SEA WOLF: Fear, Authority And Intellect
SEA WOLF: A psychological adventure of: Fear, Authority and Intellect
By Patrick McKenzie
This essay is about how Wolf Larsen, the powerful captain of the Sea Wolf, a seal hunting vessel, and how he used fear, authority and intellect to terrorize his crew and keeps them under his control. I will explain these topics in three separate paragraphs.
The first tells how he uses fear as a weapon to control his crew he makes them fearful of what might happen to them if they don’t listen to what he says. He doesn’t seem to find any meaning in his life except for his survival and uses anything at his disposal to confirm to his crew that he will stop at nothing and is brutal in his acts to demonstrate how little value he places on another’s …show more content…
life.
His crew in an effort to appease his ego would inflict self punishment rather than face his wrath. He instills this fear with mercy less savage beatings. If he finds that any of his staff has any intellect at all he rewards treats them like lackeys and use them to do his dirty work. He separates them the so-called intelligent ones and have them fend for themselves rather than as a group.
His next method is manipulation and he makes them work to his advantage, so that the outcome is always what he wants. Every time he exploits the smallest loop-holes to twist and distort people’s thoughts emotions and ideas to suit his idea. An example of this was when Leech, one of the crew members, tried to bring mutiny against Larson because Larsen had punched him earlier as he forced to become a boat-puller. He was also very mad at him for the savage beating he had delivered to his friend.
Instead of attacking Leech directly, he made Leech take out his anger on a cook who was due for a punishment and needed to broken in. This put Cookie in a depression which greater instilled Wolf Larsen’s ungodly personality as a person. Wolf would later punish cook directly by throwing him over the side of the ship, only to be dragged along and had his leg was bitten off by a shark.
Wolf hunted down the shark captured it and brought it aboard. Instead of killing it, he shoved a giant piece of wood down its throat so it could starve to death. Killing it would have been merciful. This confirmed to everybody what a heartless, brutal, cynical person who finds no meaning in life, with no sort of mercy or tolerance for animal or human feelings other than his own. Lastly he uses his intellect to control every situation to make things happen the way when he wants.
He exploits every available loop hole, because even though he is a brute of a man, he is a great thinker and he studies philosophy and taught himself a variety of fields including mathematics, literature and also many poets. He considers himself without fault and will manipulate and bully people to better serve his needs.He analyzes life and graph it for his own for his own purpose as he did in the end of the book.
The great lion of a man, Lucifer himself succumbs to a brain tumor debilitating his body and slowly destroying his mind and will to live. The once great man was now dying as a vegetable and it didn’t seem fit for a way for a king to die.
The once master of many but leader of few in my eyes who thought of himself as a god would now succumb to a human disease. The once man of irons in which he held himself so high, was now crumbling but yet he was so inconsiderate. All the fear he had built up on his crew for them to stay was gone. Despite this his cruelty to his crew, they decided to keep him alive. He still tried to be in control of their lives but they were the ones keeping him alive and without them he died a lonely and sad
man.
So much could have been accomplish by this man but the way he kept he life the way lived his life made it impossible and so it was bound to be short lived. His life could have been an inspiration to other but instead, this inspiring leader is seen as a tyrant of a man. “Rest in peace Lucifer”.
THE SEA WOLF
BY JACK LONDON With an Introduction by Lewis Gannett
BANTAM PATHFINDER EDITIONS
BANTAM BOOKS / NEW YORK
-iii-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication Information: Book Title: The Sea-Wolf. Contributors: Jack London - author. Publisher: Bantam Books. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1963.
By Patrick McKenzie
This essay is about how Wolf Larsen, the powerful captain of the Sea Wolf, a seal hunting vessel, and how he used fear, authority and intellect to terrorize his crew and keeps them under his control. I will explain these topics in three separate paragraphs.
The first tells how he uses fear as a weapon to control his crew he makes them fearful of what might happen to them if they don’t listen to what he says. He doesn’t seem to find any meaning in his life except for his survival and uses anything at his disposal to confirm to his crew that he will stop at nothing and is brutal in his acts to demonstrate how little value he places on another’s …show more content…
life.
His crew in an effort to appease his ego would inflict self punishment rather than face his wrath. He instills this fear with mercy less savage beatings. If he finds that any of his staff has any intellect at all he rewards treats them like lackeys and use them to do his dirty work. He separates them the so-called intelligent ones and have them fend for themselves rather than as a group.
His next method is manipulation and he makes them work to his advantage, so that the outcome is always what he wants. Every time he exploits the smallest loop-holes to twist and distort people’s thoughts emotions and ideas to suit his idea. An example of this was when Leech, one of the crew members, tried to bring mutiny against Larson because Larsen had punched him earlier as he forced to become a boat-puller. He was also very mad at him for the savage beating he had delivered to his friend.
Instead of attacking Leech directly, he made Leech take out his anger on a cook who was due for a punishment and needed to broken in. This put Cookie in a depression which greater instilled Wolf Larsen’s ungodly personality as a person. Wolf would later punish cook directly by throwing him over the side of the ship, only to be dragged along and had his leg was bitten off by a shark.
Wolf hunted down the shark captured it and brought it aboard. Instead of killing it, he shoved a giant piece of wood down its throat so it could starve to death. Killing it would have been merciful. This confirmed to everybody what a heartless, brutal, cynical person who finds no meaning in life, with no sort of mercy or tolerance for animal or human feelings other than his own. Lastly he uses his intellect to control every situation to make things happen the way when he wants.
He exploits every available loop hole, because even though he is a brute of a man, he is a great thinker and he studies philosophy and taught himself a variety of fields including mathematics, literature and also many poets. He considers himself without fault and will manipulate and bully people to better serve his needs.He analyzes life and graph it for his own for his own purpose as he did in the end of the book.
The great lion of a man, Lucifer himself succumbs to a brain tumor debilitating his body and slowly destroying his mind and will to live. The once great man was now dying as a vegetable and it didn’t seem fit for a way for a king to die.
The once master of many but leader of few in my eyes who thought of himself as a god would now succumb to a human disease. The once man of irons in which he held himself so high, was now crumbling but yet he was so inconsiderate. All the fear he had built up on his crew for them to stay was gone. Despite this his cruelty to his crew, they decided to keep him alive. He still tried to be in control of their lives but they were the ones keeping him alive and without them he died a lonely and sad
man.
So much could have been accomplish by this man but the way he kept he life the way lived his life made it impossible and so it was bound to be short lived. His life could have been an inspiration to other but instead, this inspiring leader is seen as a tyrant of a man. “Rest in peace Lucifer”.
THE SEA WOLF
BY JACK LONDON With an Introduction by Lewis Gannett
BANTAM PATHFINDER EDITIONS
BANTAM BOOKS / NEW YORK
-iii-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication Information: Book Title: The Sea-Wolf. Contributors: Jack London - author. Publisher: Bantam Books. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1963.