Compliance, Rebellion And Failure: The Male Body Narrative In Martin Eden

As one of the splendid American writers at the turn of the20thcentury, Jack London isesteemed as the master of the “code hero”, and his Martin Eden (1909) is representative.Viewed the overseas and domestic research status, Martin Eden has mostly been analyzedfrom the themes of individualism, alienation, American dream and so on, but most of thescholars have ignored the body in which relationship of individual and power is rooted.The French sociologist Michel Foucault claimed that society is the network of bodyand power. And physical, social and cultural interaction is the crucial stigma of social practice.The body, as the joint point of power, builds subject awareness of people, and is both theresult of power and the carrier of power relationships to be formed and to resist. When thefemale body becomes the source of the feminist critique of traditional thinking as well as ofthe patriarchal culture, the male body, as the primary power object and carrier, comes intoprominence. By discussing the social nature, the social production and the socialrepresentation and discourse of the male body, male body sociology as a branch of sociologyillustrates the complex physical, cultural and social interaction among those male bodies.This paper will make a re-examination of the “code hero” in Martin Eden from the male bodyperspective of the body sociology theory, placing the male bodies in the double discourse ofgender and class to probe into gender and class relations as well as the living condition ofmarginalized males at the turn of the20thcentury, and to explore the true intentions of theauthor.This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter one analyzes male body’s compliancewith the patriarchal domination, which embodies the author’s anxiety about the situation ofmales especially marginalized ones at the turn of the20th century. Patriarchal oppression onmen is expressed in both men’s voluntary physical subjugation and the masculinity crisis inthe marginalized males. Chapter two focuses on male body’s resistance to the patriarchaloppression, which reveals the author’s aspiration to establish masculinity. His consciousnessof resistance is expounded by the males’ reduction to the “other” in female gaze, numerousphysical rebellions and the reconstruction of the marginalized masculinity. Chapter threeexplores the final defeat of males’ body against patriarchal domination. The final suicide of Martin unravels the authors’ deep retrospection of the patriarchal bourgeois society. Martin’sbody was converted into various capitals through constant practice and utilization of bodytechniques at his jobs. Martin bent upward and deemed that wealth and reputation were theapproaching way to Ruth, but was eventually reduced to the victim of the patriarchalcapitalist society and lost himself in his body capital’s conversion process.Compared with the distorted female body images under male writers’ pen, the malebodies portrayed by men themselves subconsciously provide us with a more vivid picture of apatriarchal society. The dilemma men encounter in contemporary society is reflected throughMartin’s initial surrender of, rebellion against the patriarchal society and its ultimate failure.How to focus on the living conditions of men, especially those of marginalized men toachieve a really harmonious society is what we should make reflection on and is alsoLondon’s real attention.