that demonstrates two
ideas: nature is as much a harsh punisher as it is a benefactor, and nature does not
act out of any motivation that can be understood in human terms.

Mans Insignificance in the Universe

The Open Boat conveys a feeling of loneliness that comes from mans
understanding that he is alone in the universe and insignificant in its workings.
Underneath the mens and narrators collective rants at fate and the universe is the
fear of nothingness. They have an egotistical belief that they should have a role in
the universe, that their existence should mean something. When the correspondent
realizes by section VI that fate will not answer his pleas, he settles into despair. His
subsequent recollection of the poem about the soldier who lies dying in Algiers
reflects his feelings of alienation at being displaced from his position in the
universe. Like the soldier who dies in alien territory, the correspondent fears that he
too will perish without a connection to whatever gives him his sense of self.

Throughout The Open Boat, the correspondent understands pain to be the

necessary byproduct of his efforts to overcome nature, the willful enemy. He comes
to value his suffering because it is nobly derived; in the earlier sections, the
correspondent, whom the narrator says is cynical, is often cheerful and talkative in
his descriptions of the physical pain he experiences. By the end of the story,
however, the correspondents new awareness that the universe is unconcerned with
the situations outcome makes him physically and spiritually weary. He decides that
there is no higher purpose to surviving other than prolonging a life that is
meaningless. His comment in section VII that the coldness of the water is simply
sad underscores this despair. At this point, all sensations of pain and pleasure are
merely physical and have no spiritual meaning.

Society as Meaning in a Harsh World

In assembling the men in the dinghy and creating a microcosm of mankind, Crane
sets up mans greatest invention, society, against what first seems to be a cruel,
unrelenting nature. When faced with the savage, stormy sea, the men in the dinghy
immediately band together because they recognize that society is the best defense
against the chaos of nature. The men derive meaning from their fellowship, created
to oppose nature, which they view as the force that seeks to undo them. Even when
they become disheartened by the fact that nature shows no regard for them, they
can still turn to one another. In creating society, they have created an obligation to
one another that they must honor to survive. The narrator observes that the mens
cooperation is personal and heartfelt, which suggests that the men derive some
spiritual satisfaction from the arrangement. Although they are shut out of the realm
of cosmic importance, these men nevertheless construct something that is
meaningful to them.

Motifs

Drowning

As the narrator attempts to capture the mens thoughts as they endure many
demoralizing episodes, he inserts a refrain into the text three times that suggests
that the mens general fear of death is exacerbated by the unconcern of nature. The
refrain is a rant against fate, which the narrator personifies as an incompetent fool
unable to govern mens lives. The narrator is not really trying to tell us that fate is
cruel. Instead, he is suggesting that the men are furious because they believe that
fate has toyed with their lives. The men consider their situation unfair, and in the
refrain, they protest against it. The fact that the narrator intrudes on the story with
this refrain at the moments when fate seems to have let the men down creates the
impression that this is, in fact, the mens reaction. The refrain acts as the narrators
interpretation of how the men themselves interpret their situation
Hidden deeper in the refrain is the narrators conviction that a higher power does
not exist to weigh in on mens affairs. By making outright references to the seven
mad gods who rule the sea, the narrator clues us in to the mythical implications of
the story, insinuating that these pagan gods, who are traditionally involved in mens
lives, have abandoned the stranded men. More important, the narrator hints at the
absence of an overseeing God through a subtle use of numerology. The thrice-
repeated phrase If I am going to be drowned in the refrain alludes to the New
Testament Gethsemane scene in which Peter denies Jesus three times. In the Bible,
man denies God, but Crane inverts the scene so that it is God denying man.

Waves

A ceaseless presence in the story and constant nuisance to the refugees, the ocean
waves suggest both the forces of nature and uncontrollability of life. At the
beginning of the story, the narrator presents the waves as the mens primary
concern, the thing they must master if they are to survive the shipwreck. In this
sense, the waves resemble the ever-changing demands of the present, the part of
life that demands the most attention but allows for the least reflection. Crane seems
to imply that because the men cannot control the waves ebb and flow, man in
general cannot affect the outcomes of his life and can hope only to respond
constructively to what he encounters. Just as the waves are constantly changing,
becoming sometimes violent and sometimes favorable, the pressures in mans life
will continue to jostle his progress toward whatever he seeks. The narrators final
mention of the waves as pacing to and fro emphasizes this point by suggesting
that the waves, in their motion, are impatiently waiting for the men, who must
eventually venture out again onto the seas of fortune.

Symbols

The Boat

The boat, to which the men must cling to survive the seas, symbolizes human life
bobbing along among the universes uncertainties. The boat, no larger than a
bathtub, seems even smaller against the vastness of the ocean. The boat is
inconsequential and always in danger of capsizing, much as we as humans are
inconsequential and frail in the context of the world around us. The fact that the
boat is characterized as open supports this interpretation: the boat is unprotected
and thus open to suffering the unexpected turns of fortune that are unavoidable in
life. For the men, being in the open boat becomes the reality of their lives, and they
realize from their experience on the boat how little control they have over where
they can go and what they can do. Through the boat, Crane implies that life is not
something we can control, but rather life is what we must hang onto as we make
our way in the world.

The Oilers Death

The oilers death and lack of explanation surrounding it reinforce the randomness of
natures whims and symbolize the indifference of nature toward man. Because he is
no more deserving of death than any other crew member, and in some cases is less
deserving because he has worked the hardest under the most physical strain, his
death highlights the fact that nature is arbitrary in how it chooses its victims. The
events surrounding the oilers death also uncover the fact that the subtle
brotherhood of men sensed by the crew is nothing more than a delusion. The men
make a break for land on their own, and the good-natured oiler leaves everyone
behind to reach the shore. In this way, Crane illustrates that there is a limit to what
working together can accomplish and that all men ultimately end up alone.

The Poem

The poem that the correspondent recites about the soldier who pitifully lies dying in
a foreign land represents the correspondents understanding of his own plight. Just
as in youth he never considered it a tragedy that the fictitious soldier dies away
from home, the correspondent realizes that, as a grown man, his situation is like the
soldiers and that it is nature that now regards his death as inconsequential. This
understanding forces the correspondent to see the soldiers story as tragic because
it is the only way to give his own life weight. The correspondent endows the
fictitious soldier with humanity, a gesture that reveals both his maturity at
understanding what his life really amounts to and his self-delusion for using fiction
to give meaning to his own situation. In truth, the poem does not make the
correspondents plight any more real. Rather, it only reinforces the meaningless of
his struggle, which the narrator later describes as the plight of the ants.

The Cigars

The four wet cigars and four dry cigars serve as a complex symbol of hope for
spiritual salvation and as the ultimate loss of that salvation. When the
correspondent finds these cigars in his pockets, Crane makes it clear that there are
two interpretations of the mens plight. First, like the four sodden cigars, the four
men are physically and spiritually soaked by the heavy, demoralizing forces of
naturethey are broken and useless. Second, like the four dry cigars hidden deep
inside the correspondents pocket, there is something inside the men that remains
untouched by the cold, drenching despair that the sea imparts. At the moment
when the correspondent digs through his pocket, the men are likely to see
themselves optimisticallyas the four dry cigarsbecause their cooperation and
hard work has seemingly put them on track to defeat nature. Yet by the end of the
story, the mens optimism is not intact, and they feel misery, not triumph. The wet
cigars more aptly illustrate the tragedy of the mens spirits.