Презентация - анализ романа Джека Лондона "Мартин Иден" на английском языке

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Jack London 1876-1916 THE ANALYSIS OF THE NOVEL “Martin Eden” made by Darya kuzmina

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Martin Eden The story under analysis is titled ‘Martin Eden’. The author of this literary work is Jack London , the novelist and short-story writer of the 20th century. Jack London was one of the most remarkable authors in the world in his lifetime. He was famous for his romantic tales of adventure mixed with elemental struggles for survival. London's works, all hastily written, are of uneven quality. The best books are the Klondike tales, which also include 'White Fang' (1906) and 'Burning Daylight' (1910). His most enduring novel is probably the autobiographical 'Martin Eden' (1909), but the exciting 'Sea Wolf' (1904) continues to have great appeal for young readers.

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S etting The setting reveals features of the characters. Description of domestic interiors is another aid which points out the social class and background. The scene is laid in the USA, as the author uses the American words: ‘ cavort’,’gang -plank’ and depicts actions in the city, called San Francisco. The story is set at the end of the 19 th - beginning of the 20 th century, because we observe the bourgeois class which was the ruling upper class of a capitalist society.

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The subject The subject taken up in the story is Martin Eden’s struggles to rise above his destitute, proletarian circumstances through an intense and passionate pursuit of self-education, hoping to achieve a place among the literary elite. His principal motivation is his love for Ruth Morse. Because of the fact that Eden is a rough, uneducated sailor from a working-class background and the Morses are a bourgeois family, a union between them would be impossible until he reached their level of wealth and refinement. The following raw of thematic vocabulary helps us to gain a better understanding of the topic: copious, intercourse, abnegation, connotation, salutary and so on.

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The message The novel belongs to the genre of KÜ NSTLERROMAN – in English means “artist’s novel” – such kind of novel tends to show the formation and development of an artist. The message of the story may be found in dreams, aims which can be true . Goals that get reached are those that are firm, well-defined, and to which the individual is truly and completely committed. The hero is a sailor and laborer whose endurance and intellectual curiosity lead him to educate himself so that he may share what he conceives to be the fine, high-thinking life of the wealthy bourgeoisie. He is inspired by Ruth Morse, a college-trained society girl, to him a symbol of what he considers are the values of her class. He becomes a writer, expressing the view of life to which his reading of Spencer has guided hi m. The novel teaches us to be determined, decisive and take the matter in our hands, to struggle for our purpose and never back down. To sum up, the moral reflected in the proverb: “Climb high, climb far, your goal the sky, your aim the stars”. The message is expressed implicitly, i.e. indirectly, and has a complex analytical character, being created by the interaction of numerous implications which the different elements of the literary work have .

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The exposition The exposition takes place at the beginning of the story, where the author gives us preliminary information about the protagonist of the story. Martin Eden as a sailor. He is rough and uneducated from a working class background. He makes the acquaintance of Ruth who is from a bourgeois family. It casts light on the circumstances influencing the development of characters.

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The climax Climax of the story is rather unexpected. One publishing house decided to publish a limited edition of a critical-philosophical book "The Shame of the Sun.” The book caused a sensation. It was noticed and appreciated by leading writers. The controversy around it creates Martin’s "name." He became famous.

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The denouement The denouement is quite unpredictable. The unexpected success of Martin does not bring satisfaction. After the death of Brissenden he decides never to engage in writing activities. Meanwhile , Ruth Morse agrees to marry him. At this point, Martin realizes that he doesn’t love her any more, that he "loved the bright and radiant image, and not a bourgeois girl." He denies her offer. The suicide of Brissenden , the loss of affiliation with his own class, and the contempt for the values of the class to which he has climbed rob him of zest for living. He makes a voyage to the South Seas, and, his will to live destroyed, jumps from the ship and drowns.

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The protagonist The protagonist is Martin Eden, the antagonist is his beloved. Martin is a very industrious person. He works like a beaver in order to improve his speech and pronunciation. He reads a lot of books. The character is portrayed dynamically, as later he undergoes changes. He becomes a successful writer. The author uses direct characterization, he evaluates the protagonist himself. The major character is represented through his behavior, speech, lifestyles and thoughts. Martin is a round character who reveals various sides of his personality. He is brave and hesitant, sensitive and unyielding. Contradictory features within a character make him true-to-life and convincing.

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Martin Eden is a 21-year-old man from the working class. He has no family support and has spent much of his life earning money as a sailor. During his first appearance we see him as an utterly awkward and uncouth man in an old salty clothes, with a rough speech and scars on his skin. But being introduced to a middle-class life he becomes obsessed with becoming its part, one of those intelligent men. He studies hard and reads a lot, he buys new clothes and learns how to speak correctly. But it corresponds only to situations with the middle-class society. When he’s in society of ordinary workers he becomes again a person whom he used to be before meeting the Moarse’s . So, he is torn between two different worlds and he doesn’t fit in any of them completely. His mood also changes throughout the whole novel.

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At the beginning of the novel we see him as a lively and inspired man unknown to everybody but closer to an end, when he has already become famous, he is frustrated and devastated. He loses his inspiration and interest in life. The life of wealthy people seems for him too “machinery” and he claims that he doesn’t want to be a machine, deprived of simple pleasures of life. That leads him to a decision to buy a small lonely island and commit suicide on the way there, jumping into the ocean. So,we can see him from different sides of his character. The author doesn’t evaluate him by himself but shows him through his actions giving us a chance to estimate him on our own.

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The antagonist His beloved is depicted through her appearance: she was a pale, ethereal creature ,with wide spiritual blue eyes and a wealth of golden hair. She likes her family and class, ‘worshipping at the shrine of the established’ and financially successful, deserts him, believing him a failure when magazines will not buy his writing, and is outraged by the notoriety attaching to a newspaper’s false accusation that he is a socialist. When one of his books makes him wealthy and famous, she attempts to resume their engagement, but his love is killed by recognition that she really admires only his acclaim and financial success. She is a realistic character but the girl who is not worthy of our positive estimate. She is a flat or simple character.

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Ruth Morse is a 24-year-old woman from an upper middle class family. She majored in English at U.C. Berkeley and began tutoring Martin Eden. Throughout their tutoring sessions, Ruth stressed to Martin the importance of grammar and constantly corrected his language use. Ruth felt both attraction and disgust for Martin. He was different from other men she met and he was poor so she knew that marrying him wouldn’t be appropriate for her family. Throughout an action she seems to have changed in reader’s eyes as he gets to unfold her character deeper. At the beginning she appeared to be a delicate and intelligent woman but her deeds and words showed that she had had a limited imagination and didn’t known how to apply her knowledge in life. She didn’t believe in Martin’s ability and wanted him to go to school, than college and than become a lawyer at her father’s firm. That would give him a chance to become equal to her. She left Martin when he was accused and rumored for his views and came back when he became a famous writer and acquired some wealth . It gave Martin a chance to see that her feeling weren’t real and became a reason for their complete break up.

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Minor Characters: Russ Brissenden Martin Eden first meets Russ Brissenden during a dinner at Morse’s. Martin notices him wandering around the party and takes quite an interest in him, observing Russ for some time throughout the event. Russ becomes Martin's friend and seems to be the only one who understands him when it comes to his writing. Russ Brissenden , being a writer himself, understands and admires Martin Eden's writings and together they are able to share long conversations. Russ starts serving as a mentor to Martin by teaching him more about grammar, writing and of politics. He introduces Martin to a group of intellectuals in the "working-class ghetto" of San Francisco, and after experiencing their conversations Martin states that those kind of people make life worthwhile. Soon Russ Brissenden commits suicide and in a way he also serves as someone Martin Eden aspires to be in life and in death.

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The conflict We may observe the external conflict “man against man” - between Martin and Ruth. His love is pure and pellucid but Ruth Morse breaks their engagement, and he sees her at last in her true light. Finally, Ruth comes to him and offers to be his mistress if he will only forgive her for breaking their engagement. But there is no love of life left in Martin; his enthusiasms are all burned out. They have different views and values, so cannot come to understanding. There is another conflict “man against society” or man against the established order in the society, Martin fights his social environment openly, and we notice a conflict between the individual and the established order: a conflict ofpoverty , injustice and inequality.

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Topical vocabulary The story is full of emotionally-colored words words: ethereal, sublimated, plethora, virility, loftiness, terror, collide, trepidation, liable, frightened, fearful, observant There some international words : egoism, positive, technique, moment and so on. P hrasal verbs : come back, turn out, run down, take out, break out, to see through, tilt up, sink down, hold on, chance upon Proper names : Martin Eden , Ruth Morse, Russ Brissenden , Lizzie Connolly, Arthur Morse, Swinburne

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Synonyms: awkward-uncouth, harsh-rough, spacious - wide transparent-clear, celestial –spiritual, eternity-immortality, fame-eminence, profound-deep, solace –consolation Antonyms: pale-dark, harsh-delicate, heave – lunge, wide-narrow, liable-facetious, dead-alive, good-bad Toponyms: Old Mexico, South-Sea-Island, Salina Cruz, Oakland, Berkley Slang: fellow, an’, ain’t , gimme , “he’s ben drinkin ” Idioms: to turn one’s mind, to be out of place, get one’s nerve

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Stylistic devices … she was a spirit, a divinity, a goddess… ; The wide rooms seemed too narrow for his rolling gait… ; The sweat burst through his skin of his forehead in tiny beads, and he paused and mopped his bronzed face with his handkerchief; He was surrounded by the unknown, apprehensive of what might happen, ignorant of what he should do, aware that he bore himself awkwardly, fearful that every attribute was afflicted; … into his eyes came a fighting light; He didn’t know painting. He had been brought up… . He had seen oil paintings… . He glanced around… ; … his eager eyes… He glanced at the titles, read fragments of text, caressing the volume with his eyes and hands, and, once, recognized a book he had read. Under that muscled body of his he was a mass of quivering sensibilities; At the slightest impact of the outside world upon his consciousness, his thoughts, sympathies, and emotions leapt and played like lambent flame; And “Mister!” “It was brave of you–” Here was something to live for, to win to, to fight for – ay, and die for.

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Quotes “But I am I. And I won't subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind” “limited minds can recognize limitations only in others.” “Culture and collars had gone together, to him, and he had been deceived into believing that college educations and mastery were the same things.” “He was a man without a past, whose future was the imminent grave and whose present was a bitter fever of living.”

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Test yourself! 1. When was the novel “Martin Eden” written? 2. Did Martin Eden gain recognition in his lifetime or posthumously? 3. Have you ever read any of his novels or short stories? 4. Is the title of the novel suggestive? 5. When and where is the scene laid? 6. What is the main theme/message/topical vocabulary of the novel? 7. What is the plot structure of the novel? 8. Who are the main characters? 9. What is the conflict based on?