Jack London (1876-1916) was born in San Francisco. His father has deserted him. Her mother Flora Wellman raised him in Oakland. Her mother was a music teacher and spiritualist. London's stepfather John London was a failed storekeeper. London's youth was marked by poverty. When he was at the age of ten he became a reader and Oakland Public Library was his main source of reading books. London was not well educated therefore he spent much of time in public libraries reading fiction, philosophy and political science. At the age of 19 he started to write. London's first love was Mabel Applegate, a middle class girl. London left the school before the year was over. London went to seek a fortune in Klondike gold rush of 1897.He was unsuccessful in this attempt. In 1901 he started regularly to write novels, short stories, becoming most popular writer of that time.
From above quote we can make difference of thoughts between Jack London and Martin Eden. Jack Eden reveals the thinking of a character of his fiction. Jack London's writing appears to be personal experience on life. Jack London portrays that how a man of poor society through self-determination and self-education can become a member of bourgeois. He also depicts about Martin as finder of connection with families of higher class. It brings a new world for Martin. Martin was not able to get education due to lack of money. He was as sailor by occupation; his contact with Morse family provided the way to Martin to view the customs of that higher class society. Martin and Ruth were involved in studying.
Due to connection with higher class he visited many place which he dreamed of. Although mixture of two different societies is possible but their thoughts cannot be same. Same happened with M artin. He strived to fulfill what he thought was the better society. Martin thought to educate himself and become a well known writer in order to gain her respect and finally her love. Jack believed that Spencer had much influence on London's racialism. Spencer adapted the theory of evolution into a society where an individual, species and races with best traits are survived. A "survival of the fittest" theory known as Socialist Darwinism. An evident of this thinking is found in Martin Eden, as Ruth and her family accepted him after Martin has gained fame by his publication.
It is life," he replied bluntly. "It is real. It is true. And I must write life as I see it.
He looked again at the open port. Swinburne had furnished the key. Life was ill, or, rather, it had become ill-an unbearable thing. "That dead men rise up never!" That line stirred him with a profound feeling of gratitude. It was the one beneficent thing in the universe. When life became an aching weariness, death was ready to soothe away to everlasting sleep. But what was he waiting for? It was time to go.
Jack London's Martin Eden is the semi-autobiographical of a young sailor who struggles to improve himself; becomes a writer and achieves success. It also reflects on London's own life and career.
Jack London's death is controversial. Some sources say it as suicide. However this appears to be rumor or speculation based on incidents in his fiction writings. He died on November 22, 1916. Suicide does figure in his writings. In his autobiographical novel Martin Eden; he commits suicide by drowning.
Conclusion
Martin Eden, Jack London's semiautobiographical novel about a struggling young writer, is considered by many to be the author's most mature work. Personifying London's own dreams of education and literary fame as a young man in San Francisco, Martin Eden's impassioned but ultimately ineffective battle to overcome his bleak circumstances makes him one of the most memorable and poignant characters Jack London ever created. As Paul Berman points out in his Introduction, "In Martin, [London] created one of the great twisted heroes of American literature . . . a hero doomed from the outset because his own passions are bigger and more complicated than any man could bear".
Work Cited
http://www.academon.com/jack-london-martin-eden
http://www.readprint.com/author-58/Jack-London-books#biography
John Garcia Professor Hacker English 1017 April 1999
