Koskoosh's Psychological State in The Law of Life
... At first when the thought of death crossed his mind it "made the old man panicky for the moment" (972), but then there is a sense of reassurance in his mind when he becomes certain of the fact that he has the heap "of dry wood beside him" which is the first indication of his own will to survive. An ironic reference that London uses is the handful of fagots which was the "measure of his life", London is using this image to assert his representation of nature and how the elements of nature can measure your life, but in the end it is nature that kills the old man. The reader may find some complexity in Koskoosh's psychological state of his search in trying to understand the purpose of his being and his role in life; moreover, he makes a content statement to his son "it is well--" (973) telling him that he had accepted his fate making statements like" it's the way of life" and "it was the law of all flesh" and yet, we find him moments later questioning his own acceptance of death. London implies the struggle of the old man's acceptance when facing death, he has surrendered himself to this force of "nature" but yet there's a significant sense of resignation which is mixed up with other questions of life and his role as an individual in this life as he continues having flashes of his previous life regarding certain incidents. Koskoosh continues his meditation in the final hours of his death, remembering such previous events like how even Zing-ha "the" hunter eventually faced death which is a frustrating idea to him, there's also the moose incident when he remembers the moose being killed by the wolves, the moose struggles for his survival and Koskoosh questions such resistance of the moose as he identifies it with himself "an old one who cannot keep up with the herd" (975). Those medit...