Which Jack London Characters
Excite My Admiration?
To begin with, I would like to say that “The End of the Story” and “The Story of Jees Uck” written by one of the most outstanding American writers, Jack London, have a great moral value, because they are filled with compassion, warmth of humanity, and beauty. More than that, Jack London managed to reveal human nature in a powerful way and create such remarkable characters who became real models for me to follow and excited my admiration. And we, the readers of these marvellous stories, follow the fates of the leading personages with unabated interest and with bated breath.
The world of these stories is the world of energetic, courageous people, who have unbelievable endurance and a conquering attitude; who are ready to take risks, withstand challenges, sort out their own problems and tasks which are complicated to handle. They are also these who push towards their goals all the way regardless any hardships who accomplish everything they set their minds to and never give up, and last but not least, who are confident, strong-willed, brave, and keep a grip on themselves when they face danger. But an ability to get through difficulties is not their only value. Their deeds are generous and noble, their feelings are high and beautiful; they make their lives worth living, and I cannot help admiring their ability to sacrifice their own well-being and happiness for the sake of others.
It is common knowledge that nowadays people feel an acute lack of warmth of soul, mutual understanding, and a sincere desire to give a helping hand and moral support to those who are down; in other words, devoted Love and Friendship. We became aggressive, selfish and hostile towards others, and, to my mind, it is not an exaggeration to say that we forget about the precious feeling of togetherness. That is why the chief characters Jees Uck’s, Dr. Linday’s, Tom Daw’s and Madge’s abilities to be helpful, kind, understanding and caring, to bring happiness and relief to people around them, touches our hearts, and excites great respect.
F. Bacon used to say that ‘courage helps to get rid of supremacy of fate’. This quote holds true. Here is Jees Uck – she is a very courageous, confident woman, who is able to determine her destiny. What I really like about her is her ability to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of her sweetheart. “There have been renunciations and renunciations. But, in its essence renunciation is ever the same. And the paradox of it is that men and women give up the dearest thing in the world for something dearer. It was never otherwise.…” Jees Uck is a simple dark-skinned girl – an independent daughter of nature. She was ignorant “...having learned to read only the signs of weather, and of game, yet, when the time came she proved herself capable of renouncing in right regal fashion”. It is quite obvious that these words are filled with the author’s admiration for Jees Uck’s behaviour. In fact, Jees Uck’s total life deserves admiration.
Jees Uck is like a kind fairy. She comes to the post of Twenty Mile to cheer up Neil Bonner, who was down and out, ready to surrender to hardships and the notorious forces of circumstances. She stood by him and was a person whom he could confide in. Jees Uck rescued him from loneliness, when he had already lost hope and faith (“he cursed God”). She encouraged him to pull himself together and was a real “flowing well for him”, a gulp of fresh air. Jees Uck was vivacious, full of vitality and go. Let’s recollect that immobility is a symbol of inanimation and death, and, on the contrary, motion symbolizes vigour, life. As a matter of fact, Neil’s motionless life, his interminable silence were like a nightmare; he “went about as a ghost might go”. But Jees Uck brought to an end this intolerable situation. She helped to him to avoid monotony, added variety, and brightened up everything around her. “In short, in Jees Uck he found the youth of the world – the youth and the strength and the joy.”
To make a long story short, I cannot but admire her optimism, endurance, strength of will and character. As a rule, the overwhelming majority of women are described as cry-babies, but that’s not the case with Jees Uck. No one will deny that her will is much stronger than any man’s will, to be exact, Neil Bonner’s, although “The North had succeeded in making him into a man...”
Jees Uck possesses a loving, tender heart, and caring personality; that is why she does not want to put up with other people’s suffering. She rescued her sweetheart from loneliness and emptiness (saved his soul) and even from death, after Amos’s unsuccessful attempt to kill Neil. Jees Uck’s everlasting, great Love turned out to be stronger than Death.
There is a convenient myth that pure and faithful Love does not exist under the sun. Unfortunately, many people agree with this statement. However, even the most matter-of-fact creatures are doomed to failure in their attempts to resist and deny great Love which occurs probably only once in one thousand years, which is similar to a stroke of lightning. Such Love is in the centre of our attention in the whole story. This Love is so strong that there are no barriers to it, and even splitting up cannot destroy it. One who has ever experienced such pure Love cannot be jealous, envious, selfish, arrogant. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:1–8). I can say for sure that Jees Uck’s heart was filled with this Love, keen and strong; Love enhanced by difficulty and worry. Such Love is God’s gift.
The main heroine of the other story, Madge, was gifted; just like Jees Uck, she was ready to sacrifice everything for her beloved Rex Strang’s well-being. Love helped her to grapple with all hardships. It is enough to read the following words to see a resemblance between these heroines (Jees Uck and Madge): “She’s helpin’ him live till you come, an’ just put her immortal soul into his an’ make live.” Madge really bears a resemblance to Jees Uck: the same unbelievable endurance, purposefulness, firm character, magnificent will power, self-control (Madge “...not sheddin’ a tear or nothing...”), although she, probably, wanted desperately to let out her emotions and break into passionate sobbing at times, when she was overwhelmed by concern, grief, and fear of losing her darling Rex Strang. Love and devotion went hand in hand in these heroines.
The ability to forgive is one of the most precious Christian virtues. Not all average people are gifted with it. Dr. Linday from “The End of the Story” managed to forgive his wife Madge, who escaped with another man. More than that, guided by his own strong Love for her, he committed a real exploit: he rescued her sweetheart, who was on the threshold of death and brought happiness to her.
I can say for sure that Linday proved that he was a magnificent, marvellous surgeon, a master of his profession, and, besides, he committed an admirable miracle with his own hands.
Linday played a part of fate and foresight, the most touching and the most complicated part at that. Just let us recollect how he was working at trying to cure a wrecked man with terrible wounds. What strength, what aspiration! He took pains and put his full effort into his work; he believed in his abilities and the success of his extremely difficult task. He was not afraid of taking risks because he was sure that he would accomplish what he set his mind to. In short, Linday was efficient, daring and fortunate and winning. “He was not content to make the man live. He devoted himself to the delicate and risky problem of making him whole and strong again.”
When we read about Jees Uck we take to her at once. But that is not the case with Dr Linday: his soul and character are rather sophisticated, so when we “get acquainted” with him we are really bewildered and taken aback. As a matter of fact, what sort of man is he? To my mind the contradictions of his character and appearance can account for this feeling. They catch your eye immediately. At first glance, he seems to be rather rude, straightforward, harsh, unwilling to give a helping hand. He usually speaks straight from the shoulder and it does not appeal to us. (“Damn him! Linday cried looking angrily at the closed door.”) “His hands, slender, fine and nervous, appeared made for delicate work and at the same time they conveyed an impression of strength.”
But furthermore, we will find out that he is totally different on the inside. As the saying goes: “Never judge a book by the cover and a person by the first image he projects to the outside world. He showed his wife Madge [and us too] that he ‘was not such a bad sort. Coals of fire, you, know.”
His decision in the end was not spontaneous. All this time he had been under the influence of the story, written by Herbert Shaw, and he created a story in reality on his own. A story is a dream and, from London’s point of view there is nothing impossible for a man, one should only have a desire and determination to make this dream come true.
A great impression from the story had a considerable impact on Linday’s actions and his life as a whole; it awakened his imagination. That is why Antoine de Saint Exupery’s words: “Only the heart is sharpsighted”, are really appropriate here. Dr Linday was being moved by his kind and loving heart. He is associated with Gray – the main character of the story ‘The Scarlet Sails’ written by an outstanding Russian writer A. Greene. They are both romantics, that is why a dream and reality are always in confluence, united for them. They both created a wonderful story in reality, a story with a happy end.
To sum it up, I would like to say that Jack London knows exactly how to pluck at our heartstrings, to move our hearts. While depicting his personages, revealing their characters, their actions, conveying their feelings and emotions, the author makes us love them, admire them.
As for me, when I was reading these wonderful stories I really felt hot and cold all over. What is a significant task is not to remain calm and indifferent to the heroes; and to let feelings and thoughts aroused these kind stories and their characters never cease to live in our souls and minds, because they encourage us to nurture our soul, enrich our mind. I am convinced that nowadays without courage, fortitude and faith (which London’s characters possess), we are doomed to failure in life, in fulfilling our goals and realizing our ambitions!
By Yelena Sidorova,
Student 2nd year OGU, Orel |