The Introduction

The story of Keesh is a short story which was written by Jack London
that was first published in January of 1904. Keesh was the son of a
great huntsman, who was well known and respected in his tribe.
Unfortunately, Keesh’s father died when Keesh was very young. As is
often the case, the legendary exploits of Keesh’s father was forgotten
with time. After many years, the child grows to be thirteen. Inspired by
tales of his father’s skills as a hunter, and emboldened by his self-
confidence and the lackluster amount of food being gathered by the
tribe, he addressed the village elders in the Igloo of the tribe’s chief. A
child addressing the tribal elders was seen as precocious. Keesh
declared that he would honor his father’s memory and became a great
hunter, and bring back a wealth of meat for his people. He was
scorned, and they allowed him to go off on his own. Many never
expected to hear from him again. Four days later Keesh returned, with
an enormous burden of freshly-killed meat over his shoulders. He
explained that an entire polar bear’s carcass laid a day’s travel from
the village. The villagers were stunned by this boy having endured the
elements and succeeded in his quest, became suspicious. After several
more hunting excursions on Keesh’s part, all alone and all resulting in
enormous amounts of meat for the tribe, the villagers begin
whispering that Keesh is undoubtedly practicing witchcraft. However,
they had no choice but to be loyal to this manchild, as he had begun to
provide them all with bounteous food. Keesh had the appreciative
villagers construct for him an enormous Igloo, rivaling that of the
chief. After more speculation and Inuendo as to the source of Keesh’s
hunting prowess, it was decided to send two scouts to follow him on a
hunting exhibition. They returned several days later, having been
successful in trailing Keesh to his kill, an enormous (and dangerous)
polar bear. They told a tale that the tribal council simply couldn’t
believe. Upon his return, the tribe gathered in Keesh’s igloo to accuse
him of witchcraft. He answered their charges well. Keesh explained the
source of his hunting success. He explained why the two scouts sent to
follow him observed him striding up to the bear, enraging it, and
convincing it to follow him. He explained why the scouts witnessed his
leaving small round balls of food on the ice for the bear, and why the
bear soon became ill, and deranged. He explained how he was then
able to spear the bear without endangering himself.
2. Detail
a. Plot and Conflict Structure
In the beginning of the story the author tells about a boy who had
name Keesh lived in the poor condition together with his mother.
Keesh lived at the edge of the polar sea. The father of Keesh had been a
brave man. But he had died hunting for food. Keesh was his only son.
Keesh lived along with his mother, Ikeega. One night, the village
council met in the big Igloo of Klosh-kwan, the chief. He listened, then
he waited for silence. He said, “It is true that you give us some meat.
But it is often old and tough meat, and has many bones.” The hunters
were surprised. This was a child speaking against them. The council
ordered Keesh to go to bed. The next day, Keesh started out for the
shore, where the land meets the ice. Those who watched saw that he
carried his bow and many arrows. Across his shoulder was his father’s
big hunting spear. Again there was laughter. One day passed, then a
second. On the third day, a great wind blew. There was no sign of
Keesh. This part is the beginning of the conflict. His mother, Ikeega,
put burned seal oil on her face to show her sorrow. The women
shouted at their men for letting the little boy go. The men made no
answer, but got ready to search for the body of Keesh. Early next
morning, Keesh walked into the village. Across his shoulders was fresh
meat. It’s the middle of the story. His mother was very happy. Keesh,
trying to be a man, said to her mother that he would sleep because he
was tired. There was much talk after Keesh went to his igloo. The
killing of a bear was dangerous. But it was three times more dangerous
to kill a mother bear with cubs. The conflict is rising action by knowing
that the men did not believe Keesh had done so. But the women
pointed to the fresh meat. At last, the men agreed to go for the meat
that was left. But they were not very happy. So began the mystery of
Keesh. On his next trip, he killed a young bear and on the following
trip, a large male bear and its mate. Then there was talk of magic and
witchcraft in the vill. Keesh continued to bring meat to the village.
Some people thought he was a great hunter. There was talk of making
him chief, after old Klosh-kwan. They waited, hoping he would come
to council meetings. But he never came. The council sat up late talking
about Keesh and the meat. They decided to spy on him. On Keesh’s
next trip, two young hunters, Bim and Bawn, followed him. After five
days, they returned. The council met to hear their story, then the two
hunters reported what they had seen. Klosh-kwan led the council to
the igloo of Keesh. Keesh told the people in the village how he had
killed the bears: he bent some thin pieces of whalebone. The ends were
pointed and sharp as a knife. Keesh bent the thin, sharp bones as
knives into circles, then put some seal meat inside them, then put
them in the snow to freeze. The bear had eaten the ball of meat with
the circle of bone inside. When the meat got inside the bear, the meat
got warm, and the bone went snap! The sharp points made the bear
sick. It is easy to kill them. The conflict is falling action here. Keesh
used head-craft, instead of witchcraft, he rose from the poorest igloo
to be the chief in the village. And for all the years that followed, his
people were happy. No one cried at night with pains of hunger. It’s the
end of the story. The story ends with a close denoument. We know that
from the end of the story when Keesh told about how he could kill big
bears with two bare hands. Apparently he used his brain/wits that
made the others said “Ah” for understanding it.

b. Character
1) Keesh

Keesh was a thirteen-year-old boy who lived at the North Pole a long
time ago. His father died of sruggling with a bear in order to keep the
people in the village from starving. After that, Keesh lived alone with
his mother. One council Keesh complained about unfair treatment,
but other people laughed at him. Therefore, he decided to hunt by
himself. Later on, Keesh used his brain to kill many bears and divided
them fairly. In the end, Keesh rose to power and became the leader of
his people. Keesh is the major character of this story. He appears
throughout the story. He is a round character, we can prove that from
the beginning of the story and the ending. At the beginning he is a
young boy who is innocence, but at the end of the story he becomes a
brave man who is respected by the others. He is protagonist character.
He has an important role and he is the central figure in the story.

2) Klosh-Kwan
Klosh-Kwan was the chief of the village who lived in a large igloo. In
the beginning, he could not believe Keesh, but he admired him later.
He is a deutragonist because in the beginning of the story, he has
opposed Keesh but at the end he generously acknowledges what he
sees. He is a round character too.

3) Ikeega
Ikeega was Keesh’s mother who lived only with his sole son. She loved
his son very much. She is a flat character, because from the beginning
until the end she is the same, doesn’t develop. She is a tritagonist
because she is a character which is needed as the complement in the
story.

4) Ugh-Gluk
Ugh-Gluk were opposed Keesh from the beginning until the end of the
story. So, Ugh-Gluk is considered as the antagonist and has flat
character.

5) Bim and Bawn

Bim and Bawn were two clever young hunters who were appointed to
spy on Keesh. They told how Keesh killed bears when they came back.
They are a tritagonist character because they just appear in some parts
of the story and don’t have important role, the are just as complement
and flat character.

c. Setting
The Story of Keesh takes place in a cold area. We can conclude from
the word “Igloo” which we can find in the story. Igloo is a type of
shelter built of snow so that we can find in snow area that originally
built by Inuit. Furthermore, we can explore it from the story itself.
Keesh hunted bear, as we know that the bear just find in cold area,
it’s pole.So, we conclude that it takes place in a cold area.
d. Point of View
In this short story, the author takes place as third person limited
omniscient. It means that the author knows everything about the
character which he creates, but there is a place where the author
doesn’t know about the character. The author doesn’t know what is in
the deep heart of the character.

e. Style and Tone

The style that is used in this story is a good style in literature work. It
is used the English old style. We can find some sentences in the story
which use the old style. For an instance, “Thou hast a wife Ugh-Gluk”.
The word “thou” means you. Beside that, we can find figuratice
language here. For example, look at the following sentence, “The anger
boiled a white heat”.

f. Theme and The Moral Value of The Story

The theme of this short story is the sacrifice which is forgotten. Keesh
tries to prove that his father has become the savior for his community.
He comes again to make the society aware that they have to appreciate
every sacrifice of the person. We can derive some moral values of this
story such as we have to appreciate the sacrifice of a person and we
should not have bad prejudice towards each other.

3. Discussion
From the detail that we have explained above, we are interested in
theme and the moral value of the story. The theme of the story is the
sacrifice which is forgotten. This phenomena is commonly found in
community life. In fact, we often find in our daily lives. After Keesh
was born, when he was young, his father had been a very brave man,
when a time of famine came, he was willing to sacrifice himself to go to
hunt bear alone. While we know that bears are wild animals, but he
thought of how his society could survive. This makes Bok, Keesh
father’s went out hunting without thinking of his own safety. After the
death of Bok, people around him tend to forget the sacrifice and
struggle that he has done.So, we can say that the theme portrays about
the characteristic of the characters in the story. The theme forms the
characteristic of the characters in the story. The sacrifice which is
forgotten means that Keesh father had desir