Effects of fear, greed, sin, and power on Jacob Kent

¶ … man with the gash, a story by Jack London, is a story about power, sin, greed and fear, some of the most powerful and influential emotions known to man. It makes us think in that it can provide us with various lessons. One of the strongest lessons is the fact that Jacob Kent was so swayed by greed that he destroyed his life by imagination and pursuit of power of money. He was irrational by his greed and moved by superstition. The sailor took advantage of that and conquered him.

Jacob Kent lived by himself near a frequently used trail. He was distrusted by the villagers who rightfully saw him as a suspicious, disagreeable man. That this was so was supported by travelers who enjoyed Kent's 'hospitality' to and from their trips in the neighboring region. These were the days of gold discoveries, and travelers who had used the cabin before Kent moved in; found Kent to be protective of this shelter. He asked travelers to chop his wood for him, demanded money for privilege of sleeping on the floor, asked travelers to draw water for him, and in various other ways, made the hut his own and made the visitors slaves to him. In the meantime, Kent had accumulated a sacksful of gold, the contents of which constantly haunted his dreams. He feared theft. The Man with the Gash was one of the most frequent 'visitors' in his dreams. He, amongst a range of other robbers would attempt to steal Kent's sack. Kant would awaken and hide his sack in another location. That gold was Kant's obsession. He was also mightily superstitious.

One day, Kent's dream came true. A man with a gash did enter his cabin seeking hospitality. The man was a sailor who was confused at Kent's fear of his gash. He had received it via an argument with the shipmate and further intimidated Kent by demanding that he, Kent, draw his water for him and chop some wood to keep him warm. None had ever given Kent these commands before.

Drawn over and again to Jim Cardegee's gash, Kent has difficulties sleeping that night and loaded his gun awakening the sailor and telling him that he would kill him that very night. Kent was unable to lift the sailor from the ground, was unable too to throttle him, and finally threatened to shoot him. He tied the sailor and dragged him to the side of the cabin where he told him that he would shoot him at dawn.

The sailor uses his thinking to get himself out from the tricky situation. Realizing that Kent may be superstitious he threatens him with the idea that his -- Jim's _ ghost will return to haunt him for the rest of his life unless he sets the sun dial (with which he is going to mark rise of dawn) at precisely correct mark.

All this while, the soldier is releasing his bonds.

Jim tells Kent to sing 'eight bells' before shooting; Kent agrees. A man with the dog-sled is approaching (the sailor knows that this will be the case). He measures the way that he will topple, and topples into a hole just before Kent completes the 'eight bells'. As Kent shoots him, Kent ends up shooting himself. The driver of the dogs-sled rushes up and they discover that Kent's gun had parted, steel from wood, and within it was the gold stream that both now collected.

As mentioned, various lessons can be collected from this story. We can talk about the emptiness of greed, and how greed punishes its possessor. We can point to meaninglessness of gold and how obsession f it can punish its possessor. We can talk about stupidity of superstitious and how greed often comes from superstition, as well as how the 'good man wins at the end of the day and the 'bad' man is punished -- but that is too simple. Another lesson that strikes me is the way that Jim remained calm despite his danger and used his mind to work through an ESCAPE, whilst Jacob Kent was unable to think clearly due to the effect of his superstition and greed.

It is interesting, too, to note that London, author of this story, shows many similarities to both placement of story and to the character of the sailor. Jack London too attempted to found his fortune via the Gold Rush. He too was forced to use his brains in order to make his living. He, consequently, became a writer. London detested greed. He left the corporate world, in fact, in order to make his fortune by the work of his hands and became a socialist in political leanings. His loathing of greed is well observed in this story where Kent is bettered by the common and poor sailor. It is Kent who is dazed by his pursuance of greed and unable to think clearly imagining the sailor to be some kind of demon. The sailor however is able to think clearly. He is not fobbed by greed and his mind can come up with some solution (Haley, 2010).

Let us see how this plays out in the story.

Jacob Kent is attached to his gold. Rather than looking after it in a wise way, he has these dreams and hides it in one corner after another. He too fails to realize that his dreams are just that- dreams -- a nd makes them come into alive people. His greed has put him in such a tight corner that he imagines that anyone who he sees is really and willing to run after his gold and grab it from him. He uses an old gun and put his gold in his gun, not realizing when he takes it that it may break revealing his gold. He is unable to sleep in the night. He buckles under the sailor's presence frightened by the gash. He is panicked by the fear that the sailor will take his gold and is unable to think clearly under that influence.

The sailor in contrast shows calm and thinking behavior. He did not allow Kent to overpower him. Other travelers may have felt intimidated by Kent. They drew water for Kent, chopped him his wood, and paid HIM his fortune for allowing them to sleep on the floor. Jim would have none of this. On the contrary, it was he who ordered Kent about and commanded him to stop gawking at his gash. Kent was intimidated by him. The sailor too was in command of himself. He possessed confidence and was not easily intimidated by anyone. The text writes that whilst Jim could not understand why his gash created such terror, "he saw the terror it created, and resolved to exploit it as remorselessly as would any modern trader a choice bit of merchandise." Unscrupulous, but nonetheless the sailor was no victim to circumstance. Rather, he controlled circumstance.

It is Kent who, over and again, is described as the nervous one. For instance, "Kent was so nervous that it took three puffs to blow out the slush-lamp, and he crawled into his blankets without even removing his moccasins."

The sailor, meanwhile is relaxed even though the worst of his ordeals: "The sailor was soon snoring lustily from his hard bed on the floor, but Kent lay staring up into the blackness, one hand on the shotgun, resolved not to close his eyes the whole night." He is confident of his strength all this time. He releases his bond, throws Kent off him, disallows Kent to throttle him, and maintains his force on the ground. It is Kent, all the while, who becomes increasingly unbalanced and irate. His greed and panic for the gold makes him so the sailor, never losing his calm or his rationality, attempts to reason the other into a more rational way of action. When Kent threatens to shoot him right then and there, the sailor tells him:

"An' it's a pretty mess as you'll make o' this 'ere cabin floor." Cardegee was fighting for time. "Now, look 'ere, I'll tell you wot we do; we'll lay our 'eads 'longside an' reason together. You've lost some dust. You say as 'ow I know, an' I say as 'ow I don't. Let's get a hobservation an' shape a course -- "

Jim is careful throughout to keep his emotions under sway. At the most climactic time, when dawn will break any moment and as prearranged Kent will shoot him, Jim asks him to presage his motion with the singing of 'eight bells' to which Kent agrees. Jim considers his options. He carefully, slowly and gingerly REMOVES HIS BONDS ONE at a TIME. He calculates the best way to fall, and watches the dog-sled approaching. He knows that at a given moment, the driver of the dog-sled will arrive and help him escape Kent. All of this is done in a thinking relaxed manner which is all the more striking for the fact that it was done under immense stress.

Kent on the other hand cannot prevent himself from gazing again and again at the man's scar and making all sorts of stupid remarks. He also fails to stop the sailor from controlling him and he is absorbed by -- enslaved to -- his superstitions:

This was the real Man with the Gash, the man who had so often robbed him in the spirit. This, then, was the embodied entity of the being whose astral form had been projected into his dreams, the man who had so frequently harbored designs against his hoard; hence -- there could be no other conclusion -- this Man with the Gash had now come in the flesh to dispossess him. And that gash! He could no more keep his eyes from it than stop the beating of his heart. Try as he would, they wandered back to that one point as inevitably as the needle to the pole.

Analysis of Kent's behavior shows us a man who was dazed by his grip for the gold. He was greedy, made irrational by his behavior, impulsive and rough due to his need to grip onto that gold at any price. Unable to think, he acted in one way after another and failed to think clearly. In Jacob Kent, we see an irrational man. When loading his gun, he does so with eyes closed trying not to see the scar. When approaching the sailor, he does so only with a great deal of effort in bearing the sight of the scar.