Peter Marrion Agarpao Grade 10-C

“The Story of Keesh”

The story of Keesh is a short story which was written by Jack London that was first published in January of 1904. The story is based on the
life of people on ice. The story is fictional and so are the characters in it. The flow of the story is beyond imaginable. I like how the author composed
the story and also the moral of the story.

The Story of Keesh takes place in a cold area. We can conclude from the word “Igloo” which we can find in the story. Igloo is a type of
shelter built of snow so that we can find in snow area that originally built by Inuit. Keesh hunted a polar bear, as we know that the polar bear just
find in cold area, it’s pole. So, we conclude that it takes place in a cold area. Keesh was a thirteen-year-old boy who lived at the North Pole a long
time ago. His father died of struggling with a bear in order to keep the people in the village from starving. After that, Keesh lived alone with his
mother. One council Keesh complained about unfair treatment, but the other people laughed at him. Therefore, he decided to hunt by himself.
Later on, Keesh used his brain to kill many bears and divided them fairly. In the end, Keesh rose to power and became the leader of his people.
Keesh is the major character of this story. He appears throughout the story. He is a round character, we can prove that from the beginning of the
story and the ending. At the beginning he is a young boy who is innocence, but at the end of the story he becomes a brave man who is respected by
the others. He is the protagonist character. He has an important role and he is the central figure in the story. In the beginning of the story the
author tells about a boy who had name Keesh lived in the poor condition together with his mother. Keesh lived at the edge of the polar sea. The
father of Keesh had been a brave man. But he had died hunting for food. Keesh was his only son. Keesh lived along with his mother, Ikeega. One
night, the village council met in the big Igloo of Klosh-kwan, the chief. He listened, then he waited for silence. He said, “It is true that you give us
some meat. But it is often old and tough meat, and has many bones.” The hunters were surprised. This was a child speaking against them. The
council ordered Keesh to go to bed. The next day, Keesh started out for the shore, where the land meets the ice. Those who watched saw that he
carried his bow and many arrows. Across his shoulder was his father’s big hunting spear. Again there was laughter. One day passed, then a second.
On the third day, a great wind blew. There was no sign of Keesh. This part is the beginning of the conflict. His mother, Ikeega, put burned seal oil on
her face to show her sorrow. The women shouted at their men for letting the little boy go. The men made no answer, but got ready to search for
the body of Keesh. Early next morning, Keesh walked into the village. Across his shoulders was fresh meat. It’s the middle of the story. His mother
was very happy. Keesh, trying to be a man, said to her mother that he would sleep because he was tired. There was much talk after Keesh went to
his igloo. The killing of a bear was dangerous. But it was three times more dangerous to kill a mother bear with cubs. The conflict is rising action by
knowing that the men did not believe Keesh had done so. But the women pointed to the fresh meat. At last, the men agreed to go for the meat
that was left. But they were not very happy. So began the mystery of Keesh. On his next trip, he killed a young bear and on the following trip, a
large male bear and its mate. Then there was talk of magic and witchcraft in the vill. Keesh continued to bring meat to the village. Some people
thought he was a great hunter. There was talk of making him chief, after old Klosh-kwan. They waited, hoping he would come to council meetings.
But he never came. The council sat up late talking about Keesh and the meat. They decided to spy on him. On Keesh’s next trip, two young hunters,
Bim and Bawn, followed him. After five days, they returned. The council met to hear their story, then the two hunters reported what they had
seen. Klosh-kwan led the council to the igloo of Keesh. Keesh told the people in the village how he had killed the bears: he bent some thin pieces of
whalebone. The ends were pointed and sharp as a knife. Keesh bent the thin, sharp bones as knives into circles, then put some seal meat inside
them, then put them in the snow to freeze. The bear had eaten the ball of meat with the circle of bone inside. When the meat got inside the bear,
the meat got warm, and the bone went snap! The sharp points made the bear sick. It is easy to kill them. The conflict is falling action here. Keesh
used head-craft, instead of witchcraft, he rose from the poorest igloo to be the chief in the village. And for all the years that followed, his people
were happy. No one cried at night with pains of hunger. It’s the end of the story. The story ends with a close denoument. We know that from the
end of the story when Keesh told about how he could kill big bears with two bare hands. Apparently he used his brain/wits that made the others
said “Ah” for understanding it.

I like it when Keesh became a man like his father before him. After losing his father, he did not stop from living instead he pushed himself
to became a better son for his mother, he strive hard like nobody else. Without fear, he hunted bears for his mother and his village to so that they
have something to eat. From being a child to becoming a man to help his people mostly his mother to survive in the cold is the most brave thing to
do, for me. Some people in the real life are like Keesh, they strive hard for their family in order to survive in the modern world. Most of the eldest
child work day by day just to earn some pennies to feed their families, just like Keesh in the story.

In this short story, the author wants to tell us about the outcome of being brave and striving hard is. In the story shows the bloom of our
sacrifice on what we do. The moral of the story is all about sacrifice in order to live. The author easily tells us the purpose of the story, of why he
wrote it. He uses many literary devices in order to make the story easy to understand.

All in all, the story is great and in some part it will bring us some lesson in life that will help us in the future and in our daily life. If we
share this story to the other people we know, we might help them even ii it is the smallest thing to do for them. So I recommend other readers out
there to read this story and share it to others, mostly the people who are suffering a great pain.