Jack London

1
Jack London

• Had many challenging adventures and experiences
  as a young man
• His writing was influenced by his own life
• At age 17, he went to Japan and Siberia on a
  seal-hunting voyage. He became involved with a
  band of oyster thieves and was caught
• When caught, he worked with local coastal patrol
  to catch other such outlaws

2
Jack London contd.

• Returned to high school at the age of 19
• Became interested in writing at this time and
  eventually wrote over 50 books including novels,
  short stories, and nonfiction

3
Background for Up the Slide

• London used his experiences in the Yukon
  Territory of northwest Canada as the background
  for many of his stories. There he was in search
  of gold, and the cold, barren climate of the area
  became an inspiration for much of his writings.

4
Yukon Territory

• This area is in the northwestern corner of Canada
  just beside Alaska. The climate is very
  challenging since it is part of the subarctic
  climate zone. Temperatures have been known to
  plunge down to 80 degrees F. Because of its
  position on the globe, daylight hours vary from
  more than 20 hours a day in summer to only a few
  hours in winter.

5
Conflict

• Is a struggle between opposing forces. It may be
  between
• Characters
• Within a characters mind (internal)
• Between a character and nature