Scarlet Plague Jack London Analysis

The traumatizing scenes a man experiences during a plague probably haunt him throughout his life – if he manages to survive. In Jack London’s 1912 novella, “The Scarlet Plague”, London brilliantly narrates the life of an elderly man, Granser who manages to survive the lethal hands of the plague that decimated millions sixty years ago, reverting the once “colossal civilization” (16) to cave-man existence. Granser recounts the emergence of the Scarlet Plague and its catastrophic impact on society as he tells his savage grandsons the world before and after the epidemic. London’s use of imagery offers a graphic appeal to open the reader’s eyes and ears to the physical pandemonium of the plague, evoking to the reader’s soul the themes the plague …show more content…
Right from the beginning, the readers are introduced to a picture of abandoned railways, with the “forest swelling up the slopes of embankment” and “rotten timber[s]” blocking the path. (1) This sets up the reader’s mind to the said theme, and allows the reader to identify with the setting of the story, which is 60 years after the plague. Moreover, the phrases used represent how without man’s care, nature will take over since with presence of men, the railways must have been in use and clear of timbers, blocking the pathway. Aside from these, without man’s nurturing hands, the vegetables and plants that used to be “soft and tender” are replaced by weeds and wild bushes that man has always fought and removed. (36) Not only wild plants take over, but so do wild animals. Bears and wolves once nearly extinct now roam along the Cliff House Beach, where people used to freely enjoy themselves. (8) Several passages showing scenes of the devolution of animals also contribute to the said theme. The author talks about the domestic animals, like dogs going wild, preying on one another and “devouring the corpses” (34) This can also be attributed to animals reverting to their wild state because of the absence of man’s power to tame them. Granser continues on telling his grandsons how before, there were many …show more content…
Granser and his savage grandsons’ lifestyle is nothing like how the old man used to live. The grandsons are clothed in “ragged-edged piece[s] of bear skin” (1), resembling the clothing men in the old age use. By their clothing, readers can also identify the way of life the grandsons are living – they hunt wild animals, take their skin for clothing and string its teeth for ornaments. Moreover, London illustrates his grandsons’ way of speaking. They utter, “speak in monosyllables and short jerky sentences” (10) but with “hints of grammatical construction”