The Law Of Life In James Sire's The Universe Next Door

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“The Law of Life” is a story about a man, Koskoosh, who is left behind by his tribe to die. Koskoosh is a very old man who has lost most of his vision and depends on his hearing. His son, the current chief of the tribe, leaves him some sticks to feed the fire. When the fire dies, so will he. As time goes on he reminisces of the time he left his father in the snow. As he sat there awaiting his fate, he is surround by a pack of wolves. At first he fights them off, then he just gives up. “All men must die… It was the way of life” (12), so he just sits there and accepts his fate. London uses the plot of the story, the character, and the setting as a great example of the naturalism worldview James Sire talks about in his book, The Universe Next Door. At the beginning of the story when Koskoosh is left by his tribe to die represent a lot of the naturalist worldview Sire mentions in his book. “Death is the extinction of personality and…show more content…
This also explains why his own son left him there. Throughout this story the character Koskoosh thoughts are revealed to us. One of those thoughts was him talking about how nature does not care about anything about the flesh just the species. Another thought in the story is him remembering the time when he watched a herd of wolves attack an old moose. This moose was a lot like Koskoosh because it was too old to keep up with its tribe as well. At the end of the story Koskoosh dies by being attacked by wolves. Koskoosh decided this was “The law of life”. (12) The setting of this story is a cold winter. Around this time the tribe is moving to a warmer place where they can find food. This time of year is the hardest to survive. “At last the measure of his life was a handful of fagots.” This goes to the Koskoosh life being determined by the length of the fire. He knows once the fagots “...death would creep upon

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