In Jack London’s novel, Martin Eden personifies debates still raging over the role and purpose of education in American life
Nick Romeo Aeon
https://aeon.co/essays/jack-london-martin-eden-and-the-liberal-education-in-us-life
As Jack London’s most autobiographical novel begins, its hero, a poor young sailor named Martin Eden, has just gotten into a brawl. Noticing a gang of drunken hoodlums about to assault an upper-class young man, Martin scatters them with blows that leave his knuckles raw. To show his gratitude, the man invites Martin for a meal at the family home. While his host is helpless in a fight, Martin is intimidated by the refined atmosphere of a dinner party. He has seen distant ports and peoples, but this rarefied realm of books and music is perhaps the most exotic place he has ever visited. London describes him literally lurching about the dining room, as if tossed by rough seas.
