American Literature - Essay Example

The narration rises above the scope of an ordinary tale that deals with the power of Nature over man, as it depicts the ambivalent relationship between man and Nature in a manner comparable to other American works like The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and Moby Dick by Herman Melville. London employs a strict and effective economy of words and terse plot construction to produce a powerful story replete with multiple layers of meaning. Though the unpredictable aspects of Nature play a major part in the devastation of the protagonist, the presence of a wild dog that accompanies him on his journey brings in many contrasts.

The most significant among them is between the man’s estrangement from his own instincts that causes his death and the uninformed yet natural instincts of the beast that helps it survive. The characterization of the man is done deftly through references to his attitude to the excruciating cold which he understands to be fifty degrees below zero, but is in fact seventy five below zero. London describes that the absence of the sun or the tremendous cold did not make an impression on the man. It was not because he was used to it, as he was a newcomer to the place and it was his first winter.

“The trouble with him was that he was without imagination” (London). He understood the extreme cold temperature on practical terms only, and was trying to deal with it logically, taking for granted the man-made equipments which he hopes would protect him from the powers of Nature. The first three paragraphs deal judiciously with the characterization of the man as a self-willed person unwilling to pay heed to the warnings and obstacles that were trying to stop him from his immediate objectives.

The plot unravels through the man’s point of view and shifts between the present and the past. He was aiming to reach the left fork of Henderson Creek, where he expected to meet his companions in a mining camp. He discarded the