5. “It is not for a boy to know about witches,
and I know nothing about witches. I only
have means whereby I may kill an ice-bear
with ease, that's all. It would be headcraft,
not witchcraft".
-Keesh, The Story of Keesh
6. In "The Story of Keesh" authored by Jack London,
the people of the tribe did not accept that Keesh
had killed a large polar bear on his own, so they
blamed him and his mother of using witchcraft. It
needed manhood and dignity for him to stand-up
for himself and speak against the elder hunters
who disliked him.
7. He needed to be strong for his family and group
and thus spoke all those words. It requires lot of
courage from one’s side to defend himself against
elder hunters. The words of Keesh made those
elder hunters condemn him. They believed that
this boy (that is Keesh) speaks like a matured man,
and said rude things on their faces.
8. Keesh told that the people of the tribe that he had
used his brain to hunt down and kill the polar bear
instead of performing the witchcraft. But they did
not believe Keesh. They were not able to accept the
fact that a 13-year-old boy can hunt down a big
bear. So, they accused him and his mother of using
witchcraft.
9. Then Keesh told them that he used to provide
meatball covered with ice to bear before hunting it.
And, when it got sick, Keesh killed it. When people
of the tribe heard this story, they felt guilty and
made Keesh their leader. Keesh got the biggest
igloo and lots of food.
10.
11. In the story, the author happens to be a third
person limited omniscient which means, he knows
a lot about the main character that he created but
there was a limit on it ----- the author doesn’t know
what the main character‘s feelings deep inside his
heart. The author described the main character’s
country men as scornful and sometimes doubtful
but at the end of the story, the author seems to be
pleased with his country men.
12.
13. The general tone of the story is smart. It can be
observed at the way the author wrote the story and
his choice of words. For instance, the confrontation
of the main hero and the chief of the village. At this
scene, Keesh saved himself from Klosh-Kwan's
accusation by revealing his secret of his marvelous
hunting.
14. The story also has a good old style in literary work.
Jack London, author of the story, used an English
old style. This can be justified on some sentences in
the story. He used the word "thou,” meaning you.
He also used figurative sentences for instance,"
The anger boiled a white heat.”
15. We can deduce then that the story has a
smart tone based on the author's choice of
words and his attitude through his writing.
