Jack London has been one of America's all-time favorite writers and has stood the test of time with his continuing popularity. His writing style, adventure stories and ideas still interest people today. London was influenced by many thinkers and philosophers of his day because of his situation in life. "Poverty was one aspect of his childhood and his ideas of redistribution of wealth through socialism show through the characters in some of his stories" (Jack London Internet). Survival of animals, and people, in the wilderness supports his ideas of natural selection and survival of a race. Therefore, the importance of Jack London in the development of American Literature can be explained through a discussion of his life, his career, and the time period during which he lived.
             Jack London had already begun a life of horror even though he had not been born. "His mother was deserted by his father, a roving astrologer in London, while she was pregnant" (Fogel 240). "His original name was Jack Griffith Chaney born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California" (240). His mother met a man and married him eight months after his birth whose surname, London he took. His stepfather had already been married and had a child who was Jack's stepsister named Eliza. "In 1889 Jack graduated from Oakland Cole grammar school then for a time he worked at any job that came to hand such as a paper boy, bowling alleys, on ice wagons and in canneries and mills" (Gordon 205).
             Unlike most young boys at age eight Jack was very unhappy but found the discovery of books, which would have the greatest effect on his life. "The Londons moved frequently in John's wellment but in effective efforts to make a living" (203). "In 1893 the Londons returned to San Francisco where he again became a work beast at ten cents an hour in a jute mill and often a coal heaver" (204). When ...