With dramatic and detailed first person narration, Jack London’s Before Adam follows the dreams of a young boy who has a genetically imprinted memory and knowledge of an ancestor who lived in prehistoric times. Big Tooth is a pre-human ape and is the protagonist of the young boy’s dreams. He lives in a tribe that rests in the middle of two extremes. In the surrounding area, there are tribes of differing levels of development. One is primitive and stays in the vast forest, while the more advanced group travels and uses tools. Big Tooth’s group is somewhere in between, not quite advanced enough for tools and organization, but not so primitive that they cannot coexist with each other. While the young boy sleeps soundly and dreams, Big Tooth is being hunted by other humanoid apes and cyber tooth cats. Since his tribe hadn’t developed a language yet, Big Tooth struggles to communicate his needs and to request help. Still, Big Tooth must make alliances, find love, get food, and avoid the dangers of the undeveloped world, all while the young boy tosses and turns in his comfortable bed and advanced society, dreaming of the origins of man.
Featuring careful and detailed prose, Jack London merges the adventure genre with speculative fiction in his thought-provoking novel Before Adam. Through the portrayal of pre-human, ape-like characters, all with differing levels of development, London comments on early evolutionary theory and allows readers to imagine life in a pre-historic time. With the comparison of the young boy and Big Tooth, London creates a fascinating and unique perspective on human nature, simultaneously portraying Big Tooth with pure primitive needs and as a sympathetic, relatable character. Before Adam is often described as an under-rated addition to Jack London’s literary canon. Though it does not portray destinations that can be reached modern day, like his other works, Before Adam allows audiences to adventure in a world before their own and ponder a time before society was established.
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About the author
Jack London (1876-1916) was an American novelist and journalist. Dropping out at age twenty-one for personal reasons, London was a temporary student at the University of California, Berkley. Later London attributed his intelligence and talent to be mostly self-taught. He humored several trades before settling as an author, including joining a fishing boat and the California Gold Rush. London later became one of the first American authors to gain celebrity and a fortune primarily from his writing career; his prolific works still inspire adaptations today.
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