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2011/2012 prof. dr. sc. Boris Beric

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Name: December 20th,2011

Professor: prof.dr. Boris Berić

Course: Introduction to English Literature I


The Law of Life

None of us probably experienced those last hours of our life. What really happens at that time? Do we regret about things we did, or have not managed to do? Is there hope that we will get out of it, and continue with our life? This essay will provide us the answer for those questions, because the theme is man`s fight against death.

Every man has that instinct which pushes us forward. Some things we start to regret, thinking that we could do them better. In this story, like it says, man is fighting against nature. We all have clear states about our situation when we are about to die, but we are not aware of human`s will to survive.

Regardless you accept your death or not, that little thing will instinctively push you to fight for your life.

Koskosh, from the Jack London’s story "The law of Life" also has that instinct. Narrator, who is omniscient, puts us in medias res, where we see not pleasant situation, for Koskosh of course. Weather is bad, probably winter and the tribe is leaving. They are carrying with themselves only necessary things and healthy members of tribe.

Of course Koskosh is not healthy, he is at his last hours of life. The narrator describes us what is happening in his head. "The long trail waited while the short days refused to linger"1 first quote that gives us a lot of information about his thoughts. He knows what is next, for him it is useless to even think about survival.

His tribe is leaving him and it is simple he will die. Only thing that matters to him is when. We can say that he is eager to die and finally end his life. What happens next is interesting, things that were irrelevant to him, are now becoming more relevant than before.

Another thing that occupies his thoughts is his granddaughter Sit-cum-to-ha. He is making comparison about his and her future. She is about to live her life and he is about to die. Koskosh is mentioning little baby, and of course he also has an opinion about it. He thinks that it will probably die because it is young and not properly fed up.

For him death does not care are you hungry or not, there is no way out. Now let us go back to his son. He gives proper care to Koskosh and that is when we are going to the past. That situation reminds Koskosh about his father. It is described how Koskosh is asking his father is he well, and his father is answering in an ironic way "It is well".

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Koskosh is now aware of meaning of that sentence. His father could not be well neither is he. How can you be well at the last hours of your life? At that time, he did not understand but now he understands. Koskosh is different than his son, because his son is aware of his situation.
Koskosh accepts his fate, with a sentence "It is easy all men must die"2.

We find out that death is not strange to Koskosh, he saw what death can do. He knew everything about death. It does not matter if you live by the rules or not, you will die. "They had passed away like clouds from a summer day"3. This quote introduces us in how Koskosh sees life, like a set of episodes.

These episodes come to him every time he puts a wooden stick in the fire. One of the episodes is when river Yukon was drained. Famine came and there was lack of everything. Ironically, he remembers when they had everything. If tribe was smart, they would stash some of the supplies in case of famine .This is a life lesson, because when you have plenty of everything, you just do not care.

Pack of wolves has cut moose from herd. In Koskosh`s case bad weather and snow cut him from the tribe. Moose is wounded but still runs and tries to survive. Now, Koskosh repeats how he will die and it is pointless to fight against death, but why does he put wood sticks in fire, of course he also wants to live a bit longer. "Moose had done his task long since, but none the less life was dear to him."4 Koskosh also lived his life but still in back of his sub consciousness he strongly wants to live.

Moose is symbol of fighting against death. We can say that this conflict is resolved. Plot and setting are facts that are most influential in the story. So far these flashbacks have really helped us to understand Koskosh`s way of looking at life.

Who is left to die? Koskosh, he is old and weak, he will just stumble them in their journey. That situation brings up Koskosh`s hope that they will maybe pick him up and carry on sleds. But, Koskosh`s father also has that hope, and what happens is that Koskosh left him.

We can assume that he is regretting, because he leaves his father, and now he realize that he is in the same situation. In story it says that if Koskosh waited for 3 months, they would find box-medicine and extended his father life. This is important because Koskosh is running out of wooden sticks and death is approaching him.

If Sit-cum-to-ha gathered more wood sticks he would live a little bit longer. But no, she was not paying attention to her grandfather, just as Koskosh did not for his father. And we can mention famine, where stays that if tribe stash some supplies they could survive.

We also mentioned that he knew lot of things about death. Did the herd come back for the moose? Of course not, herd did not come back to danger, to risk the life of all members, just because of some wounded member. He knew that the tribe would not come back for him and risk dying in cold, because of some old member.

At the very end of the story he is alone. He lost last hope, because death is coming for him. All these situation are circling in his head. Only the strongest survive, Koskosh realizes that, and in the very end when he is run out of wood sticks, he thinks "is it not the law of life".5

Narrator was successful in showing us "The Law of Life". His technique of writing demands careful and between the line reading. There are two important symbols. I mentioned moose, and those wood sticks that probably present his last hours. Nevertheless, what is left after reading is complete understanding of what happens when we are about to die.




BIBILIOGRAPHY

  • LONDON, Jack, The law of life, New York World, New York, 1901.


1LONDON, Jack: The law of life, New York World, New York, 1901., p 1

2LONDON, Jack: op.cit., p. 2

3LONDON, Jack: op.cit., p. 2

4LONDON, Jack: op.cit., p. 3

5LONDON, Jack: op.cit., p. 4

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