Jack London Research Paper

From traveling to the Yukon Territory, sailing around the Pacific Ocean, to writing many novels and short stories, Jack London has had a plethora of experiences in his life. Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California to an unmarried mother, Flora Wellman. London was an illegitimate child. Jack’s father left his mother before he was born. His father could have possibly been William Chaney, a popular journalist and figure at the time. Since Jack’s mother was ill for most of his infancy, he was taken care of by Virginia Prentiss, an ex-slave, who would serve as a mother figure to him for most of his childhood. In 1876, Jack’s mother married a disabled Civil War veteran, John London. London grew up in Oakland, California in poverty, so he had to sell newspapers at the age of ten so that he could help his family’s poor income. The family would move around the San Francisco bay until they settled down in Oakland and Jack would finish school. Jack worked at a few jobs such as a fishing patrol, pirating oysters, and sailing the Pacific Ocean on a sealing ship. [Stasz] London also ran for mayor of Oakland, unsuccessfully, several times. He made the career decision to begin writing in lieu of working in a factory.
In 1897, Jack went to spend time in the Klondike. It was there that London would publish …show more content…
The couple had two daughters, Bessie “Little Bess” and Joan. However, Jack and Bessie would later divorce in 1904. London married later to Charmian Kittredge, who he would remain married to for the rest of his life. London convinced Charmian to take up writing as well. She wrote three books—“The Log of the Snark,” “Our Hawaii,” and “The Book of Jack London”—that all talked about and concerned their life together. London used Charmian’s personality as a basis for a majority of the female characters in his books. She would often travel with him on his adventures.