Lesson 9

What Life Means to Me

汇报人： OfficePLUS 戴亨利 林飞扬

 目录
01 02 03

Introduction topics for dicussion Article Analysis

 01
PART ONE
Introduction
01 About the author

Jack London （ 1876-1916 ）

• one of the most famous and prolific authors of

the 20th century

• published over 200 books, short stories, and

essays in his writing career

• He led a nonstop life full of his great love of the

land and sea, advanced ideas about agriculture,
adventuring abroad, sailing, socialism and
photography.
01 About the author —— Life

Deserted by his father, He travelled to the U.S. 1897 he joined the gold rush to
a roving astrologer, he and Canada, and became the Klondike, returning a year
was raised in Oakland, a socialist in 1894. after, he decided to write for a
California living

At age 14 he quit school to gain London educated himself at public

adventure. He explored San libraries, finally entering the
Francisco Bay and travelled to University of California, Berkeley
Japan when he was 19.
01 About the author —— Style

London wrote in the time of realism and regionalism and it's evident in all that he

writes, but he also focuses on determinism and naturalism.

01 About the author —— Works

Short adventure first-hand account

novel of experience

The Call of the Wild (1903) The People of the Abyss (1903)

A novel of the
psychological
adventure of a
adventure novel
wolfdog

The Sea-Wolf (1903)

White Fang(1903)
01 About the author —— Works

a political novel in A socialist novel

the form of science about a young
fiction proletarian

The Iron Heel (1903) Martin Eden (1903)

01 Notes
1. London was born near Third and Brannan Streets in San Francisco. The house burned down in the
fire after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Though in working class, London lived in poverty.

2. Seaside Libraries: The Seaside Library Folio includes 2,500 popular titles from the 19th century
published in inexpensive serial form by George Munro. Serialized English translations of more than
forty 19th-century French novels by authors such as Jules Verne, George Sand, Victor Hugo and so
on.

3. The Prince of Oyster Pirates: London quit school when he was 14 to escape poverty and gain
adventure. He explored San Francisco Bay in his sloop, alternately stealing oysters or working for
the government fish patrol.
01 Notes

4. Sacramento River: The Sacramento is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and
is the largest river in California.

5. Mammon: Mammon in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material
wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain.

6. Holy Grail: The Holy Grail is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. By
analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a "holy grail" by those
seeking such.
01 Notes

7. Judy O’Grady: Indicating a working class woman. O’Grady is an Irish name. The irish left

Ireland in large numbers to work elsewhere, often as servants.

8. Pinkertons: Pinkerton National Detective Agency, American independent police force that was founded
in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton (1819–84), former deputy sheriff of Cook county, Illinois. It originally
specialized in railway theft cases, protecting trains and apprehending train robbers.

9. Red-handed Herod: Here it refers to Herod I the Great(73-4 B.C.) , King of Judea under the Romans,
who is best known as the tyrant portrayed in the New Testament. According to the account in Matthew
2: 3-13, he ordered the massacre of innocent children in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus.
01 Notes

10. Pullmans: In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars that were built and
operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company.

11. Pliny: referring to Pliny the Elder (23- 79), Roman naturalist, encyclopedist and writer, author of the 37-
book Natural History.
 02
Topics for
PART ONE
discussion
01 Elevate your class or be content with the current class.
• “I was born in the working-class. My place in society was at the
bottom. Here life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness, both
of the flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and
tormented.”

• “Above me towered the colossal edifice of society, and to my mind the

only way out was up.”

• “I had been born in the working-class, and I was now, at the age of
eighteen, beneath the point at which I had started.”

• “So, I went back to the working-class, in which I had been born and
where I belonged. I care no longer to climb. ”
02 The advantages and disadvantages of
physical and mental labor.

• I learned, further, that brain was likewise a commodity. It, too, was
different from muscle. A brain seller was only at his prime when he was
fifty or sixty years old, and his wares were fetching higher prices than
ever. But a laborer was worked out or broken down at forty-five or fifty.

• So, I resolved to sell no more muscle, and to become a vender of

brains.

• I joined the groups of working-class and intellectual revolutionists,

and for the first time came into intellectual living.

• As a brain merchant I was a success.

03 Materialism and hypocrisy of the upper class.
• “It was not this, however, so much as their materialism, that shocked me.”

• “They assisted in all kinds of sweet little charities, and informed one of the fact, while
all the time the food they ate and the beautiful clothes they wore were bought out of
dividends stained with the blood of child labor, and sweated labor, and of prostitution
itself. When I mentioned such facts, expecting in my innocence that these sisters of
Judy O'Grady would at once strip off their blood-dyed silks and jewels, they became
excited and angry, and read me preachments about the lack of thrift, the drink, and
the innate depravity that caused all the misery in society's cellar.”

• “It is true, I found many that were clean and noble; but with rare exceptions, they were
not alive. ”

• “Where they were not alive with rottenness, quick with unclean life, they were merely
the unburied dead—clean and noble, like well- preserved mummies, but not alive.”
04 Are the seemingly ”clean” people
really ignorant of crime ？
• “This delicate, aristocratic-featured gentleman, was a dummy director and a tool of
corporations that secretly robbed widows and orphans.”

• “This senator was the tool and the slave, the little puppet of a gross, uneducated
machine boss; so was this governor and this supreme court judge; and all three rode
on railroad passes.”

• “It was the same everywhere, crime and betrayal, betrayal and crime—men who were
alive, but who were neither clean nor noble, men who were clean and noble but who
were not alive.”

• “Then there was a great, hopeless mass, neither noble nor alive, but merely clean.
It did not sin positively nor deliberately; but it did sin passively and ignorantly by
acquiescing in the current immorality and profiting by it. Had it been noble and alive it
would not have been ignorant, and it would have refused to share in the profits of
betrayal and crime.”
 03
PART THREE
Article
Analysis
Paragraph 1

Introduces Jack London‘s background and origins, describing his

circumstances of being born into the working class and living in
poverty and hardship.
Paragraph 2-3

It tells the story of Jack London, who learns of the abundance for flesh
and nobility for spirit of the life in colossal edifice through his reading,
inspiring his desire to work hard and save up to climb the ladder.
Paragraph 1-3

There is a contrast here, as the author compares the life of the working-
class to that in the upper class, highlighting the fact that the life of the
working-class is sordidness and wretchedness, both of the flesh and the
spirit. It also makes the author‘s desire to climb up the ladder more
logical.
 Paragraph 1-3 (words study)

1 ， sordidness

If you describe a place as sordid, you mean that it is dirty, unpleasant, or depressing.
synonyms: degraded, depraved, soiled, shameful

2 ， wretchedness

You describe someone as wretched when you feel sorry for them because they are in
an unpleasant situation or have suffered unpleasant experiences.
eg. He does deserve some good luck after so much wretchedness.
 Paragraph 1-3 (words study)

1 ， travail

You can refer to unpleasant hard work or difficult problems as travail

synonyms: exertion, drudgery

2 ， worried my child‘s brain into ...

绞尽脑汁
synonyms: rack his brains, rack his wits about
Paragraph 4-12
This part of the film is about London's thoughts on his various endeavours to make
money in his youth.

Newsboy(10): Has climbed the first rung of the business ladder

Oyster pirate(16): Slipped back the one rung he had climbed

A muscle seller(cruelly exploited): He love the hard work rather than resent because
he aspires to be strong

A tramp(18): beneath the point at which he had started

Paragraph 9
I looked at the daughter of the cannery owner, in her carriage, and knew that it was
my muscle, in part, that helped drag along that carriage on its rubber tires. I looked at
the son of the factory owner, going to college, and knew that it was my muscled that
helped, in part, to pay for the wine and good-fellowship he enjoyed.”

Repetition:The writer repeats “It was my muscle” to express the dissatisfaction and
aggravation at that exploited time. But he still didn't realise that it was the social
problem, but he loved labour more because he thought thus he could become one of
the rich man.
Paragraph 12

I was in the the pit, the abyss, the human cesspool, the shambles and charnel-house of
our civilization”

Here is a metaphor where author described the environment of the working-class as

the pit, the abyss, the human cesspool, the shambles and charnel-house.
This is the true feeling when author has slipped back the one rung he had climbed.
This once again emphasises the torturous circumstances in which the working-class
lives. This leads to the author's thoughts on the nature of society, leading to the
beginning of pursuit of knowledge and truth.
Paragraph 4-12 (words study)

1 ， scraping and scrimping

勉强维持生计
eg. After losing his job, he had to start scraping and scrimping just to pay the bills

2 ， baldheaded

俚语中有彻头彻尾的意思，口语中也可以指鲁莽的。

3 ， rung

If you reach a particular rung in your career, in an organization, or in a process, you reach that
level in it.
eg. I first worked with him in 1971 when we were both on the lowest rung of our careers.
Paragraph 4-12 (words study)

1 ， rebate

A rebate is an amount of money which is paid to you when you have paid more
tax, rent, or rates than you needed to.
eg. Customers are to benefit from a rebate on their electricity bills.

2 ， fulminate

If you fulminate against someone or something, you criticize them angrily.

synonyms: denounce, vilify, inveigh against
Paragraph 4-12 (words study)

1 ， roustabout

A roustabout is a unskilled worker, especially one who works in a port or at an

oil well.

2 ， resent

If you resent someone or something, you feel about them.

synonyms: bear a grudge about, take as an insult
Paragraph 4-12 (words study)

1 ， pitch in

to cooperate or contribute
eg. Everyone pitched in to help.

2 ， bloody sweat

The appearance of bloodstained beads of sweat as a result of extreme fear,

stress, or illness.
eg. The patient was in so much pain that he broke out in a bloody sweat.
Paragraph 4-12 (words study)

1 ， charnel house

a place where the bodies and bones of dead people are stored

2 ， subterranean

A subterranean river or tunnel is under the ground.

eg. London has 9 miles of such subterranean passages.
Paragraph 13-15

He revealed the nature of the society, that all things are commodities, all people
bought and sold.

The muscle sold by labour didn’t renewed and the labour will go down into the cellar
of the society and perish miserably. However, the brain seller will at his prime at the
age when the muscle seller almost die.(Contrast)

So he resoled to become a vender of brain.

Paragraph 13-15 (words study)

imperishable

unable to disappear or be destroyed

synonyms: immortal, abiding, perennial

replenish

to make full or complete again by supplying what has been used up

synonyms: renew, furnish
eg. He went to replenish her glass.
Paragraph 13-15 (words study)

fetch

If something fetches a particular sum of money, it is sold for that amount.

eg. The painting is expected to fetch between two and three million pounds.
Paragraph 16-18

He became a frantic pursuer of knowledge.

He discovered himself as a socialist.

In paragraph 18, the author strongly praised the high character of the socialists. He
compares socialism to sunshine, starshine, burning fire, blazing dew and the Holy
Grail to rescue the human beings.
Paragraph 16-18 (words study)

renunciation

Renunciation is the act of not allowing yourself certain pleasures for moral or
religious reasons.
eg. Gandhi exemplified the virtues of renunciation, asceticism and restraint.

exalt

To exalt someone or something means to praise them very highly.

eg. However difficult she might have been, this book exalts her as both mother and
muse.
Paragraph 16-18 (words study)

maltreat

If a person or animal is maltreated, they are treated badly, especially by being hurt.
eg. He said that he was not tortured or maltreated during his detention.
synonyms: bully, hurt
Paragraph 19-27

Here he satirises the materialism of the bourgeoisie and their indifference

to the hard lives of the working-class.

He then elaborates on several hypocritical characters he encounters,

strongly criticising the crimes and betrayals of the bourgeoisie.
Paragraph 27

“It was the same everywhere, crime and betrayal, betrayal and crime –
men who were alive, but who were neither clean nor noble, men who
were clean and noble but who were not alive.”

Repetition: reinforces his dissatisfaction with society

Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

preachment

a tedious or pompous sermon or discourse

prattle

If you say that someone prattles on about something, you are criticizing them because
they are talking a great deal without saying anything important.
synonyms: chatter, babble, waffle
Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

thrift

Thrift is the quality and practice of being careful with money and not eg. They were
rightly praised for their thrift and enterprise.

intemperance

1, drinking of alcoholic liquor

2, a lack of temperance or restraint; immoderation
Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

decadent

If you say that a person or society is decadent, you think that they have low moral
standards
synonyms: self-indulgent, depraved, corrupt

diatribe

A diatribe is an angry speech or article which is extremely critical of someone's ideas

or activities.
synonyms: stricture, invective, criticism
Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

contemporary vs. contemporaneous

"Contemporary" describes people or groups of who do something or live at the same

time, while "contemporaneous" describes events, movements etc that happen at the
same time.

adulteration

to corrupt, debase, or make impure by the addition of a doreign or inferior substance or

elements.
Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

sober

A sober person is serious and thoughtful.

synonyms: reasonable, lucid, clear-headed

perjure

If someone perjures themselves in a court of law, they lie, even though they have
promised to tell the truth.
eg. Witnesses lied and perjured themselves.
Paragraph 19-27 (words study)

acquiesce

If you acquiesce in something, you agree to do what someone wants or to accept what
they do even though you may not agree with it.
eg. He has gradually acquiesced to the demands of the opposition.
Paragraph 28-30

He demonstrated his stance of struggling with the working-class and his

desire to topple over the rotten society.

He shares his outlook on human society: spiritual sweetness and

unselfishness will conquer the gross gluttony.
Paragraph 28-30
• Metaphor:
• “The Holy Grail” metaphorically refers to the author’s ideal and pursuit.
• “The imposing edifice of society” metaphorically describes the social hierarchy and
structure.
• “A new habitation for mankind” metaphorically depicts a more equal and better society.
• Imagery: The author uses vivid imagery in the 29 paragraph to describe his outlook on
the future society. Phrases like "cleanse the cellar" and "build a new habitation for mankind"
create a visual and sensory picture of the author's ideal world.
• Quotation: The mention of the French quote, "The stairway of time is ever echoing with
the wooden shoe going," is a reference to the French Revolution and working-class
uprising. It reinforces the author's faith in the working class as a force for change and
progress.
Paragraph 28-30 (words study)

topple

If someone or something topples somewhere or if you topple them, they become

unsteady or unstable and fall over.
eg. ...the revolution which toppled the regime.

cleanse

If armed forces cleanse an area, they use violent methods to force certain groups of
people to leave it and go to live elsewhere.
eg. ...a sustained and systematic effort to ethnically cleanse the entire province.
小组分工
About the author/Cultural notes: 黄瑞琳
Topics for diacussion: 罗暄儿
Structure and rhetoric: 薛志坤
Word study: 黄嘉木
Pre ：戴亨利， 林飞扬