Analysis on Jack London’s Feminist Point of View in Martin Eden

【Abstract】Martin Eden is one of the famous novels of Jack London, who is a distinguished writer in America, and now it still wins great popularity in the whole world. In this novel, the author Jack London depicts the protagonist Martin Edens striving for success incisively. This thesis, based on the theory of feminism, will give a detailed analysis of the character traits of female characters in Martin Eden and Jack Londons attitudes towards women.

【Key words】Martin Eden; the theory of feminism; feminist perspective

1. Introduction

Jack London is noted for his novels in America and he is considered as a primitive Hemingway, a legitimate ancestor of Steinbeck, a foreshadowing of ONeill (who acknowledged London as his chief source of inspiration). Martin Eden is one of the famous novels of Jack London, and now it still wins great popularity in the whole world. In Martin Eden, the protagonist Martin Edens successful story is concerned with his role transition from a low-class sailor to a well-known writer.

The theory of feminism is very complex. Generally speaking, the theory of feminism is a social theory and also a political movement, which is established to promote the equality between men and women. However, with the fast-paced development of the theory of feminism, it is also widely used in literary works. And this thesis will analyze the female characters in Martin Eden from the perspective of feminism.

2. Analysis on the Female Characters in Martin Eden

In this part, this thesis will give detailed analysis about the female images in the book from the feminist perspective.

2.1 Typical Bourgeois Female Character

Ruth Morse is one of the feminine representatives of the bourgeois society. The bourgeois values have exerted great influence on her, and hence she is born to have some demerits of the bourgeoisie, such as hesitant, self-centered, and so on.

Ruth Morse was born into a wealth bourgeois family whose father takes charge of a law office. When Martin Eden first comes into her home, he is appreciative of the luxury of the house, and feels very nervous when he enters the house. Just as Jack London describes Martins action and psychology when his entering the house in his novel: he wore rough clothes that smacked of the sea, and he was manifestly out of place in the spacious hall in which he found himself. He did not know what to do with his cap, and was stuffing it into his coat pocket when the other took it from him. Besides, when Martin enters the living room, he glances around the room and has a strong feeling of admiration.

Later, Ruth comes into the room, and makes the acquaintance of Martin Eden. When Martin Eden meets Ruth, he speaks highly of her beautiful appearance and shows his great admiration for her, and compares her to a “goddess”. When they sit down and chat with each other, Martin finds that Ruth is not only a beautiful young woman, but a knowledgeable woman as well. She is proficient in literature, and she talks about Longfellow and any other literary magnates with him. When Martin Eden listens to her carefully, he feels that he had succeeded in making her talk her talk, and while she rattled on, he strove to follow her, marveling at all the knowledge that was stowed away in that pretty head of hers, and drinking in the pale beauty of her face.

When it comes to Ruths attitudes towards Martin Eden, the author of this thesis holds the idea that Ruth is a hesitant woman. When exchanging ideas with Martin Eden, Ruth has a strong feeling of happiness that is given by Martin Eden. She wanted to lean toward this burning, blazing man that was like a volcano spouting forth strength, robustness, and health. She felt that she must lean toward him, and resisted by an effort. Then, too, there was the counter impulse to shrink away from him. She was repelled by those lacerated hands, grimed by toil so that the very dirt of life was ingrained in the flesh itself, by that red chafe of the collar and those bulging muscles. His roughness frightened her; each roughness of speech was an insult to her ear, each rough phase of his life an insult to her soul.

Actually, Ruth is constantly confused by this inconsistent attitude. On the one hand, Ruth always believes in her mother, and does everything that her mother asks her to do. Her mother, Mrs. Morse, shows her prejudice on Martin Eden because of his low social status. She does not expect that her daughter, Ruth Morse has any interactions with him. However, on the other hand, in Ruths heart, she is willing to help Martin to be a decent and better man, just like the men of her class, especially like her father. Hence, in order to achieve this goal, Ruth begins to reshape Martin Eden. She lends him some grammatical books and asks him to study grammar earnestly. Besides, Martin himself goes to public library to borrow some books on etiquette.

Nevertheless, although Ruth has helped him in making progress, she still cannot get rid of the demerits of the capitalist class. She is very hypocritical and snobbish, just as the other person of her class. When Martin Eden is regarded as the representative of socialism mistakenly, Ruth leaves him and no longer has interactions with him. However, when she gets the information that Martin has succeeded in writing, she comes back to tell him that she wants to get along well with him.

All in all, the author of this thesis holds the opinion that Ruth Morse is a typical bourgeois woman with both of some merits and demerits. Yet, her demerits are emphasized more. On the basis of Martin Eden, Jack London holds the sarcastic attitudes towards Ruths hypocrisy and snobbishness.

2.2 Typical Working-Class Female Character

Maria is one of the typical women coming from the lower class. From the narration of this female character, we can see that she has some merits and demerits and Jack Londons attitudes towards her are quite inconsistent.

Maria is one of the feminine representatives of the working-class in the novel. In Martin Eden, she is the proprietress of Martin Eden, and Martin pays two dollars and a half to her each month. At first, Martin expresses his disgust for her because of her rudeness. But gradually, Martin finds that she is a brave woman who is full of energy to fight against with poverty.

He paid two dollars and a half a month rent for the small room he got from his Portuguese landlady, Maria Silva, a virago and a widow, hard-working and harsher tempered, rearing her large brood of children somehow, and drowning her sorrow and fatigue at irregular intervals in a gallon of the thin, sour wine that she bought from the corner grocery and saloon for fifteen cents.

Although Maria has some demerits, she is still a praiseworthy woman. In Martins eyes, she is a very kind and reliable woman. When Martin has used up his money and becomes leaner and leaner, Maria perceives his change and tries her best to help him without hurting his self-respect.

Besides, when Martin Eden is regarded as the representative of socialism wrongly, almost all the people cut themselves off from him. However, it is Maria who accompanies and encourages him. She never leaves him.

To sum up, Maria is one of the most important friends of Martin Eden. It is her good quality that deserves to be praised. Although she is very poor and has some bad habits, Martin is very grateful for her kindness and loyalty to him.

3. Martin Edens Views on Women

3.1 Martin Edens Views on the Bourgeois Women

Martins attitude towards Ruth is in contradiction. On the one hand, Martin Eden is fascinated by Ruths beautiful appearance and her decent behavior. On the other hand, he is tired of her ideology of the capitalist class which exerts great influence on her. When Martin Eden meets Ruth Morse at the very first sight, he has a strong feeling of love towards her because of her beautiful appearance and delicacy. In the novel, Martin Eden compares Ruth to a goddess. However, with the time goes on, Martin Eden finds that Ruth also has some demerits of the bourgeois class. She is very hypocritical because when Martin Eden is regarded as the representative of socialism mistakenly, Ruth leaves him, and when Martin succeeds in writing, she comes back to tell Martin that she wants to get along well with him. Yet Martin no longer believes in her and deems that Ruth is hesitant, hypocritical and snobbish, just the same with other people of the bourgeois class.

3.2 Martin Edens Views on the Working-Class Women

When it refers to Maria, the proprietress of Martin Eden, Martin also holds the contradictory opinion about her. On the one hand, because of the living pressure, she has developed the terrible habit of speaking dirty words. This makes Martin feel unsatisfied with her. But on the other hand, Martin is very grateful for her eternal reliance on him.

All in all, Martin Eden holds the inconsistent views on women. As for the snobbish and self-centered women, Martin shows his contempt for them; as for those who are diligent and truthful, Martin expresses his sympathy and praise for them.

4. Jack Londons Attitudes towards Women

4.1 Sympathy for the Dependent Women

On the basis of Jack Londons Martin Eden and his any other novels which are connected with feminine characters, it is not difficult for us to discover that Jack London shows his compassion for the oppressed women. These women are not only exploited by this society, but also treated badly by men.

It is of great importance for readers to have a correct understanding about Jack Londons views on Ruth Morse, the heroine in Martin Eden. It is undeniable that Jack London holds the passive and sardonic attitudes towards Ruth. Yet, to some extent, it is also indisputable that Jack London expresses his compassion for Ruth. Under Jack Londons pen, although Martin Eden considers Ruth as a snobbish and hypocritical woman, he still feels pity for her failure of independence. She is totally controlled by her mother and cannot make decisions by herself.

4.2 Praise for the Diligent and Trustworthy Women

Jack Londons praise for women is also embodied in his description of Maria in the novel. Maria is the proprietress of Martin Eden. Under Jack Londons pen, Maria is one of the most important friends of Martin. When Martin Eden is regarded as the representative of socialism wrongly, almost all the people cut themselves off from him. However, it is Maria who accompanies and encourages him. Hence, from this perspective, it is not hard for us to find that Jack London shows his appreciation for the women who are sincere enough. Just as Jack London says that his admiration for her doubled on itself. She was indeed his sort. He would have been satisfied with her even if she had screamed and clung to him, but this was magnificent.

Based on all the details analyzed above, the author of this thesis holds the idea that the protagonist Martin Edens point of view towards women has something in common with that of Jack Londons to some extent. Both of them show their appreciation for the diligent and reliable women and express their disgust for the snobbish and selfish women.

5. Conclusion

Under Jack Londons pen, the vivid and graphic feminine images are presented incisively. Ruth Morse, the heroine in Martin Eden, is a beautiful bourgeois woman. However, she also has some demerits that belong to her class. She is ignorant, snobbish and hypocritical, just the same with the other people of her class. When it comes to Maria, one of the representatives of the working-class women, Jack London describes her as a hard-working, diligent and reliable woman.

In addition, the protagonist Martin Edens views on women as well as that of the author Jack Londons are analyzed in this thesis. On the whole, Martin Edens views on women have something in common with Jack Londons, and both of their attitudes are in contradiction. On the one hand, they all appreciate the merits of each female character in Martin Eden. They glorify Ruths beauty and Marias loyalty. On the other hand, Martin Eden and Jack London express their disgust at these womens bad qualities.

To sum up, after having read Jack Londons Martin Eden and conducted the research on this distinguished novel, the author of this thesis shows great appreciation for Jack Londons ability of writing. In Martin Eden, various graphic images are presented vividly. Although there are some restrictions in this novel, it is still a good novel that deserves to read, and it will still have widespread popular support in the future.

References:

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[2]Jack?London.Martin Eden[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2001:1-166.

[3]Stasz Clarice.Jack Londons Women[M].Boston:University of Massachusetts Press,2001:40-41.

[4]Jack?London.To Build a Fire and Other Stories by Jack London[M].Toronto:Bantam Books Inc.,1986:232-233.

[5]肖曼瓊.杰克?倫敦筆下的馬丁?伊登[J].益陽師專學報,2002 (4):46.

作者簡介：陳俊汀(1990-)，女，寧夏固原人，寧夏大學碩士研究生，研究方向為英語語言文學。