Jack London

Love of Life & Other Stories Jack London

Love Of Life is a collection of stories about the endurance, survival, and even the death of the human spirit, and most occur in disastrous occasions that keep the reader on the edge of his seat. Many of the stories take place in the Canada that borders Alaska, and as London had an persistent interest in the Gold Rush of 1898, plots center around the hardships that faced the natives of Alaska and western prospectors as a result of man's insatiable thirst for riches and adventure. One of story in this anthology is "Brown Wolf". It is a simple tale about a dog that was half wolf, raised in the Yukon as a sled dog, but later domesticated on a quiet farm, living a peaceful existence, and waited on by gentle people. The author teases out the wishes of the dog that is torn between a thirst for danger, and alternately a thirst for safety. It is the tension between home and adventure, between comfort and risk, and the end of the story reveals London's own trust in the ultimate leanings of manhood as signified in the struggle between plant and animal in Brown Wolf.