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: I take 0 credit for this info. It should help out tons. This info is in addition to all info on this site. : Sea Wolf : By Jack London : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Plot ysis : Sea wolf was a long story, and took forever to read. The story developed rather slowly for suspense to build up. Characters are developed slowly and in great depth. The main character, "Hump", was also the narrator. through out this novel hump encountered many difficulties on the ships. this plot was slow and drawn out over many pages. This book was a slow read and was hard to get into, when the plot was thickened the story was really good, despite all of the little details that the reader could do with out. : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Character ysis : Humphrey Van Weyden - Narrator of the story. Started as Cabin boy and later in the book becomes First Mate. Wolf Larsen's intellectual counterpart on the ship "The Ghost." At first "Hump" was a weak man but as the story progresses he becomes a rugged sailor. Underneath the exterior "Hump" is a very compionate and caring gentleman. : 2-Van Weyden is the novel's narrator. Weyden starts out as a "clerical" looking man who walks upon "dead man's legs," as in his own life was built upon his fathers money and influence. Weyden matures in the novel. Forced upon him by Larson, Weyden becomes a man who walks on his own legs. : Weyden's first change is from a rich man's son to an able seaman. He learns his duties and goes from an object of ridicule to a peer with the other men aboard. The second is when Weyden is promoted to the first mate. This promotion gains respect from Larson, the other crew members, and from Weyden himself. The third change is brought on by introducing Maud Brewster. Maud gives Weyden the courage he needs to escape from the Ghost. With Maud, Weyden exceeds Larson. : 3-Humphrey "Hump" Van Weyden- Before coming aboard The Ghost, he is a literary critic who comes from a wealthy family. He is one with an optimistic philosophy and a respect for life and believes in morality and the immortality of the soul. He is Wolf Larsen's anithesis and grows both physically and emotionally through his experiences and confrontations with Wolf on The Ghost. Though he hates and resents Larsen, his conscience prevents him from harming Wolf. : Wolf Larsen - Captain of the "Ghost." A very strong individual in both personality and brawn. A vigilant believer in Darwin's Theory of the "survival of the fittest." A self taught intellectual powerhouse, one of the two people on the ship that can converse words like gentlemen. Holds a belief that a persons life is not worth anything, and feels like death is a boost to the next life. He also is responsible for "Hump's" hardening as an individual among his shipmates. : 2-Wolf Larson is the center of The Sea Wolf. His physical strength is what we : the readers and Humphrey Van Weyden are first introduced to. He is : described as ferocious, savage, and primitive like. Despite his animal like : appearance and strength he is self educated and can go on and on : philosophizing life and human nature. It is Larson's strength and mind the : controls his crew aboard the ship Ghost. : Larson's character and life philosophy is clearly stated early in the : novel, " I believe that life is a mess," " The big eat the little that they may : continue to move, the strong eat the weak that they may retain their : strength. The lucky eat the most and move the longest, that is all" (ch. : 5). : Larson is completely materialistic and amoral. In chapter two Larson is : deeply affected by the death of one of his men simply because now he is : short a sailor. Larson is stunted by his loneliness, " Far as it seemed, no : man has ever seen very far into Wolf Larson's soul, or seen it at all; of : this I am convinced. It was a very lonely soul, as I was to learn, that : never unmasked, though at rare moments it played at doing so" (ch. 5). : Wolf Larson is also a model of Jack London himself. Both are self educated : and take pride in this fact. London's own nickname was " Wolf " and as a : "wolf" London and Larson were loners. According to London and Larson, life : was built by himself for himself. : 3-Wolf Larsen- A fierce man characterized simply as Lucifer. Larsen is unfettered by a conscience. Since his conscience is nonexistent, he is capable of cruel and extremely evil acts without remorse. Yet he possess a magnificient body and a greater intellectual mind juxtaposed against his lack of conscience. : Thomas Mugridge - The ship's cook. A coward under his rough exterior. "Hump's" boss and makes him do twice the work for spending time with the captain. He has an ill temper a causes trouble for no reason sometimes. He carries a knife and sharpens it constantly to make "Hump" become intimidated to him. : 2-Thomas "Cooky" Mugridge- The resentful, dirty, oily cook who steals from Hump as well as mistreat and abuse him. Cooky is usually bullied and hated by the rest of the crew and takes out his aggression upon Hump when he first arrives on the ship. : Maud Brewster - The survivor of a shipwreck off the coast Japan who suffered the same fate as Van Weyden. Trapped aboard the Ghost, Weyden falls in love with her. Wolf Larson and the crew treat her with respect because she is a woman. Although she and Larson often philosophize, she is afraid of Larson. Maud is a writer in the U.S. : 2-Maud Brewster-The strong independent woman who is brought aboard The Ghost after a storm at sea. She is a writer who is also Hump's soulmate. She pities Wolf at the same time she fears and detests him. Though she realizes Wolf's intelligence, she is repulsed by his lack of conscience. Furthermore, she cannot understand how Hump can stand by and watch Wolf destroy people but comes to respect that Hump must do certain things in order to survive. : Though Maud's appearance in the book is so sudden and convenient, she plays a vital role in the outcome. Without her, Weyden would probably not escape the Ghost. Maud is also based on Chairmian Kittredge, whom Jack London married. : Johnson and Leach- They are the only two people on board of The Ghost who dare to challenge Wolf's leadership. Johnson corrects Larsen's pronunciation of his name and openly disparages him. Leach threatens to kill both Larsen and Cooky. Though they fight to kill or at least overthrow Wolf Larsen, they both know they will die before the end of their journey on board The Ghost. : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Plot Summary : As the story begins "Hump" is aboard the ferry Martinez. Another ferry in the harbor collides with his ferry boat. This causes the Martinez to sink, and splinter into hundreds of pieces and kill many people. Although "Hump" was on this ship he was only rendered unconscious by the collision. He was stranded at sea until another ship "the ghost" sailed by and pulled him aboard. He then was revived by the cook, and a man named Johnson. His clothes were wet and needed to dry, so the cook lent "Hump" a shirt, and a pair of pants until his were dry. He went up to the deck and found the first mate dead. He captain, Wolf Larsen, called for someone to give him a bible so he may do a sea type funeral for him. After the service is done Wolf kicked the body over board. He then appointed Johnson as first mate. He then was introduced to "Hump" and appointed him as the new cabin boy. The cook, Thomas Mugridge, had to show "Hump" what his duties were, This included being the boats waiter, cook istant, and dish washer. Later that night "Hump" began his new duties on the ship. While up on the deck carrying a try he saw all of his crew mates scurry under the deck for they saw a huge wave approaching the ship. They called out to "Hump" to hold on to something, by the time he realized what they said the wave was about to crash upon the ship with fierceness. He managed to grab a rail and stay aboard the ship. although he held on the wave thrashed him about and caused him to strike his knee against a beam on the ship and damage it. Then he was forced to continue on his duties for the rest of the night while working on his hurt leg. The next day after he woke up his dry clothes were returned to him and his bag. As he proceeded to check the contents of his bag he found that his money was gone. He then frantically rushed to find Wolf to try to reclaim his lost earnings, he says that Cooky had taken his money and that "Hump" wants it back. Later that night Wolf called for Cooky to play a game of cards . He told "Hump" to fetch the whisky gles for the two. The two began to proceed playing cards and wagering more and more money at each hand. While the two were playing they both were drinking. By the end of the game Cooky was drunk, and could barely stand up, let alone play cards. When The game was over Wolf had claimed all of "Humps" lost money all one hundred and eighty-five dollars. "Hump" then said to that Wolf has his money and that it would the right thing to do if Wolf would return the money. This statement sparked an intellectual and philosophical conversation. Wolf loved this conversation so much that he said that Hump could stay with him for three days just so Wolf can enlighten himself. This caused Cooky to take up the responsibility of two men. This caused him to become enraged with Hump. He began sharpening a knife to try to intimidate Hump For being with the Captain for the three days. One of the hunters aboard the ship was requested to supply Hump with a knife so he wouldn't be too afraid of Cooky. To show Hump that he truly had power he decided to cut one of his crew mates. He did so and the crew mate swore revenge for the act of hatred. Later as Cooky wore the same clothing captain Larsen told Cooky that he better change his clothes. Cooky didn't do as the captain wished, and he keel-hauled him. As he was in the water a shark was spotted, and the men were given orders to pull him up. The men were too weak to perform this task so the captain stepped up to pull him up with his raw strength. Although he pulled Cooky out of the water the shark jumped and bit off the cook's foot. As the Ghost was heading toward Japan's waters they picked up some stranded people, a man and a woman. The woman was intelligent. They spotted the Macedonia, which was Wolf's Brother's ship. The Macedonia could hunt seals faster than Wolf's ship. Wolf order his crew to fire on Death's hunting ships, Wolf captured three of the boats and crew. When the Macedonia found out they immediately gave chase. The Ghost hid its self in a fog bank. At night fall Hump, and the woman decided to leave and go to Japanese islands by themselves. They were at sea for many nights and were running out of rations. they stopped out on an island to set up a temporary camp. They fed off of seals and built a hut to live in. They lived there for a few weeks, and after one night the Ghost appeared on the shore with it's mast broken. Hump traveled aboard to get supplies, and noticed that all the hunting boats were gone. He discovered that Wolf was still aboard, and having one of his traumatic headaches. He returned again later to ask what happened. Captain Larsen said that his brother promised his men more money to abandon him. Hump and the woman decided to use the boat to escape the island. As Hump was repairing the mast during the night Wolf would sabotage Humps work. Wolf lost his sight due to his headaches, and tried to start a fire after Hump tied him up in his cabin. Hump eventually fixed the mast and began sailing, while Hump was on the sea Wolf died and they threw his body overboard. A storm hit and broke the Ghost's mast again. They were stranded and running out of supplies, a U.S. IRS ship and the ship rescued Hump and the woman from the boat. : : 2- The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London, is the tale of an educated literary critic named Humphrey Van Weyden. Van Weyden is on a ferry when it sinks. He is rescued by a sealing schooner, The Ghost, operated by the dreaded captain Wolf Larsen. Instead of being returned to land, Van Weyden is forced to remain on the ship as the cabin boy. While on board The Ghost, Van Weyden witnesses several acts of brutality from the captain and learns of Larsen's philosophy of life, which is life is similar to yeast, the bigger yeast devouring the smaller in order to survive. During the sealing voyage the mate gets murdered. "Hump," as he is now called, is promoted to mate. Hump helps the captain and is also the ship's doctor, which is very much needed because of the violent nature of Wolf Larsen. While searching for some escapees from The Ghost another ship is sighted. The pengers are saved from the sea but are now subject to the wrath of Wolf Larsen. Among these pengers is the famous author Maud Brewster, one of the favorites of Van Weyden. Humphrey immediately falls in love with her. Larsen, however, has also taken notice of her. One night Hump awakes to find Maud struggling in the terrible arms of Wolf. He attacks Larsen with a knife, wounding him in the arm. One of Larsen's unbearable headaches come on, and Brewster and Van Weyden are able to escape in a small boat. Hump uses what he has learned on the ship to navigate the boat and teaches Maud his newfound techniques. After drifting and rowing for a long while they spot a rocky island coated with seals and decide to attempt a landing. Once on the island, Maud and Hump use the stolen food for replenishing themselves. They build huts out of debris on the island and use sealskin for the roof. Realizing that food supply is short, they cure seal meat for the winter. After a short while on the island, they wake up to find The Ghost shipwrecked on the rocky shores. Van Weyden boards the ship to investigate, armed with a gun. Hump meets Larsen on the ship but cannot bring himself to murdering the brute. Hump later returns to get food from the ship and discovers Larsen is now blind, a tragic result of his persistent headaches. Van Weyden decides to repair the ship with Maud's help so they can return to civilization. Wolf Larsen demolishes the first attempt at repairing the ship, cutting all the ropes and splintering the wood. Van Weyden and Brewster simply start over. During the second rewiring of the ship, Larsen fakes an attack in order to kill Van Weyden, thereby bringing a real attack on which leaves his left side paralyzed. Maud nurses Larsen through the rest of the rebuilding of the ship, watching his sensory and motor ability slowly fade away. Wolf finally dies, a United States ship is sighted, and Maud and Humphrey finally confess their undying love for each other. : 3-When the ship in which he was a penger sank in a collision off the coast of California, Humphrey Van Weyden was picked up by the crew of Wolf Larsen's ship, the Ghost, a sailing vessel headed for seal hunting ranges in the Bering Sea. Wolf Larsen was a brute.Van Weyden witnessed the inhuman treatment of a sick mate who died shortly afterward. He saw a cabin boy badly beaten. In his own interview with the captain , he fared little better. Instead of promising to help him return to San Francisco, Wolf demanded that Van Weyden sign on as cabin boy and stay with his ship. : The crew set to work taking in the topsails and jibs. From that moment Hump, as the crew called Van Weyden, learned life the hard way. He had to get his sea legs, and he had to learn the stoical indifference to pain and sufffering that the sailors seemed to have mastered already. As cabin boy, he peeled potatoes and washed greasy pots and pans. Mugridge, the cook, abused him and robbed him of his money. : Only one man, Louis, seemed to share Hump's feelings about the captain and his ship. Louis predicted many deaths would result from this voyage. He said that Wolf Larsen was a violent, dangerous man and that the crew and seal hunters were vicious outcasts. Wolf did seem insane. He varied from moods of wild exultation to spells of extreme depression. In his cabin were clic books of literature, and when he spoke, he chose either to use excellent English or the lingo of the sailors. Sometimes he amused himself by arguing with Hump. He claimed that life was without meaning. : During a southeaster, Hump badly dislocated his knee and Wolf unexpectedly allows Hump to rest for three days while he talked to him about philosophy and literature. When Hump returnedto the galley , the cook was whetting his knife. In return, Hump obtained a knife and began whetting it also. His actions so frightened the cowardly cook that Hump was no longer a victim of his abuse. : Louis talked of the coming season with the seals. He hinted that trouble would come if the Macedonia, a sealing steamer, came near. Captained by Death Larsen, the brother and enemy of Wolf, the Macedonia was a certain menace. As a prelude to things to come, an outbreak of fury took place on the Ghost. First, Wold Larsen and the mate beat a seaman named Johson to a pulp because he complained of ill treatment; then Leach beat the cook. Later two hunters had a shootout and Wolf beat them for injuring themselves before hunting season. Then Wolf suffered from one of his periodic headaches. To Hump, life on shipboard was extremely cruel and vicious. : A few days later, the men tried to mutiny. In the row that followed, Johansen, the mate was drowned, and Wolf was nearly killed. While Hump dressed Wolf's wounds, Wolf promoted him to the mate's position. Both Leach and Johnson would have killed Wolf in a second but he remained too wary for them. : At the seal hunting grounds, a terrific storm cost the lives of four men. The ship itself was beaten, its sails torn to shreds and portions of the deck were swept to sea. When Leach and Johnson deserted in a small skiff, Wolf started out in pursuit. On the morning of the third day, an open boat was sighted. The boat contained a young woman and four men, survivors from a sinking steamer. Wolf took them aboard planning to make them sailors as he had made Hump. Shortly afterward, the Ghost overtook Johnson and Leach. Refusing to pick them up, Wolf let them struggle to get aboard until their craft capsized. He watched them drown without comment and then ordered the ship's course to return to the hunting grounds. : The woman survivor was Maud Brewster, a rich female poet, as weak physically as a woman as Hump had been for a man. Wolf resented the intimacy that sprang up at once between Maud and Hump, but took out his resentment by deciding to give the cook the first bath he had in a long time. : At his orders, Mugridge was thrown into the water with a tow rope slung about his middle. First however, he fled madly about the ship causing one man to break a leg and another was injured in a fall. Before Wolf was ready to bring Mugridge back up a shark bit off his right foot at the ankle. When he came aboard, Cooky tried to bite off Wolf's leg but Wolf almost strangled Cooky. Hump bandaged the man's leg while Maud almost fainted. : The Macedonia appeared and robbed Wolf's hunters of their day's catch of seals by cutting off the line of approach to the Ghost. In revenge, Wolf sent his men to capture hunters from the Macedonia. When the Macedonia gave chases, Wolf sailed his ship into a fog bank. : That night Wolf tried seize Maud but Hump woke up and ran a knife through Wolf's shoulder. At the same time, Wolf was overcome by one of his headaches, the seizure came with blindness.Hump helpled him to his bunk and under the cover of dark, he and Maud escaped in an open boat.After days of tossing they came to a small island. Using supplies they had taken from the Ghost, they set about making themselves houses and gathering food for the coming winter. : One morning, Hump saw the wreck of the Ghost lying offshore. Going aboard, he discovered Wolf alone, his crew deserted him to go aboard Death Larsen's ship. Wolf seemed nearly insane, and had a sick man's desire to sleep. Hump stole some pistols and food which he took to the island. : Hump, planned to repair the mast of the Ghost, began work on the crippled ship. That night, Wolf undid all of Hump's work and cast the mast off the vessel. Hump and Maud began anew to refit the ship. One day, Wolf attempted to murder Hump, but during the struggle, he had one of his spasms and fainted. While he was still unconcious, they handcuffed him and shut him in the hold. : Then they moved aboard the Ghost, and the work of refitting the vessel continued. Wolf became more than a prisoner. He had a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. Hump continued to repair the vessel. At last, it was able to sail. Wolf Larsen finally lost the use of his muscles and lay in a coma. And when he died Hump and Maud buried him at sea. By that time they were deeply in love. A United States ship discovered them one day they felt that their dangerous odyssey was at an end. The were, however, out to begin a less perilous journey together. : : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Although this novel was long drawn out it was well written and had many elements of great stories contain. This story had many specifics and detail, sometimes about the unexciting, and dull. This story was too descriptive, when someone describes a shirts fell or color you don't always have to use a simile. When you say that the shirt was brown the reader knows what you mean. The story had a lack of detail on the exciting, gory, or frantic scenes of the story. The author Jack London then uses simple talk to tell about action. For example When Cooky cut his crew mate London said "Cooky then cut his arm From the elbow to the wrist." This is an opposite of what the reader should be informed on. The color of a shirt or the feel of something is common place in the word today, thus the reader already has knowledge for the things being described. Many people may not be able to relate to a gaping wound on the fore arm of another man. The details are just a small part of this review but still are a great part of the novel. London also used a Great idea in the gentleman among brutes idea when he created Wolf Larsen. This character provides depth to this story by allowing Hump to expand his personality as a gentleman. These two have great dialogues and conversations on theories and other topics that the story would be lacking if Hump was the only intellectual on the ship. All in all this novel was very good, with the exception to the excessive detail. The novel was well worth the time it took to read, and had all the action needed to keep a reader's attention for more then ten pages at a time.

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