Jack London was a 19th century American author and journalist, best known for the adventure

novels White Fang and The Call of the Wild.

Jack London was born John Griffith Chaney on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California.
After working in the Klondike, London returned home and began publishing stories. His novels,
including The Call of the Wild, White Fang and Martin Eden, placed London among the most
popular American authors of his time. London, who was also a journalist and an outspoken
socialist, died in 1916.

The Story of Keesh

Genre: Short story/ Fiction

Plot Summary

The story of Keesh is a short story which was written by Jack London that was first published in
January of 1904. Keesh was the son of a great huntsman, who was well known and respected
in his tribe. Unfortunately, Keesh’s father died when Keesh was very young. As is often the
case, the legendary exploits of Keesh’s father was forgotten with time. After many years, the
child grows to be thirteen. Inspired by tales of his father’s skills as a hunter, and emboldened by
his self-confidence and the lackluster amount of food being gathered by the tribe, he addressed
the village elders in the Igloo of the tribe’s chief. A child addressing the tribal elders was seen as
precocious. Keesh declared that he would honor his father’s memory and became a great
hunter, and bring back a wealth of meat for his people. He was scorned, and they allowed him
to go off on his own. Many never expected to hear from him again. Four days later Keesh
returned, with an enormous burden of freshly-killed meat over his shoulders. He explained that
an entire polar bear’s carcass laid a day’s travel from the village. The villagers were stunned by
this boy having endured the elements and succeeded in his quest, became suspicious. After
several more hunting excursions on Keesh’s part, all alone and all resulting in enormous
amounts of meat for the tribe, the villagers begin whispering that Keesh is undoubtedly
practicing witchcraft. However, they had no choice but to be loyal to this manchild, as he had
begun to provide them all with bounteous food. Keesh had the appreciative villagers construct
for him an enormous Igloo, rivaling that of the chief. After more speculation and Inuendo as to
the source of Keesh’s hunting prowess, it was decided to send two scouts to follow him on a
hunting exhibition. They returned several days later, having been successful in trailing Keesh to
his kill, an enormous (and dangerous) polar bear. They told a tale that the tribal council simply
couldn’t believe. Upon his return, the tribe gathered in Keesh’s igloo to accuse him of witchcraft.
He answered their charges well. Keesh explained the source of his hunting success. He
explained why the two scouts sent to follow him observed him striding up to the bear, enraging
it, and convincing it to follow him. He explained why the scouts witnessed his leaving small
round balls of food on the ice for the bear, and why the bear soon became ill, and deranged. He
explained how he was then able to spear the bear without endangering himself.
Elements

The setting of the Story of Keesh is possibly areas near the North of the Arctic circle. The details
of the story that gives the setting away are:

Strong north gales

No sun during winter

Primary source of food is hunting bears

People live in Igloos

The phenomenon where the sun never rises is called a Polar Night which lasts from November
to January and can be observed in places in the north of the Arctic circle.

The characters in the story of Keesh:

1) Keesh - Bok's son in the story

2) Bok - father of Keesh in the story

3) Ikeega - mother of Keesh and wife of Bok in the story

4) Klosh Kwan - village chief in the story

5) Ugh Gluk - an old man in the story

6) Massuk - another old man in the story

7) Mawn & Bim - spies in the story

8) Common Villagers - citizens in the story

The conflict in the Story of Keesh is the distrust and misunderestimation of the council members
to the 13-year old Keesh.

When Keesh went to the council meeting to express his thoughts on the fair sharing of hunted
meat, the elders in the meeting questioned and laughed at him. Because of the embarrassment,
Keesh told them that the time would come when the council members will go to him and ask him
for his help.

Man vs. Society

The tone of the story is reflective. The story itself tells us how one's benevolent actions left
forgotten after death which is very common to our society. The author wants to show a real
tragedy in our community. The mood can be described as "dignified" especially when Keesh
tried to live for his father's will about having a fair share of meat and he also tried to prove
himself and his countrymen that he is a true hunter and shared his devised means in hunting.
He speaks with dignity against the council who keeps on accusing him with witchcraft.
The theme of this short story is the sacrifice which is forgotten. Keesh tries to prove that his
father has become the savior for his community. He comes again to make the society aware
that they have to appreciate every sacrifice of the person. We can derive some moral values of
this story such as we have to appreciate the sacrifice of a person and we should not have bad
prejudice towards each other.

The story of Keesh is told through a Third person point of view

Sources:

Brainly.ph

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/189573465538465969/?lp=true

https://www.biography.com/writer/jack-london