I read this novel for the first time when i was about thirteen. I am now nineteen and it remains one of my favorite books. i have read it probably twenty different times and each time i come up with a new idea on what London was trying to say through this work. The first time i read it i did not understand much of what the novel and its characters were symbolizing, now that i have matured and read it many more times i realized the true meaning of the novel. London's purpose in writing this was to show that for one to truly be successful they have to be intelligent, strong, caring yet able to be harsh, and above all able to forgive. Hump began the story with only some of these qualities, while larsen had the others to his credit. this is a story of one mans maturity into the perfect man, a good man, while at the same time showing that the Nietzchien man, larsen, who is innately evil yet strong and incredibly intelligent, cannot overcome the truth, that good will ultimately triumph over evil, no matter how strong or how great the intelligence that drives it. on of the best works of all time.