Essay Questions

What is “Dr Jordan’s final test of truth” what school of philosophical thought is London promulgating by introducing it?

In Chapter 37, against almost every possible odd, the dandy Humphrey turned seaman Hump has almost single-handedly managed to repair the seriously damaged mast of the schooner and transform the Ghost into a seaworthy vessel again. As he cries out repetitively “It will work” in a manner that seems more hopeful than predictive, Maud inquires as to his familiarity with “Dr. Jordan’s final test of truth” in which the test turns out to be the answer to a simple question: “Can we trust our lives to it.” London is promulgating his adherence to the philosophy of pragmatism with this most basic distillation of its essence. If one believes that their life is dependent upon doing something and they apply this test and arrive at an affirmative answer, then by definition it is the wisest course of action.

Which infamous 19th century philosophical character is Wolf Larsen intended to realistically personify as a work of fiction?

Although it would not be immediately recognized by critics at the time of publication, Jack London was quite forthright in his admission that the creation of Wolf Larsen was stimulated by his own negative reaction to reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical writings on his theory of the coming of the next step in human evolution, the Ubermensch or, as is more commonly referred to in America, the superman. Although Larsen is routinely placed alongside Captain Ahab as one of the most memorable depictions of a man driven over the edge by too much isolation from society aboard ship—primarily due to his primitive behavior and predatory cruelty to those below his status—he is also ultimately the most interesting character in the story and so, as a result, the most romantic. Such a reception by the public only serves to undo the very points that London was trying to make against Nietzschean ethics and morality as attributed to the rise of the Ubermensch.

How is this rousing adventure on the high seas action story categorically linked to such utterly dissimilar texts as Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird?

Although very much an adventure story, the narrative structure of The Sea-Wolf places it very much within a specific genre literary genre that it shares not only with the titles mentioned above, but with stories of characters ranging Jane Eyre to Huck Finn. At the heart of the story, lying beneath the bluster and terror of Capt. Larsen is the transformation of Humphrey Van Weyden from a dandified scholar of limited experience into Hump, a Darwinian affirmation of manhood and heir to the throne only temporarily occupied by the primal beastliness of the swaggering would-be superman, Larsen. That he is able to miraculously repair the boat in order to save himself and Maud is the ultimate evidence forwarded as to the change he has undergone in this example of the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. Very much like Scout Finch—although significantly less like Holden Caulfield—Humphrey is not the same person at the end that he was at the beginning and it is precisely the events in between which have stimulated this metamorphosis. One significance differentiation, however, is that Hump is much older than the typical protagonist of such a novel who tend to be around Holden’s age or just a little older.