Учебно-исследовательская работа Дж. Лондон/

ГБОУ Средняя общеобразовательная школа №90

Выборгский район

г. Санкт-Петербург

The Influence of J. London's Books

on the Development of a Personality

Work performed:

Students of 9A Kondakova Anastasia,

Glebasheva Anastasia,

Morozova Daria

Research director:

Potapova Ekaterina Vasilievna

2016

Сontent

• Introduction                                                                                             3

• Chapter I. Theoretical information                                                         5

• J. London’s biography in brief                                                                5

• What famous people say about Jack London                                         6

• Some books we have analyzed                                                               6

• Chapter II Practical Part                                                                          8

• Bibliography                                                                                            9

Introduction

        From the very beginning of our life we are accompanied by various literary works. The role of literature and books in general is huge in our life. It is inestimable . They are involved in the formation of a person, and moreover, they constitute the bulk of the moral upbringing of each of us. Literature teaches are wonderful, kind things, it shapes moral ideals, and the ideals of appearance and behaviour. The images and thoughts of the books characters are the basis of the readers' behavior , a role model, a good guide in different situations.

        In our research work we've decided to turn to Jack London's works. Jack London is a famous American writer. He is the author of the North stories. Though his life was short but remarkably vivid, he managed to create the world of art that fully reflects the uniqueness of his original personality, which allows us to talk about him as a writer who embodied the spirit of his time in the pages of his works.

        The theme of our research work is the Influence of J. London's books on the Development of a Personality. The aim of this work is:

        - to identify the traits of character which are developed while reading some J. London's books.

        The aim of our project has identified the specific research objectives. They are as following:

        1) Study J. London's biography;

        2) Read several books written by J. London's books, i.e. The call of the Wild, White Fang, Jerry of the Islands, The Valley of the Moon;

        3) Study the influence of J. London`s books, on the development of a personality;

        4) Pay our classmates' attention to the importance of reading;

        5) Pay our classmates' attention to the books written by Jack London;

        6) To learn the appropriate methods.

        While performing our project, we have used the following research methods:

        1. Studying the media on this subject.

        2. Compiling the material.

        3. Drafting (compiling) a table.

        4. Analysis, data comparison.

        5. Studying the literature on this subject.

        Our research work is of practical value, as the material presented can be applied in the process of teaching literature in schools, lyceums, gymnasiums in Russian and English. Besides, we would like to pay the attention to the role of literature in each person's life, in a person upbringing, in a character formation and in character traits shaping.

Chapter I. Theoretical information

1. J. London's biography in brief

(January 12th, 1876 – November 22nd, 1916)

        Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California. So this year his 140th anniversary is celebrated. Jack London was a pen name and he was probably born as John Griffith Chaney. His mother, Flora Wellman, lived in Ohio but then moved to San Francisco where she worked as a music teacher. It also known that she was interested in spiritualism. Some biographers suppose that Jack London’s father was William Chaney who lived with Flora Wellman in San Francisco. It is not known if Flora and William were legally married. The house where Jack London spent his childhood was destroyed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

        In 1889 he started working at Hickmott’s Cannery. His working day lasted 12 to 18 hours. Afterwards Jack London bought the sloop Razzle-Dazzle and became an oyster pirate. After a while he came to Oakland and entered Oakland High School where he started writing articles for the school’s magazine, The Aegis. The first work of London was “Typhoon off the Coast of Japan” in which he described his sailing experiences.

        At the age of 21 Jack London joined the Klondike Gold Rush. This period of life was a basis for some of his popular stories but his health declined there. As a result London had the scurvy. All the events in the Klondike were an incitement for him to write a short story “To Build a Fire” which is considered one of his best.

        Jack London’s first marriage was in 1900. He married Elizabeth “Bessie” Maddern with whom he had two children: Joan and Bessie (later called Becky). But they divorced and London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905. They didn’t have children because the first child died at birth and the second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

        Jack London died on November 22, 1916. There are a lot of different suppositions about London’s death. Some people consider that he could commit a suicide but his death certificate gives the cause as uremia. His ashes were interred in Jack London State Historic Park, in Glen Ellen, California.

2. What famous people say about J. London

        We would like to point out some famous people's quotations about jack London.

        “Jack London. His voluntarism.  Knights. Did he bring up knights in Russia? I think, he did. They are those who went forth and died in the civil war.” (M. Gorky)

        Yury Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, said that J. London was his favourite author.

        Pavel Popovich, a cosmonaut, told that the book he would take to the long-distance space flight would be a book by J. London.

        “By nature Jack was kind and generous — indeed a friend of a friend, the king of glorious small fellows... He had a pure, full of joy, tender, gentle heart... He looked older than his years, the body flexible and strong, the neck open at the collar, a mass of tangled hair — they fell on his forehead, and he engaged in a lively conversation, impatiently threw it back. No room resident, but the person of free space — in short, a real person, a man. He was obsessed with the desire for truth...” (I. Stone)

3. Some books we have analyzed

        J. London is best known for his book The Call of the Wild, the story of the adventures of a dog in the frozen north. His writings were very popular and he became rich and famous before the age of 30.

        The American novelist and short-story writer knew life in Alaska very well because he experienced it himself. That is why it is so interesting to read his novels The Call of the Wild and White Fang.

        White Fang is a novel about a wolf-dog whose father was a wolf and mother was a half-wolf half-dog. He is the only one who survived in their family when he was born. Once White Fang met people and one of the men was his mother’s ex-owner who she had run away from a year ago. That man’s name is Grey Beaver. It is quite difficult for White Fang to get used to living among people. Later he becomes a sled dog. Devotion to a man becomes a rule for him. White Fang has many features of a wolf but he remains a dog. Some time later White Fang starts taking part in dog battles. There is one man who likes this activity a lot. And this man buys White Fang from Gray Beaver. The dog hates his new owner. Beauty Smith trains the dog and makes him a professional fighter. But one battle could have been the last for White Fang as it was too cruel. After that fight a man, Scott by name, buys White Fang and takes care of him. So the dog makes a full recovery very quickly. Once the ex-owner Beauty Smith tries to kidnap the dog but he fails. After that Scott moves to California with the pet. It is difficult for White Fang to get accustomed to new life conditions again but White Fang managed to do it. White fang loves all Scott’s family.

        The novel Jerry of the Islands reflects a sharp problem of slavery that caused a lot of hatred, repugnance and even a wish to kill which seemed to be a necessity. And this novel underlines the fact how these things affected the dog's subconscious. But the main character did not become more wicked like these people, although these horrible situations left a huge scar on its heart.

        The Valley of the Moon

Chapter II Practical Part.

Identifying the Traits of Character Developed by J. London's Books

        Jack London was not like any other writer. Basically, his main characters are dogs. The author wanted to highlight the idea that dogs are loyal, noble, and brave and have a plenty of common features with humans. In some aspects the dogs are even better than people, according to the writer's books. The writer points out the best qualities dogs possess, but people have lost. It must be also underlined that Jack London associated himself with a wolf in some way.

Bibliography

1. Джек Лондон «Любовь к жизни. Северные рассказы», Москва, Детская литература, 1998
2. www/Londonjack.net/razdel-sb-eb-130
3. www.londonjack.net.ru/razdel-op-at-18/‎ru.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Зов предков
4. www.fantlab.ru/autor3003/responsespage1
5. www.loveread.ec/view_global.php/id