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Adventure (1911)

door Jack London

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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Though novelist Jack London is best known for the paean to natural wonder that is The Call of the Wild, he had an activist side, as well. In Adventure, London describes and skewers the plantation system of The Solomon Islands in a devastating take-down that is equal parts adventure tale and social justice tract.

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Al estilo de una vieja comedia de Hollywood, Aventura narra el enfrentamiento -con sus oscilaciones entre el amor y el odio, la competencia o incompetencia de uno y otro sexo- entre un hombre que se encuentra solo al frente de una plantación -acosado por negros caníbales que esperan un momento de debilidad para dar buena cuenta de él- y una intrépida mujer, independiente y liberada, encantador precedente de las feministas de hoy día, Joan Lackland, que llega a la plantación para ponerlo todo patas arriba... Esta novela fue escrita en los primeros días de su travesía por el archipiélago de las islas Salomón, abatido por la fiebre y el clima, a bordo del Snark.
  Daniel464 | May 14, 2022 |
"ADVENTURE" by Jack London

The novel starts with DAVID SHELDON, an Englishman, who is the owner of the Berande coconut plantation. He is the only white man on the Solomon Islands surrounded by scores of hostile natives - black workers (slaves) - who are about to stage rebellion and try to kill him. Despite his poor health (suffers from malaria fever) David manages to quell rebellion and mercilessly punish its instigators. These are the most memorable scenes in the whole book. Soon, David Sheldon is unexpectedly visited by an unusual sailor and adventurer - a woman. It is JOAN LACKLAND and her crew. This American girl is totally fascinated with the spirit of adventure and although beautiful outward, her spirit is more of a rugged man than of a delicate woman. Joan likes the island and helps David run business affairs. Soon, she becomes his business partner and partial owner of the plantation. Joan's youthfulness and her adventurous spirit, coupled with her shrewd and often aggressive business tactics, brings additional wealth to the plantation. However, despite these positive changes, David is not happy with the existing situation. He is in love with Joan, but doesn't want to scare her with the marriage proposal knowing too well that her restless spirit, a spirit of a boy in the woman's body, looks at marriage and romance with suspicion and even hatred. Things got even more complicated later with the arrival of a boat-crew led by "an adventurer of adventurers" JOHN TUDOR. Tudor is an American born in Germany and the leading man on a gold-hunting expedition to the Solomons under the command of the wealthy individual Von Blix. David and Joan welcomed them warmly, offering them hospitality and necessary assistance. However, Joan gets mesmerized by Mr. Tudor's adventures. He often talks to her about his dangerous expeditions around the world and they are seeing each other quite often. Their cozy relationship, however, sparks Sheldon's jealousy...

The second part of the novel depicts a new rebellion on the plantation by the black workers who secretly amassed guns and ammunition in order to kill their white masters. Lives of both Sheldon and Ms. Lackland are seriously endangered. Luckily for them, the conspiracy and murder are prevented at the last moment, and the leaders of the rebellion are hunted down one by one. In their pursuit for culprits, David, Joan and their supporters enter particularly dangerous part of the island (jungle) inhabited by cannibals. This area had never been encroached by the white man before. Of course, the jungle brings new dangers. The pursuers are particularly shocked by the cruelty of cannibals who had captured Tudor and eaten his crew of gold hunters. In the end, Tudor is brought to safety, and all black rebels are either killed by their pursuers or eaten by the cannibalistic tribe. The Chapter XXVII of the book (next to the last) portrays an armed duel between Tudor and David. This is certainly the most exciting part of the novel, its culmination and ultimate adventure, surpassing even the encounter with cannibals in the jungle. This time, two jealous and love-stricken males (David Sheldon and John Tudor) are fighting over Joan. This time, it's the fight to death. David first laughs at this ridiculous proposal, then soon angrily accepts the duel. This duel has some rules however: "no seconds, no onlookers, and the two principals alone are necessary". Also, "they may use any weapons they please, from revolvers and rifles to machine guns and pompoms. They start a mile apart, and advance on each other, taking advantage of cover, retreating, circling, fainting - anything and everything permissible. In short, Sheldon and Tudor hunt each other like a couple of wild Indians, and Berande is just the place".

The book ends with a happy ending, however. Sheldon becomes a winner of the duel. He could have killed Tudor, but he just wounded him instead, and then took care of his wounds.
Having realized what happened, JOAN LACKLAND declares her love for David. In fact, she loved him all the time but somehow got scared of the marriage. As in any great novel, however, there is no outward (excessive) sentimentalism in these paragraphs. More often, sentimentalism is replaced with humor, bickering, irony, and unpredictable witty dialogue. In short, this novel is about adventure, but it is not just adventure. It is also a love story (however atypical it seems to be). It is also an interesting portrayal of its leading characters, where their strong will, dedication and perseverance are glorified. Also, the story setting (the Solomon Islands), is not just a mere decoration in the novel, it also takes a role of an invisible character (inhospitable, and cruel, but also beautiful body with soul). As for London's style of writing, his sentences are rich, neither too long nor too short, the words are carefully selected, and when carefully read, sentences look like skillfully composed pieces of music, with melody and rhythm. Long narratives are often interspersed with colorful dialogue. This dialogue is particularly impressive when the plantation owner (Sheldon) communicates with his black workers. He uses the same broken English as his slaves.
For example:

"What name you sing out alla time?" he demanded.
"Him fella my brother belong me," was the answer. "Him fella die too much."
"You sing out, him fella brother belong you die too much," the white man went on in threatening tones. "I cross too much along you. What name you sing out, eh? You fat-head make um brother belong you die dose up too much. You fella finish sing out, savvee? You fella no finish sing out I make finish damn quick."

As for socio-political and ideological layer of this novel, many modern readers, influenced by the contemporary political correctness, will scream: RACISM!
Yes, derogatory and racist statements against the blacks are numerous in this novel. However, it doesn't make Jack London a racist. Since the novel portrays a typical white male (i.e. plantation owner) at the beginning of the 20th Century, it is natural that a realistic novel mirrors the spirit of the time. Since many white people held views at the time that the white race was superior to blacks, it is expected that these views are revealed in the novel. In fact, this is what makes this novel a great work of literature. Without it, the novel wouldn't exist in its existing form. In short, this is not just a novel, but also a historic document which could help today's young generations better understand complexity of life (especially relationship between the blacks and the whites) at the beginning of the 20th century. We shouldn't forget that Jack London lived in an era where the racial superiority of the white Anglo-Saxon man was seriously promoted in the political circles through expansionistic policy of American "Manifest Destiny" or Kipling’s "The White Man’s Burden". However, some of London's novels sympathetically portray Mexicans (The Mexican), Hawai'ian (Koolau the Leper), and Asian (The Chinago) and this tells us that Jack London is NOT a racist.

Some elements of the novel that could be incorporated in the elementary/high school curriculum: GEOGRAPHY (the Solomon Islands: how is it portrayed in the book? Describe climate, plantation, jungle), HISTORY (discuss racism, slavery, Manifest Destiny, Kipling’s White Man’s Burden, Colonialism at the beginning of the 20th century, the role of women in America: How typical is Joan Lackland?), BUSINESS/ECONOMICS (Carefully investigate business decisions of David Shaldon and Joan Lackland; discuss their strangths and weaknesses: If you had a coconut plantation, how would you run the business? How would you treat your workers? Where would you sell your products ? As for the "slavery" depicted in the book, to what extent could it be called "slavery"? To what extent is it similar/different to the slavery on the white plantations in the American South prior to the Civil War? Are the black workers on Berande economically speaking, better off working on plantation? Would their conditions improve if they were not dependent on Sheldon and his plantation? Think about lawlessness on the island, different tribes trying to exterminate each other, cannibals, and rule of the jungle. Does Sheldon equally treat all the black workers? Do loyal blacks get the same treatment as the undisciplined/rebellious ones? Provide some examples.).

IMOTA DINAROID ( )
  imota | May 28, 2006 |
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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Though novelist Jack London is best known for the paean to natural wonder that is The Call of the Wild, he had an activist side, as well. In Adventure, London describes and skewers the plantation system of The Solomon Islands in a devastating take-down that is equal parts adventure tale and social justice tract.

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