Throughout The Sea-Wolf, London explores the philosophical ideas of idealism and materialism through the characters of Maud and Wolf, who are foils for one another, as well as Humphrey, who represents a middle-ground between their opposing worldviews.
In philosophy, materialism refers to the idea that the physical world is all that exists. Idealism, on the other hand, posits that ideas are all that truly exist; the material world, according to the idealists, is a mental construct created by people’s perceptions. In The Sea-Wolf, Wolf Larsen’s worldview is one of pure materialism. He believes that the material world is the only reality, and that by extension the soul, the afterlife, and moral concepts like right and wrong do not exist.
In Chapter 5, he expresses this materialistic philosophy to Humphrey:
"I believe that life is a mess,” [Wolf] answered promptly. “It is like yeast, a ferment, a thing that moves and may move for a minute, an hour, a year, or a hundred years, but that in the end will cease to move […People] move, so does the jellyfish move. They move in order to eat in order that they may keep moving. There you have it. They live for their belly’s sake, and the belly is for their sake. It’s a circle; you get nowhere."
Here Wolf describes his vision of life as something without meaning or purpose, an endless cycle without destination. While Humphrey and Maud, who are idealists, believe that people act for the sake of high ideals like goodness and truth, Wolf believes that such ideals are delusions obscuring a harsher reality. Despite what people may tell themselves, their motives are, he thinks, only to gain an advantage over others, getting access to more food and resources, just like the mindless “yeast” in his analogy.
Maud Brewster, who is associated with idealism, could not be more unlike Wolf. Where he is depicted as tangible and incredibly strong, she is described as ethereal and fragile. This represents her dwelling in the world of ideas rather than physicality; her ghostlike body represents her belief that ideas are more real than the physical world.
Humphrey’s description of her ethereal body in Chapter 23 stands in stark contrast to Wolf’s intense corporeality:
She was a delicate, ethereal creature, swaying and willowy, light and graceful of movement. It never seemed to me that she walked, or at least, walked after the ordinary manner of mortals.
After Maud boards the Ghost, she and Wolf engage in many a debate about idealism and materialism. Although he is never swayed by her arguments, he eventually concedes that she and Humphrey, as idealists, must be happier than he is, because they can at least “[dream] and [find] things good,” even if they are (in his view) delusional. Unlike Wolf, Maud believes in the soul and appears to be Christian. She believes that people are driven by morality and ideals, while Wolf believes that they are driven by primal desires, even if they clothe those desires in names like “love” and “goodness.” Finally, it is significant that Maud is a professional poet, while Wolf is a professional sailor. Maud makes her living in the world of ideas, while Wolf makes his in a tangible world of action.
Throughout The Sea-Wolf, London explores the philosophical ideas of idealism and materialism through the characters of Maud and Wolf, who are foils for one another, as well as Humphrey, who represents a middle-ground between their opposing worldviews.
In philosophy, materialism refers to the idea that the physical world is all that exists. Idealism, on the other hand, posits that ideas are all that truly exist; the material world, according to the idealists, is a mental construct created by people’s perceptions. In The Sea-Wolf, Wolf Larsen’s worldview is one of pure materialism. He believes that the material world is the only reality, and that by extension the soul, the afterlife, and moral concepts like right and wrong do not exist.
In Chapter 5, he expresses this materialistic philosophy to Humphrey:
"I believe that life is a mess,” [Wolf] answered promptly. “It is like yeast, a ferment, a thing that moves and may move for a minute, an hour, a year, or a hundred years, but that in the end will cease to move […People] move, so does the jellyfish move. They move in order to eat in order that they may keep moving. There you have it. They live for their belly’s sake, and the belly is for their sake. It’s a circle; you get nowhere."
Here Wolf describes his vision of life as something without meaning or purpose, an endless cycle without destination. While Humphrey and Maud, who are idealists, believe that people act for the sake of high ideals like goodness and truth, Wolf believes that such ideals are delusions obscuring a harsher reality. Despite what people may tell themselves, their motives are, he thinks, only to gain an advantage over others, getting access to more food and resources, just like the mindless “yeast” in his analogy.
Maud Brewster, who is associated with idealism, could not be more unlike Wolf. Where he is depicted as tangible and incredibly strong, she is described as ethereal and fragile. This represents her dwelling in the world of ideas rather than physicality; her ghostlike body represents her belief that ideas are more real than the physical world.
Humphrey’s description of her ethereal body in Chapter 23 stands in stark contrast to Wolf’s intense corporeality:
She was a delicate, ethereal creature, swaying and willowy, light and graceful of movement. It never seemed to me that she walked, or at least, walked after the ordinary manner of mortals.
After Maud boards the Ghost, she and Wolf engage in many a debate about idealism and materialism. Although he is never swayed by her arguments, he eventually concedes that she and Humphrey, as idealists, must be happier than he is, because they can at least “[dream] and [find] things good,” even if they are (in his view) delusional. Unlike Wolf, Maud believes in the soul and appears to be Christian. She believes that people are driven by morality and ideals, while Wolf believes that they are driven by primal desires, even if they clothe those desires in names like “love” and “goodness.” Finally, it is significant that Maud is a professional poet, while Wolf is a professional sailor. Maud makes her living in the world of ideas, while Wolf makes his in a tangible world of action.
