THE SON OF THE WOLF – JACK LONDON

Son of the Wolf

MY COMMENTS :

Jack London's novel, based on a true story, depicts the extraordinary and wild road trips experienced during the gold mining era in western Canada.

From the very beginning of the work, the author, who successfully takes the reader to the glaciers of Canada, briefly touches upon the white man's quest for control in a geography where he is depicted as a wolf. This narrative is primarily told from the perspective of the indigenous people of the region, the Native Americans. As can be seen in the section on excerpts, the white man, after seizing the wealth of the Native Americans through trade, subsequently took the women from their tribes, thus both preventing the continuation of the Native American lineage and fully consolidating his dominance over those people.

The author, particularly through the characters of Mackenzie and Malemute Kid, successfully conveys the influence of this understanding on the reader through the lens of the white man. Therefore, the work serves as an important resource for the reader to make their final observations, with sections interpreted separately by both Native Americans and Europeans. In particular, as can be understood from the short story "The Wolf, 1 to 10," the massacres suffered by many indigenous peoples in present-day America can also be understood from this work.

One of the main themes, as stated at the beginning of the work, is the struggle for survival that arose after the discovery of gold reserves in the western region of Canada in the 19th century. Malemute Kid (hereinafter referred to as Kid) decides to embark on a long and arduous adventure in harsh winter conditions, undertaking a journey of approximately 800 km for the first time. The greatest reward for him in this adventure is to reach the gold reserves as quickly as possible and create for himself a fortune of approximately $1 million at that time.

For this purpose, he set out on his journey with dog sleds, gathering many people from his region. During this process, the main character faced many difficulties, often struggling against the harsh winter conditions. Furthermore, as the journey became more challenging, he began to experience numerous problems with the people in his caravan. In this respect, the work successfully conveys to the reader, through concrete examples, how a person reveals their true self much more clearly during a journey and in difficult circumstances.

The author, without revealing the end of the gold rush adventure, concludes the work with a cautionary tale: a tribal chief, who endured many hardships for the woman he loved, is finally reunited with her and tragically dies in her arms, stabbed by her in a ungrateful act.

Therefore, the work has an impressive structure, both in terms of its plot and its handling of emotional elements. However, it must be said that it does not fully possess the reading pleasure that Jack London's readers are accustomed to, given that it is one of the author's early works. The reason for this will be explained in detail in the evaluation section.

In conclusion, this work deserves to be considered among the most remarkable and worthwhile books for readers interested in Jack London's adventurous works, due to its elements of real life. It will also greatly satisfy readers curious about America's attitude towards the challenges it faces in the face of humanity today.

MY QUOTATIONS(*) :

1. John Griffith London, whom we know as Jack London, was born in San Francisco in 1876 and died in 1916 at his farm in Glen Ellen, California. In his short life, he produced numerous literary works, as well as making significant contributions in politics, trade unionism, human and animal rights advocacy, journalism, and publishing.

2. The highly prolific author has 23 novels, 21 short story collections, 3 autobiographical memoirs, 25 non-fiction books, 3 plays, numerous short stories, and poems.

3. Today, Yukon is the westernmost, smallest, and least populated region of Canada. Its ethnic history is very ancient, dating back 25,000 to 40,000 years according to carbon dating of archaeological findings. The oldest known indigenous peoples are called the First Nations. In the early 19th century, Europeans began arriving in the region, and the First Nations living on the coast and inland began engaging in extensive fur trade with them. The first gold prospectors in the region were the Russians and the men of the imperial Hudson Bay Company. The indigenous people knew of the existence of this ore but did not consider it valuable, preferring the copper found in the surface layers in nut-sized particles. Nevertheless, by the 1870s and 1880s, professional gold prospectors began to emerge. With the discovery of the first gold, the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1897.

4. With the population explosion, that part of the country was separated from the Northwest Territories in 1898 and formalized as the Yukon Territory, where a law enforcement force was established and gold exploration was quickly regulated.

5. Regular and precise temperature measurements were not taken during the years the event occurred. It was later determined that temperatures in Yukon dropped below -60 degrees Celsius three times, in 1947, 1952, and 1968. The coldest known day was in February 1947, when thermometers showed -63 degrees Celsius. ( End of excerpts from the Foreword )

6. Nature employs many tricks to convince humanity of its limitations – the ceaseless flow of waves, the fury of storms, the tremors of earthquakes, thunderclaps resembling cannon fire from heaven – but the most magnificent, the most bewildering of all, is the stillness of the White Silence. Strange thoughts arrive uninvited, all mysteries stir with a yearning to be revealed. And fear of death, of God, of the universe grips humanity.

7. Being alone with painful thoughts in the White Silence is unpleasant. The silence of gloom is merciful, enveloping and protecting you like a shroud, whispering a thousand words of empathy that are far from material, but the bright White Silence is clear, cold, and merciless under a sky whose color resembles steel.

8. A man rarely makes a proper assessment of the woman he is with; at least not until he is deprived of her.

9. The wolves took our women, and our men were left childless. We were reduced to a handful of people. The wolves took our warm furs and in return gave us evil spirits dwelling in bottles, and clothes made of grass, not beaver or lynx skins. These don't keep us warm, and our people are falling ill with strange diseases and dying. I am collecting beaver and deer skins to gain Thling-Tinneh's favor and marry his daughter Zarinska. But she is already wearing her snowshoes and waiting, ready to set out on the road, following the Wolf's dogs.

10. Slovenly Mackenzie said, “ Brothers! The White Man, whom you call the Wolf, has come among you with true words. He is not like the Eskimos; he does not lie. But your men have said what they had to say, and the time for soft talk is over. First, I will tell you this: Your tribe’s sorcerer has a wicked tongue and is a false prophet; that is, the messages he conveys to you are not from the Firebringer .”

11. Mackenzie said, “ This is the law of the Wolf: Whoever kills a Wolf, ten of his people will suffer the punishment. This has been paid in many lands, and it will be paid in many more .”

12. Malemute Kid: “ Life is a game, and people are gamblers in that game. They’re willing to bet everything they have on a one in a thousand chance of winning. If that one chance disappears, they give up gambling .”

13. Anyone who cannot adapt to new trends is better off returning to their homeland; if they delay doing so too long, they are certain to die.

14. A clever woman can fill the many weaknesses of an inadequate man with her own invincibility, forcefully appeal to his fickle nature, impose the ambition in his soul, and spur him on to great achievements. A woman who can do all this, who can overcome all obstacles in a way that earns the man all his admiration and makes him wholeheartedly believe that everything depends on her, and on her alone, is very clever; she knows the ropes and the subtleties of the matter.

15. Malemute Kid: “ There are matters too great for our wisdom to grasp, too big for our judgment. We cannot say anything about their rightness or wrongness, nor is it for us to pass judgment .”

MY ASSESSMENTS:

Subject : The work depicts the extraordinary, wild, and challenging journey experiences during the gold mining era in western Canada.

Style: The work, with the author's characteristic simple and clear narrative style, successfully draws the reader into the plot. In fact, the simplicity and clarity of the descriptions of the settings often evoke glimpses of a potential conflict in the polar regions. The most noteworthy aspect of the work's style is that the story is told from the perspectives of different characters, creating the impression of multiple locations and main characters. While the events take place in the same geographical area, and the characters may have small connections to each other, the plot is structured around three main characters. This aspect makes it quite an unusual style.

Originality : Since the work is based on real events, one should not have high expectations regarding originality. However, considering the aforementioned points, its style can be considered original.

Character : Considering the points mentioned in the style section, the use of a combination of different stories set in similar geographical locations has resulted in a rather crowded character profile. In this respect, the work may, in some places, make it difficult for the reader to understand the character profiles. This can also sometimes lead to a feeling of disjointedness in the narrative.

Flow : Due to the author's unconventional writing style, there are sometimes issues with flow stemming from the difficulty in following the character outlines. However, given its subject matter, the book manages to keep the reader engaged until the very last page without losing any of its captivating appeal.

Overall : Based on the criteria mentioned above, and evaluated out of 10:

Subject: 8

Style: 9

Originality: 7

Character: 6

Fluency: 7

The work, which received its overall score, has an average rating of 7.4 . While it may not seem very close to the 8 mark compared to other Jack London works, as a period piece it definitely deserves to be examined for its universal messages and extraordinary literary style.

(*) : All parts under the heading "My Quotes":

THE SON OF THE WOLF

Author : Jack London

Publisher : Turkuvaz Kitap

Edition : 1st Edition – April 2022

The quote used on the cover is taken from the book in the photograph.