Miniature Of The Gilded Age

Jack London is a notable writer of American literature during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.He has created numerous works with realistic characteristics in his lifetime.Therefore,he could possibly be a representative of the American society at the turn of the century.The lode runner is one of the remarkable characters in his works which reflects the social situation of the United States in the period of rapid transformation.At present,however,researches on the works of London are mainly conducted from the perspectives of theme,narrative techniques and other aspects.Moreover,studies about characters are also limited to the image of superman or woman,and systematic studies of the lode runner are extremely scarce.Given all of the above,based on his famous short stories titled The Son of the Wolf,this dissertation is based on external perspective on the relationship between literature and society,mainly using the ways of close reading,classification and comparison,the social history criticism to do a detailed analysis of the lode runner.Through the analysis,the research conclude that the lode runner is a microcosm of the Gilded Age of American society.This paper is divided into four chapters to analyze its characteristics and significance.The first three chapters mainly analyze the social reality of the United States reflected by the image of the rode runner.First of all,from the perspective of external behavior,there were men and women,old and young,all of who were eager to be wealthy and embark on a dangerous gold prospecting road in order to realize their dream.It reflected that the whole society was widely pursuing wealth.Secondly,from the inner state of mind,the lode runner dynamically reflected many survival plights with the rapid development of American urban civilization at the turn of the century.After setting foot on the gold rush road,some of them exposed their low adaptability both in physical and moral,spiritual repression,revealing a series of problems brought by the rapid civilization process with the promotion of industrialization,further conveying the author's worries about the development of civilization.Finally,Grace,the female lode runner with a new female connotation and the traditional color,represented the author's own contradictions of the concept of women,which revealed the confusion in the concept of women in that era.The fourth chapter of the paper mainly describes the image of the lode runner is the epitome of the ideal level.London reflected the social reality.At the same time,standing on a higher level,he attempted to seek a way out for human development.The loderunners in his works are with strong masculine and good moral quality,and with distinctive idealized colors,these characters are also carrier of people's hope in the development of civilization.The lode runner is a group which can not be ignored in London's works,since it carries rich social and historical connotation.Through the study,we can not only understand the appearance of the American society in the gilded age,but also can see that the literature can reflect the social reality and reflect the real world at the same time.