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Jack London O Henry Compare Contrast
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Jack London was an outdoorsman in every sense of the word. ... London’s philosophy was reflected brilliantly in his writing, where in almost every story a character faces a very taxing environment and often walks a fine line between life and death. ... Conversely, O. Henry was a bird of quite a different feather. ... Most of O. Henry’s characters, settings, and plots came from things he heard and saw while in the prison. The real trademark of O. Henry, though, is his ironic endings. When reading O. Henry, one always has to expect the unexpected, for nothing ever turns out quite the way it seems. ...
First of all, while the plots of the stories London and O. Henry wrote may have changed, the themes and morals of the stories stay consistent throughout each author’s series of tales. London’s stories predominantly display themes that indicate the power that nature has over man. ... London implies here that even though the man is materially prepared, he is not prepared mentally because he does not heed the advice of the old, wiser man. ... In this story, London almost comes out and says the moral of all his stories when he writes “But one task did Nature set the individual. ... ” London avidly believed that nature waits for no one, and no human being could possibly be important when we all live under such a greater power.
Comparably, O. Henry keeps a consistent set of morals throughout his stories. The main things O. Henry stresses are that people have the ability to change, even if it may not seem so, as well as that a life of crime most often does not pay. ... London’s stories probably could not have the same effect on the reader if they took place in the first person or third person objective. London needs his readers to be actively engaged in his stories so they can be emotionally occupied with the situation and involved with the characters. ...
In comparison, O. Henry’s stories also work best in the third-person omniscient point of view. Unlike London, O. Henry doesn’t want the reader as involved in his stories, so in turn, his stories do work slightly better in first person than London’s do. ... Jack London’s time in the far north comes out in most of his stories such as “To Build A Fire”, “In a Far Country”, “One Thousand Dozen”, and others. ... Jack London had firsthand experience with these tribulations, so he was able to provide a complete and detailed scenario that made the reader really feel like they were experiencing the situation right along with the character.
The same goes for O. Henry. ... O. Henry himself was convicted of embezzlement and spent time in a penitentiary, so his interaction with different convicts most likely helped him develop an accurate visualization of what the lives of these criminals would be like. ... One can almost immediately tell the difference between a London tale and an O. Henry tale within the first few sentences. ... North and south, as far as the eye could see, it was unbroken white…” This excerpt from “To Build a Fire” is just a small taste of the circumstances in which Jack London plants his characters so cleverly. ... London is able to make his settings as intense as they are because of his first-hand experience with the types of settings he included in his stories. The same holds true for O. Henry, but in a different respect. Unlike London’s, many of O. Henry’s settings are based in urban areas. However, O. Henry did have quite a bit of personal understanding of his settings, having lived in New York for the latter part of his life, or on a smaller scale from living in Austin, Texas, for several years, as well.
London’s and O. Henry’s settings are not strikingly similar in any way, but one thing that jumps out at me is how the settings in London’s stories control the types of characters and whether the character succeeds or fails when trying to reach his objective.
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Paper Information
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Title: Jack London O Henry Compare Contrast
Words: 3281
Rating: None
Pages: 13.1
submitted by: annabanana
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