The Law of Life – Jack

London
Jack London
• (1876 – 1912)
• Born as John Griffith Chaney
• American novelist, short-stoy
writer
• Sailor, gold miner
• The Call of the Wild (1903)
• White Fang (1906)
Plot
• the story is set in the Klondike River region of Yukon. A native tribe
has to relocate due to a lack of food. The main character is a former
chief of the tribe who is too old and weak to move, so tribesmen have
to abandon him. The former chief is resigned to his fate, remembers
the famine and the great abundance and the moose hunt, and he is
waiting to die. The story ends with his death.
 • 1. Explain why the title of the short story,
“The Law of Life” is such a good choice for
the story.
• „His head would fall forward upon his knees,
and he would rest. It was easy. All men must
die.“
• „He did not complain. It was the way of life, and
Questions it was just. He had been born close to the earth,
close to the earth had he lived, and the law
thereof was not new to him. It was the law of all
flesh. Nature was not kindly to the flesh. She
had no concern for that concrete thing called
the individual. Her interest lay in the species, the
race.“
 • 2. Some might suggest that leaving Koskoosh
behind is a cruel act and harshly judge the
Eskimo way of life. 
• Look at the story from the perspective of
Native culture and explain or speculate on
Questions why you think the Eskimo’s deal with their
elderly in this manner.
• "The tribesmen hurry. Their bales are heavy, and
their bellies flat with lack of feasting. The trail is
long and they travel fast. I go now. It is well?„
• „My eyes no longer show me the way of my feet,
and my feet are heavy, and I am tired. It is well."
 • In the story, what role does “Nature” play in
how the Eskimos view life and death?
• „He saw it exemplified in all life. The rise of the
Questions sap, the bursting greenness of the willow bud,
the fall of the yellow leaf--in this alone was told
the whole history. But one task did Nature set
the individual. Did he not perform it, he died.
Did he perform it, it was all the same, he died.“
 • How do their lives reflect what occurs
naturally in the environment around them.
• „But the moose. Zing-ha and he had gone out
that day to play at hunting after the manner of
Questions their fathers. On the bed of the creek they
struck the fresh track of a moose, and with it the
tracks of many wolves. "An old one," Zing-ha,
who was quicker at reading the sign, said--"an
old one who cannot keep up with the herd.“
Themes and Rhetorical devices
• Themes
• Death, Acceptance, circle of life
• Simile
• „I am as a last year's leaf, clinging lightly to the stem.“
• Personification
• „Nature was not kindly to the flesh. She had no concern for that concrete
thing called the individual. Her interest lay in the species, the race.“
• Symbolism
• The story of the moose represents the life of Koskoosh
Sources
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-London
• https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Law-of-Life/plot-summary/
• https://www.litbug.com/2022/11/22/the-law-of-life-summary-and-
analysis/