Презентация "Jack London" 11 класс

Jack London

White silence

Jack London (born John Griffith Cheney, 1876–1916) is an American writer and journalist, public figure, and correspondent. Gained worldwide fame as an author of adventure novels and short stories. In a brief biography of Jack London, there are many interesting facts, and his life path was full of hardships and the most unexpected twists of fate.

Jack London's literary talent woke up in his school years, when he wrote compositions best of all. However, the hard life, which forced the young man to work hard, did not leave time for creativity. Once the local newspaper appointed a cash prize for the best story, and Jack London's work took first place. Inspired by success, he made an important decision for himself - to devote his life to literature. Jack set about writing stories, but no one needed them. Then in 1897 he went to Alaska in search of gold. This decision turned out to be unsuccessful: instead of ingots, he picked up scurvy, which he could not get rid of for a long time.

Having accumulated rich life experience, Jack London seriously set about literary work. From his pen came out "Northern Tales", "Call of the Ancestors", "White Fang", "Martin Eden", "Time Waits" and many other works that glorified him throughout the world. London himself considered the novel "The Little Mistress of the Big House" to be his best work.

In his works, London sought to show a person in a non-standard, difficult situation, at the turning point of his own destiny, when his future life depends on decisive actions and self-confidence. The work of Jack London is characterized by a realistic description of the circumstances, which are complemented by an adventurous spirit of adventure and romance.

History of creation

"Northern Tales" by Jack London appeared after a trip to Alaska. They were published in the Overland Mansley magazine, and then came out as a separate book, Son of the Wolf (1900).

Literary direction and genre

Realistic stories describe a harsh life among the White Silence. Mason's death seems like a fantastic coincidence, but the very possibility of death in a dead snowy desert is more realistic.

Theme, main idea, problem

The theme of the story is the confrontation between man and northern nature, which is embodied by the dead White Silence, life and death. Death wins by killing one person. But three lives escape from her tenacious paws. The moral and ethical problem of the story is the problem of forced choice. Kid must take full responsibility. But this is not just an arithmetic problem - three lives against one.

Artistic originality

The idea of ​​a hostile dead space is in the story. Two hundred miles of unpaved path is contrasted with the distance between Fort Yukon, where Ruth will wait for her husband, who is in Arctic City. This distance, according to Kid, is completely imperceptible, because you can communicate with a long rope, as Kid calls the phone. Distance in a story is measured in dreams, as is customary among the Indians. White Silence is a full-fledged hero of the story, a personality. It is the very embodiment of nature, which proves to man that it is stronger. The main quality of the White Silence is dispassion. Jack London includes an extra-plot element in the story, consisting of a landscape and philosophical discussions about how it affects a person. Jack London describes in detail the stages of the influence of the White Silence on a person: the fear of death. God, the whole world - the hope of resurrection and life, longing for immortality.

The battle with hungry dogs is also a confrontation with wildlife: "The ancient tragedy of natural selection played out with all its primitive cruelty", "man and beast fought frantically for dominance." A person can defeat the cold nature only at the cost of enslaving creatures that are completely dependent on him - dogs.

Thank you for attention!