ABSTRACT

The present paper concerns itself with a new study of the inevitable death of Martin Eden issue. Quite different from previous research, this paper aims to emphasize the importance of two main conflicts leading his death in the study of the inevitability of Martin's death. The discussion of inevitability of his death forms the major concern of the present study. This paper consists five partsstarting with a brief introduction to Jack London and his works, then proposing a new theory to testify the inevitability of Martin's death. An additional discussion of two main conflicts resulting in his death is also provided. At last the study with the conclusion Martin Edens death is inevitable. It is his only solution to solve the conflicts. Though it we observe that idealism is not very reliable, it has enormous discrepancy with reality, in the mean while, individualism poisons many young people in the capital society. Based on these findings, we may conclude that those so-called American dreams are not based on reality, but only on belief. Individualism will be placed by socialism in the end. Some useful implications obtained from this study include we can see Martin Eden can not evilly stain his sane soul; he began to struggle against society to some extent.

Key words: inevitability, idealism, individualism, death, Martin

I

., ,, ,, . ,, , ,. : : , , , .,
II

CONTENTS
1 Jack London and his works......1
1.1 Brief introduction about Jack London ...1 1.2 About Martin Eden.................................................................................2 1.3 His other works...3

2. Some comments on the death of Martin Eden from historical points of view...4
2.1 Comments from Jack London himself. 4 2.2 Comments from others.....4

3. Analysis of the inevitability of the death of Martin Eden from five

aspects...5
3.1 From the bewilderment of love.....5 3.2 From the bewilderment of writing......6 3.3 From the bewilderment of attitudes of secular people....7 3.4 From the call of nature in his deep heart. ...8 3.5 From the failure of going back to working class....9

4. Discussion two paradoxes leading his death...10

4.1 The conflict between idealism and realism......10
III

4.2 The paradox of individualism and socialism....11

5. Conclusion.....12 Bibliography Acknowledge

IV

1 Introduction about Jack London and his works

1.1 Brief introduction of Jack London
Since Martin Eden is an avowedly autobiographical novel, largely based on Londons own life from the time he had decided to become a writer until shortly after the sensational success of The Call of the Wild, it is necessary to closely review Jack Londons own life as well as his writing career. Jack London was born in 1876. His father, who never married his mother, deserted her before the boys birth and always refused to acknowledge Jack as his child. When the baby was eight months old his mother, a former schoolteacher, married a poor migrant worker, an uneducated and semi-skilled carpenter, John London. The impoverished family forced the young Jack into various jobs so as to add a little to the slim income of his stepfather. The heavy burden of life shaped Jack a superman, who was always energetic with prodigious strength. When his article, Typhoon off the Coast of China, won first prize, he began to think of writing as a career. This writing career reinforced by his extensive life experiences including being a laborer, a factory worker, an oyster pirate in the San Francisco bay, a member of the California fish patrol, a sailor, a railroad hobo, and a gold prospector. During his hobo months, he stored up a wealth of memories to be later used in many articles, and it was when he came into contact with Marxism spending long hours talking with other older tramps, some of whom were American radicals with knowledge of Marxist literature and other immigrants were with memories of European socialist movements and workers organizations. Socialism helped Jack London more clearly perceive the evils of capitalist society and miseries confronting the working people, most of whom were reduced to working beasts. In order to escape the fate of becoming a working beast Jack London took up
1

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

the pen. Once he had resolved himself to succeed as a writer, his diligence and innate skills catapulted him far beyond most of his literary peers in both perspective and contents. By following a strict writing regimen o f 1.000 words a day, he was able to produce a huge quantity of high quality works over a span of eighteen years. Though he died an early death, this great writer left behind fifty-one books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of letters.

1.2 About Jack Londons other works

In 1901 London ran unsuccessfully on the Socialist party ticket for mayor of Oakland. He started to steadily produce novels, nonfiction and short stories, becoming in his lifetime one of the most popular authors. London's first novel, The Son of the Wolf, appeared in 1900. His Alaska stories, The Call of the Wild (1903), in which a giant pet dog Buck finds his survival instincts in Yukon, White Fang (1906) and Burning Daylight (1910) gained a large reading public. Among his other works are The SeaWolf (1904) and The Road, a collection of short stories. In 1902 London went to England, where he studied the living conditions in East End and working class areas of the capital city. His report about the economic degradation of the poor, The People of the Abyss (1903), was a surprise success in the U.S. but criticized in England. In 1906, he published his first collection of non-fiction pieces, The War of the Classes, which included his lectures on socialism. London also published a semi-autobiographical novel Martin Eden (1909) and a travel book The Cruise of the Snark (1911). London had purchased in 1910 a large tract of land near Glen Ellen in Sonoma County, and devoted his energy and money improving and enlarging his Beauty Ranch. In 1913 London's Beauty Ranch burned to the ground, and his doctor told him that his kidneys were failing.

1.3 About Martin Eden

2

Martin Eden, Jack Londons autobiographical novel, has evoked much controversy since published. Some critics, such as Katherine Little, regarded it as a eulogy on individualism and Nietzsches superman theory, and some including Jack Londons biographical author, Earle Labor, took it as a text dealing with American Dream while Jack London himself insisted that it was an indictment of individualism, which was further supported by his wife Chairman: Both Martin Eden and The Sea Wolf attack Nietzsches philosophy, Although each of these arguments is valid to some extent, a close textual analysis would reveal their respective limitations. Those who view Martin Eden as a eulogy on individualism could not be totally agreed with for the text shows Martin Eden is not a perfect individualist: he seeks consolation and friendship among the working people and is more or less a pro-socialist, If not a socialist. Earle Labors limitation lies in the fact that though Martin Eden may have touched the edge of the American Dream, it was not really meant to portray America Dream. The depiction of it is left to later generations of writers, such as Theodore Dreiser, Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and Earnest Hemingway. Jack Londons argument falls invalid likewise, for Martins suicide as a condemnation of his being an individualist is an unwarranted conclusion, since it is not necessary the result of individualists. Such a discrepancy is both negative and positive for Martin Eden. Positive, because these different views enable this novel to remain a literary interest; Negative, because misleading or even distortion can sometimes result. This paper is intended to correct some biased or even misleading interpretations of Martin Eden on the one hand, and to provide a more objective and reliable approach to the appreciation of this novel on the other.

2 Some comments on Martin Eden from literary reviews

2.1 Comments from Jack London himself
3

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

Jack London has intentionally arranged Martin Eden to repudiate individualism and Nietzsches superman theory. He wrote on the flyleaf of a gift copy Jack London :Introduction to Martin Eden :1910, 12. This is a book that missed fire with a majority of the critics. Written as an indictment of individualism, it was accepted as an indictment of socialism; written to show that man cannot live for himself alone, it was accepted as a demonstration that success made for death. Had Martin Eden been a socialist he would not have died. On many other occasions he has reiterated such a creative motive by the textual facts Martin Eden died. However, the books actual effect on readers is that Martin Eden is an individualistic hero against the establishment, and the socialism seems of little consequence. As a result, critics of his times regarded it as a eulogy on individualism and superman theory. Even socialist reviewers of his times criticized that he had defended for individualism and abandoned his socialistic belief. Jack London had to admit that one of my motifs, in this book, was an attack on individualism. I must have bungled for not a single reviewer has discovered it. His wife, Chimian (Believe in my Husband: 1910, 24) has tried to support his declaration, Autobiographies of a socialist, Martin Eden and The Sea Wolf both attack Nietzsches theory. However, even the socialist failed to perceive it. 2.2 Comments from others In the preface to Martin Eden, Professor Su Xingsha made a statement that in the development of American literary history, Martin Eden serves as a forerunner in depicting the disillusionment of American dream, followed by Dreisers American Tragedy and Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby (Rebuild American Dream: 1983).This view can also find support in Earle Labor, a famous expert on Jack London. In Jack London, Earle Labor quoted a readers impression on Martin Eden: during last two nights, I was totally engrossed in Martin Eden, and it deeply touched me. No other books have ever exerted such an influence on me. Up to now I still cannot understand
4

why I was so attracted by it. (Earle Labor: Twayne Publishing Company 1974. 357).Such was also the case with Earle. He immediately set about to find out the reason and then declared that it consisted in the fact that Martin Eden reflected the aspiration of Americans. Such a discrepancy has been hold Martin Eden in controversy for about a century, which in turn arouses long-lasting interest of both and literary amateurs. Different readers interpret Martin Eden from different perspectives. Consequently there exist variety of opinions about its theme, its protagonist, and Jack Londons writing motivation. As a result, many scholars employed various methods and theories to explore Martin Eden from different perspectives. By combining textual analysis with historical study, this paper focuses on two pairs of conflicts found with the protagonist and arrives at the conclusion that it was the irreconcilability of these conflicts that could account for Martin Edens tragedy.

3 Analysis of the inevitability of the death of Martin Eden from

five aspects
3.1 From the bewilderment of love
Martin Eden considered love was pure, sane, beautiful, and no other things in the world could compare with love. He loved madly, from the first sight, he fell in love with Ruth, who was noble, sane not like the secular women. In fact, he neglected the issue, Ruth heard her parents advice and considered all the real aspects, she kept in mind that Martin was a sailor, no money and from the inner heart she thought Martin could not become a famous writer, even though he was intelligent and diligent. She always hoped that Martin took a job for money. Martin could do anything for love and he believed he could succeed in writing soon two years later. In addition, he had faith in himself and knew what the literature was. As a matter of fact, he had love, beauty more seriously than fame and what desire he
5

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

had for fame was largely for Ruths sake. It was this reason that his desire for fame was strong. In his eyes, he loved beauty passionately, and the joy of serving her was to him sufficient reward and more than beauty he loved Ruth. Love was too fine and noble and he was too loyal a lover for him to besmirch love with criticism. Love was beyond reason, and it was beyond rational. He could not belittle love, and worshiped it. Love lay on the mountain-tops beyond the valley-land of reason. He considered the lover blessed over all creatures and it was a delight to him to think of Gods own mad lover dying on a kiss rising above the things of earth above wealth and judgment, public opinions and applause. Realism was always crucial, because for a long time he could not achieve a little accomplishment, but at this moment, the engagement was broken, from then on he began to doubt real love. What Ruth said could prove that Martin extremely depicted love beautifully. What Ruth said could give a blow to him: As father and mother have contended, we were not made for each other, and we should both be happy because it was discovered not too late. There is no use trying to see me.Martin Eden: 254. You made me very unhappy, I never wish to see you again (Martin Eden: 290) Martin, you dont know about what you are saying, I am not common.(Martin Eden: 302). He found himself like an awakened somnambulist. The bewilderment extended when he became famous and had lots of money. Ruth reconciled herself to Martin Eden, the only changes were he had money and fame. From then he realized love was also based on money, no longer pure or sane. The holy love in his heart obviously broke down before money. Ruth was only a secular woman like others too. Realism is imperative to my nature, and the bourgeois spirit hates realism. Where all lifes values are unreal and false and vulgar, now you want to renew our love. I am a
6

sick man- not my body. It is my soul, my brain. I seem to have lost all values.(Martin Eden: 360). In his life, there was another womanLizzie, who loved Martin for ever. She could die for him, but he could not change himself, because he had faith in love, he could not forget the misery of love, so he worried to give no happiness to Lizzie, in fact, he wanted to love, but he dare not. There was superman individualism which caused his superiority to the working people. He finally found himself in the love puzzlement. Consequently, he was so miserable that it influenced his life and this point contempt his death to some extent.

3.2 From the bewilderment of writing

Martin began to write poems and novels for beauty, love and nature. In his eyes, all good things should be shared by readers, so he learned to put his experiences such as sea beauty, pure love into the works. In the process of writing, nearly all people discouraged him to write, but he did not give up. He continued to learn from famous literature writers. Although intelligent and diligent, in the meanwhile, he also wrote many excellent works. There were not magazines or presses which would like to publish one of his works at that time. He wondered the secret trick why he could not sell his works. To his surprise, he was amazed at the immense amount of printed stuff that was no sense. In his eyes, there was no color, no light, and no life in those printings. However, there was no breath of life in it and yet it sold. He was puzzled by countless short stories written lightly and cleverly, he confessed, but without vitality or reality. Life was so strange and wonderful filled with an immensity of problems, of dreams, and heroic toils, and yet these stories dealt with commence to life. Martin felt the stress and strain of life, its fevers and sweats and wild insurgences. He wanted to glorify the leaders of hopes, the fanatic lovers, and the giants that fought under stress and strain, amid terror and tragedy, making life crackle with the strength
7

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

of their endeavor and yet the magazine short stories seemed intent on glorifying the commonplace little love affairs. He began to doubt that editors were real man. They seemed logs in a machine, and that was what it was a machine. He poured his soul into stories, articles and poems and entrust them to the machine. It was the rejection slips that completed the horrible machine of the process. He was a good fighter, whole-soul and stubborn and he would have been content to continue feeding the machine for years but he was bleeding to death, and not years but weeks would determine the fight. He struggled in the darkness, without advice, without encouragement, and in the teeth of discouragement. He pawned his watch and his wheel to cling to writing nobody cared to buy. He compared it with what he found in the newspapers, weeklies and cheap magazines, and decided that his works were better, far better that the average. Surely there were no live warm editors at the other end, it was all wheels and logs and oil-cups- a clever mechanism operated by automatons. He reached stages of despair wherein he doubted if editors existed at all. He was appalled at the slaughter. In some cases the titles had been altered. To puzzle him, those wish-wash and slash works could be published, however, his works with real content and good form could not receive any permit. The tide turned, and really it was sheer jugglery of fate. All the magazines and press snatch to publish his works, so the little thing grew bigger. His thoughts went over around and around in a circle. The centre of that circle was work performed. It ate his brain like a deathless maggot and he awoke to it in the morning. It tormented his dreams at night. Every affair of around him that penetrate through his senses immediately related itself to work performed He drove along the path of relentless logic to the conclusion that he was nobody, nothing. Martin, the hoodlum, the sailor, had been real, had been he; but Martin! The famous write, did not exist. Martin Eden, the famous writer was a vapor that had arisen in the mob-mindMartin Eden: 354.
8

There were things, however, in the magazines that amused him. All the magazines were claiming him. His works were translated into several languages and his vogue had become a favors. His creative output had been flung to the public in one magnificent sweep. He had taken the public off its feet, the way Kipling had, that time when he lay near to death and all mob, animated by a mob-mind thought. All those evil compelled Martin to decide to desperate. In the moment of that thought of the desperateness of his situation dawned on him. He was in the valley of shadow. All his life that was in him was fading, fainting, making toward death.

3.3 From the bewilderment of attitudes of the secular people

Martin succeeded! Money poured in on him, fame poured in on him; he flashed, comet-like, through the world of literature. Instantly, he felt the change money brought him. The two brothers-in law, who once labeled him as the black sheep of the family, came and openly expressed their pride in him; the complacent judge, Blount invited him to dinner; the schoolmaster, who had dismissed him from the school, extended his warm welcome to him; the Morses attempted to compensate for their past misdoings; Ruth hurried back to beg for his love, which she had abandoned ruthlessly. All these happened so simultaneously and coincidentally that at first Martin was bewildered. Then he came to realize that they did not treasure him so much for any real value of his works or for himself as for a purely fictitious value that they attached to him. It was the bourgeoisie that bought his books and poured its gold into his money-sack. But from his past experience with them he knew they could not possibly appreciate or comprehend what he had written. Hence his intrinsic beauty and power meant nothing to the hundreds of thousands who were acclaiming him and buying his book. They read him and acclaimed him with brute non-understanding just because everybody else was reading him and regarded him the fad of the hour. It was these same people who mistreated Brissenden and slaughtered his works, Emphemera, which was much better than Martins own works so Martin concluded that his success was just a matter of chance, whats more, the manifestation of the mobs lack of aesthetic taste and ability
9

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

to appreciate a literary work for its real value. When the Morses paid him respect and managed to become reconciled with him, Martin thus reasoned: The Morses had not cared to have him for himself or for his work. Therefore they could not want him now for himself or his work, but for the fame that was his, because he was somebody amongst men, and because he has a hundred thousand dollars or so. That was the way bourgeois society valued a man. He disdained such valuation. He desired to be valued for himself, or for his work, which, after all, was an expression o f himself.(Martin Eden: 360). At his heart, he was eager for real recognition of himself or his work. However, he was distressed to find no such acknowledgement from the bourgeoisie, including his once beloved. When she returned to his side to seek the love she had deserted, he relentlessly disclosed her real motivation: Ive got the same flesh on my bones, the same ten fingers and toes. I am the same. I have not developed any new strength or virtue. And what they want me is not myself. Then they must want me for something, for something outside of myself.(Martin Eden: 359). These penetrating words showed that he had realized the reason why people went in haste to flatter him and resented what success gave him. Furthermore, these words expressed his agony of not being cherished for his self but being judged in terms of money.

3.4 From the failure of going back to his working class

With the philosophy deeply planted in Martins heart, his class consciousness took form in his brain. He hated of bourgeoiss vulgar ideas. Martin was a victim of
10

paradox, which had lead to his destination. When he had all the things which as for upclass regarded holy he became extremely puzzled. He contempt of those so-called bourgeois, however, he was invisibly in the circle, where there were full of evils. He wanted to escape from this life, and he tried to go back to his working class. This was the last time for him to enjoy himself at Shell Mound Park where he met his old friends. They danced, sung, drunk a lot, since he never sailed. He thought he was real human once more. In fact he was a fool to have left them, and he was sure that his sum happiness would have been greater had he remained with them and let alone the books and the people who sat in the high class. He always doubted the books had spoiled him for companionship with these friends of his youth. He should have married Lizzie, who had always longed for Martin, but in his eyes, he thought her noble, in the contrast, himself shame and thunder and oppressed by a great sadness. He felt a century older than those careless, care-free young companions but he had traveled far, too far to go back. Their mode of life, which had once been his, was now disdainful to him. He was disappointed in them and had developed into an alien. Too many thousands of opened books yawned between them and him. He had exiled himself, and traveled in the vast realm of intellect until he could no longer return home. All the people around him could not understand him. From his own mental soliloquy: You are a damn poor Nietzsche man. Youd marry her if you could and fill her quivering heart full with happiness. But you can not, and its damn shame. A poor old tramp explains his old ulcers. Life is, I think, a blunder and a shame.(Martin Eden: 367). There was evident that he could not go back to his working-class any longer. He realized that individualism induced him into misery.

3.5 From the pursuit of nature

Martin first turned up as a sailor, who enjoyed the beauty of nature. There were wild
11

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

elements in his bone. From his works we could see he always advocated beauty, real nature. He showed the editors his own experiences on the sea and valley, when he was depressed, he would dream of the sea, the valley and fight against guys. Every time when he came back from the sea, he would feel he had energy which never could be used up. His intuition of performance derived from the nature. After he was famous and respected by all the people, he started to hate of that life, which was full of humbleness, evil, where people communicate with others by standards of money. On a Bricklayers picnic at Shall Mound Park, he experienced a recrudescence of all the old sensations. After all, they were his kind, close working class people, and he had been born among them and had lived among them. After he had strayed for a long time, it was well with nature and began to feel real human once more. He was a fool to have left them. From this point, it is obvious that the deposit of his character is belonging to natureone kind of real person. He planned to leave for south sea, also this desire became more and more strong when he found himself seem to be weak, faint. There were always lingered memory pictures took form and color and radiance just under his eyes. For him, those seas should be his home only if he lived there, he could alleviate his pain. This can prove that Martin was associated with the nature, the beauty. He never permitted those evil pollute the beauty, his pure soul. Coming from nature to gonging back to nature was his life trace, it was inevitable end. 4

Discussion of two main conflicts leading Martins death

4.1 The conflicts between idealism and realism
Through the analysis of the bewilderment above, it is obviously demonstrated that Martin Eden began to live for ideal, for belief. In his eyes, all things seemed to be beautiful, simple and pure. As for love, he felt Ruth was his Engle, Ruth was a pure, beautiful, woman, different from those women who always show up around him. He
12

would do all for Ruth, even would die. The belief Gods lover will die for a kiss can prove what Martin considered of real love, but he blindly put the kind of love into idealism. After the experienced the blow of broken engagement from Ruth, he realized his love was too feeble, Ruth was also a secular woman, just the same as all the women who make status, money, as standers before love. The dream to pursue real love shattered. He sank in deep misery. Martin wrote for love, for beauty, for nature, and that was his aim. But why not those are works published before his fortune came; however, no literature could deny the value of works, because his works are quite excellent. Because of his simple thoughts, he did not pay attention to the feature of literature during his period. He could not supply those readers with favorite works. That is to say, he neglected the realism factors. If one person writes not for readers, all his works could not be able to be published, however, all the magazines snatched to publish his works after he was famous. It was such a crucial society, and it was such a real world. Although Martin realized the evil of this world, he could not calm his heart down. He felt it was a shame to write excellent works for those humble editors and readers. He had already lost himself and he did not know what he should do. Whats more, those so-called noble bourgeois and upper-class were superficial seemingly integrity and noble. In fact, they were also the secular rats who never scrap evil believes. The society was not sane and noble as he first thought, so he began to consider going back to nature, where there was his real world, without evil, without sadness. This was just because he bore lots of pressure in this real society. He hated of the disgusting society. He also tried to give up the fortune and fame to go back to his working class, and there he could enjoy himself, but he found himself far away from it. It could prove he must confront these conflicts between idealism and realism. He was puzzled there was not a solution to resolve the kind of paradox. The extreme difference between his ideal word and his real world where he had involved caused him in deep misery: From too much love of living,
13

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

From hope and fear set free We thank with brief thanks giving Whatever gods may be That no lives forever That dead men rise up never; That evens the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea (Martin Eden: 380). He found death was the only way to dissolve all these conflicts.

4.2 Conflict between individualism and socialism

From the analysis above, we can observe that Martin Eden vacillated between individualism and socialism. Being a firm individualist, he seemed not to have suffered as much as Jack London. However, he was not totally immune from the conflict that inflicted much on Jack. Though an individualist, he was at least a pro-socialist, if not a real socialist. His identity as an individualist made it certain that he must endure misunderstanding in solitude that he must seek after success independently and he must separate himself from the working-class people. However, he harbored sincere concern for the working people because of his working experiences, his inborn kindness and his family background. He kept his natural ties with working people and felt close to them due to the fact that He had worked himself; his first memories seemed connected with work, and all his family had worked. There was Gertrude. When her hands were not hard from the endless housework, they were swollen and red like boiled beef, what of washing. And there was his sister Marian. She had worked in the cannery the preceding summer and her slim, pretty hands were all scarred with the tomato-knives. Besides, his father had
14

worked to the last fading gasp; the horned growth on his hands must have been half an inch thick when he died. (Jack London: Martin Eden: 397) Nevertheless, once he set his mind on writing to fame and money independent of all others, his natural tie with the working class was deliberately cut off. This brought him little psychological pain at the moment because it was blanketed by the joy and satisfaction he got from reading, writing and fell in love. During the process of individualistic struggle, he was a little lonesome but secretly pleased that he had built a castle with philosophies and his books, which could not be easily penetrate by the ignorant working people. Although he belonged to the working class, he had distinguished himself from them by acquiring knowledge from a wide range of books. As a result, he thought of himself as a man different from masses, superior to them physically and mentally. Then he triumphantly set for success as an extremely individualist. During his individualistic development, he elevated himself above the working-class people while and the same time always held deep concern for them. Both his sympathy and aversion for under-dogs were reflected by his innermost thoughts and feeling at a socialist assembly. However, no matter how individualistic he was, he could not rid himself of his concern for the working people. As a result, he was so frequently cornered by socialism and individualism that he certainly felt at loss. Such puzzlement was furthered by the conflict resulting from his adherence to superman theory and his deep concern for the working people.

5 Conclusion
It is not difficult to see that Martin Eden was the victim of the two pairs of conflicts discussed in previous parts. His personal tragedy was also that of his society and his time. It is well known that human beings are social beings. Hence no individual can
15

An Analysis of the Inevitability of the Death of Martin Eden

isolate himself from the society in which he was born and brought up. This means that he can never get himself immune from the influence of his time. Furthermore, his thoughts will be definitely tinged by the society more or less. Martin was no exception. Destined to live in the then American society, he was likely to take in the prevailing philosophies of that time. These philosophies had their respective pros and cons and some of them were incompatible with each other. As a consequence, their pious follower, Martin inevitably found himself tightly encircled by conflicts weighing on his mind. He tried to mediate these irreconcilable bewilderments and the more he understood their implacability, the more distressed he became. He tried to find consolation and comfort, but nowhere could he get balm, since the society had predestined all. He tried to flee away from these unbearable conflicts, but no hiding place awaited him. Thus, he found a solution in death, for when life became an aching weariness death could give him peace and rest. Peace and rest were what he most longed for after he was ruthlessly tortured by his conflicts: he was an individualist but at the same time held socialistic concern; he preached Nietzsches superman theory and gave sympathy for his working people, whom Nietzsche despised; he spared no efforts to achieve success but found such a success was not what he had longed for. When all these conflicts were not to be comprised, Martin had to find a final solution by a tragic but heroic death in the sea. Running into the embrace of sea for an eternal rest, he left behind his success, his failure, his disappointment, his satisfaction, and all the conflicts confronting him.

Bibliography
[1] Earle Labor. Jack London New York; Twayne Publishing Company 1974. 357 [2] London Joan. Jack London and His times: An Unconventional Biography New
16

York: Doubleday. Doran 1939. 23 [3] Jeanne Campbell Reesman. Prospects for the Study of Jack London Resources for American Literary Study (@Sunsite. Berkeley. edu) 145 [4]Jack London. Martin Eden [M]. Beijing Foreign Language Teaching &Research Press, 1992. [5] Chimian. Believe in my Husband 1910, 24 [6] 19985 [7] 1954 433 [8] 1983 [9] ( ) 2002 03 [10] 2004 03 [11] () 2000 S1

17