The tone of The Sea-Wolf is philosophical and thoughtful. Humphrey Van Weyden is a wealthy and well-read literary critic who looks at the world through an idealistic and romantic lens informed by his reading. He is awed by the beauty of nature, and is fascinated by analyzing the personalities of the people around him. At the beginning of the novel, the tone is also somewhat condescending toward the working class, but that fades after Humphrey boards the Ghost and is forced by Wolf Larsen to do manual labor “for [his] own soul’s sake.”
The novel is dense with allusions to philosophy and literature, reflecting Humphrey’s educational background. He describes the natural world around him in heightened, vivid language reminiscent of a Romantic poem. While Humphrey retains his keen appreciation for the beauty of nature throughout the novel, after spending some time aboard the Ghost, he begins describing his environment less in aesthetic terms and more in technical terms—a sailor who is used to seeing the sea and the wind as tools to do his job rather than a writer who sees them as something to muse upon poetically. For example, in Chapter 1, before he is taken on board the Ghost, Humphrey describes the fog laying over the sea in highly romanticized terms, focusing on its aesthetic qualities. He describes a feeling of “placid exaltation” when looking at the fog, which he finds beautiful and romantic—a “mystery […] lay[ing] hold of [his] imagination” and a “moist obscurity.”
As the novel goes on and Humphrey becomes a competent sailor, however, he displays a greater knowledge about the weather. He also begins to speak about the Ghost in technical, specialized language. For example, in Chapter 17, Humphrey moves the sails, demonstrating how his sailing skills and knowledge have grown:
The wind was now dead astern, muttering and puffing stronger and stronger, and my head-sails were pounding lustily. I did not see what went on elsewhere, though I felt the sudden surge and heel of the schooner as the wind-pressures changed to the jibing of the fore- and main-sails […] Wolf Larsen nodded approval and relinquished the wheel to me.
Here, Humphrey’s transformation is revealed in the language he uses to describe the weather and movement of the ship. While before he saw the weather in purely aesthetic terms, relying on the captain standing above the fog to steer him to safety, now he is in the thick of it, responsible for steering himself to safety. This shift is symbolically represented by Wolf Larsen allowing him to take the wheel. Further, Humphrey is no longer looking at his surroundings with “placid exaltation.” Instead, he is focused on action, and his general mood has shifted from placidity to excitement, danger, and urgency.
