Book Review: The Sea Wolf by Jack London

Before starting this review proper, we have to talk about recency bias. The year is 2021, and it is HARD to read a book about sea-faring on a sailboat. I'm sure audiences in the 1890s could navigate through language like "Hoist the topsail on the mizzenmast and cut the jib to the starboard side!", but I have no earthly idea what they're talking about. And apparently piloting a sailboat necessitates a lot of discussion, because it seemed like half this book was sailor talk (and no, not that way).

Will not being the right audience for this book (i.e., being about 130 years too old) color my review of the book? Well...probably, yeah.

Anyway, this book is really the story of two characters. The first is William (I think? Might be wrong on his real name.), better known to the crew of the Ghost as Hump. Hump was taking a ferry in San Francisco Bay when his boat capsized. He was rescued by the Ghost, but instead of returning him to the mainland, they made him a cabin boy on their seal-hunting trip to just north of Japan. As they travelled through the sea, finicky white-collar Hump learns what it takes to be a gritty red-meat sailor, rises up through the ranks until he is second in command of the ship, and later uses his wherewithal and knowledge to survive and escape a deserted island.

Throughout Hump's journey, he doesn't lose sight of his principles - he lands on the deserted island in order to protect a rescued woman from his amoral captain (more later). But still, the emphasis is on Hump learning the ways of roughing it. Which ties pretty closely to the story of Call of the Wild, where a husky is taken from San Francisco and learns to shed his upper-class ways while adapting to his new tough environment (in this case, the Yukon). Frankly, the dog's version is more entertaining.

The second major character is the captain, Wolf Larsen. Unlike Hump, Larsen has no character arc - he is a straight line of amorality right up until the story's end. While educated and well-read, he believes in self-interest above all else and laughs at concepts like honor and justice. He is incredibly strong and incredibly prone to inflicting harm and even death, and keeps his crew in place by playing on fear.

To take a step back, one of the most amazing books I've read is George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. Any version of this book published after the 1940s starts with a sort of apology saying he didn't know where different ways of thinking would ultimately take people. It's a strange apology when reading the book (actually the script of a play), which centers on a college boy coming home to his family and picking apart their beliefs and values - think a hippie from Berkeley coming home in the 60s - before taking an interlude in hell to meet with Don Juan (again, amazing book). Throughout the book proper, there doesn't seem to be any reason for an apology - it's just an educated youth annoyingly "enlightening" his parents about how wrong they are about everything. and touching on the high-falutin' ideas he learned at college. Through the end of the book proper (i.e., the end of the actual play), it's basically a conservative nightmare - your child gets educated and gets woke. But there's no reason for an apology...until the very end of the book where Shaw writes up the pamphlet that his HERO was waving around to his family. And that pamphlet, decades before WWII, lays out the basic tenets of fascism.

The Sea Wolf isn't in the exact same situation as Man and Superman since London was clearly writing Wolf Larsen as his villain. But the difference is how audiences would react to his character over time. In the 1890s, such an unscrupulous character would be a pure villain. But starting only a few decades later, a non-unsubstantial portion of the social Darwinist world would see someone prioritizing themselves over the needs of others would be seen as a hero. Post WWII, Larsen would still be a villain - except to Objectivists, who would see him as a prophet. That villain status would remain up through present day. Unless you are a Trump fan, in which Larsen pretty much embodies he stands for.

So one character is kind of boring and the other is more nuanced. We'll split the difference here and give the book six out of ten hot dogs. Recommended only if you're up on your sea jargon.