London uses relatively plain and simple diction, but at the same time using imagery. London describes the morning of the man. Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail. He climbed the high earth-bank where a little-traveled trail led east through the pine forest... There was no sun or promise of sun, although there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day. (London 64) In these first few lines, London uses very simple words and little complex vocabulary, but through his use of facts, he is able to create the imagery of a cold and gray day in a Yukon forest. The simplicity in diction is important in building London's style because it allows him to have conciseness in his writing. Syntax Syntax is very basic as far as sentence structure goes, but it does have quite a bit meaning behind it. The first sentence is " Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail"(London 64). This sentence on first glance is not very complicated, but its arrangement of words is very unique. Surrounding the words man are day and Yukon trail. The main portion of the sentence is about man, which isn't very surprising because London's writing style was naturalism which focuses on man. It is contrasted by natural time and knowledge of the land. This portrays man in a much more negative light because it shows him as a …show more content…
The narrator is very indifferent to the man and he could probably care less if the man died. When the man dies, London writes, "Then the man dropped into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known" (London 79). There is little emotion is such a sentence and considering that the main character of the story has just died and all the narrator does is describe it shows how detached he is from the story. Being detached from the main character allows London to criticize the foolishness of man and make the reader feel less sympathy for