Transcript Jack London - Mountain View Middle School

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1. With a partner, you will research and prepare a
presentation about an author in our textbook.
2. Each member of the pair MUST present a part of
the project to the class.
3. You will have a little time to work on this in class.
4. You will need to work together at the library,
before and after school to do this project.
This project is due January 21, 2011.
This project is worth 100 points.
AUTHOR: __________________________
This is a group project and presentation.
You will create a POSTER PRESENTATION
All presentations will be on January 21, 2010.
Each person in the pair must speak out loud and
present a part of the project to the class.
 You will receive an individual grade as well as a
group grade.
 Presentations will be 5 to 7 minutes long. No more,
no less.
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1. : Must have the Authors name and the words “Author Study”
2. : Must have a paragraph based on the authors life. It should
be typed in large font or neatly written in pen and checked for
spelling.
3. : Must contain at least 3 influences that led to the writer’s
experiences, writing style, themes and/or mood.
4.: Must contain the authors most notable works (at least 5),
with each works date published to the right. The MOST famous
work should be italicized, bolded and one font bigger than the
rest.
5: Must contain a timeline with at least 10 facts about the
authors life in chronological order.
6: Must contain (at least 2) two pictures of the author, with
captions. These should be prominently displayed in the center
of the poster.
Poster is graded according to completeness and neatness.
Author Study
John Griffith (1876-1916) was born in San Francisco of
an unmarried mother of wealthy background, Flora
Wellman.
Because Flora was ill, Jack was raised through infancy
by an ex-slave, Virginia Prentiss.
He did not know his biological father.
Late in 1876, Flora married John London, a partially
disabled Civil War veteran. The family moved around
the Bay area before settling in Oakland, where Jack
completed grade school.
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As an adolescent, the boy adopted the name of Jack.
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He worked at various hard labor jobs, pirated for oysters
on San Francisco Bay, served on a fish patrol to capture
poachers, sailed the Pacific on a sealing ship, joined
Kelly's Army of unemployed working men, hoboed
around the country, and returned to attend high school
at age 19.
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He spent the winter of 1897 in the Yukon territory. This
provided the metaphorical gold for his first stories, which
he began publishing in the Overland Monthly in 1899.
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From that point he was a highly disciplined writer, who
would produce over fifty volumes of stories, novels, and
political essays.
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London was among the most publicized figures of his
day, and he used this celebrity to endorse his support of
socialism, women's suffrage, and eventually, prohibition.
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He was among the first writers to work with the movie
industry, and saw a number of his novels made into
films.
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Later, London's great love became agriculture, and he
often stated he wrote to support his Beauty Ranch in
Glen Ellen.
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Often troubled by physical ailments, during his thirties
London developed kidney disease of unknown origin.
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He died of kidney failure on November 22, 1916 on the
ranch.
Exposure to the cruel realities of life.
 Exposure to hard work and the cruel realities of life. He was from a
working-class family and had several jobs throughout his life. In
1895 he attended Oakland High School and later the University of
California at Berkeley but had to leave before finishing the year due
to lack of funds and the need to support himself financially.
His desire to change is life for the better.
 Desire to change his life for the better. “Early I discovered
enthusiasm, ambition, and ideals; and to satisfy these became the
problem of my child-life.”
The Love of the Wild
 He loved horseback riding and life on the ranch that he knew so
well from his childhood. In 1905 he purchased land in Glen Ellen in
the Sonoma County Valley of California which would eventually be
part of his fourteen-hundred acre "Beauty Ranch".
►Typhoon Off The Coast Of Japan" (1893)
► White Fang (1906),
► The Call of the Wild (1903)
► The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii (1912),
► Smoke Bellew (1912),
► A Son of the Son (1912),
► The Night-Born and Other Stories (1913),
► The Abysmal Brute (1913),
► John Barleycorn (1913),
► The Valley of the Moon (1913),
► The Scarlet Plague (1915),
► The Star Rover (1915),
► The Acorn Planter: A California Forest Play (1916),
► The Little Lady of the Big House (1916),
► The Turtles of Tasman (1916)
1876 John
Griffith
London is
born in San
Francisco on
January 12,
to Flora
Wellman
1899 Begins
publishing
short stories
in Overland
Monthly
magazine
1895 Returns
to attend
high school
at age 19
1876 Flora
Wellman
marries John
London
1897 Spends
winter in the
Yukon during
the gold rush
1906-1907
Builds the
sailing ship,
Snark, for his
world cruise
1900-1916
Writes 50
plus books
using a
regimen of
1000 words
per day
1913 August
22, Wolf
House burns
1910-1913
Begins
construction
of Wolf
House
1916 Dies at
the age of 40
1915-1916
Spends
several
months in
Hawaii with
wife
Jack London writing The
Sea Wolf, 1904. (credit:
Jack London State Historic
Park)
Jack and
Chairman London,
ca. 1911, possibly at
Beauty Ranch.