In Jack London's story The House of Pride, the main character and "negative organism" Percival Ford annoyed me throughout the story. It seems like all he was full of hatred towards anybody who was different than him and all he did was complain about his surroundings and comment on how better he was than everybody else: "He was different from them--from all of them." You would think someone living in Hawaii would lighten up.
There is he is "sitting under the algaroba trees between the lanai and the beach" in Hawaii and all he can do is judge the female dancers for their "bare shoulders and arms" instead of taking in the view of the land and sea. Percival reflects on how the women he has dated are different than the "frightening" army women: "He ruled those women by virtue of his superior mentality, his great wealth, and the high place he occupied in the commercial baronage of Hawaii." He also doesn't get along with the army men who he claims " were like their women!"
Dr. Kennedy even sees what kind of person Percival is and describes him perfectly: "You go through life like a perambulating prayer-wheel, a friend of nobody but the righteous, and the righteous are those who agree with you as to what is right." Percival is stunned to learn from Dr. Kennedy, that Joe Garland, who Percival believes "is bad and immoral," is his half-brother.
Percival continues on his path of negativity and feels "shame" for his father's actions: "He was appalled by what was in his blood." Instead of embracing his half-brother, he tells Joe " "I want you to go and never come back" and offers him " Five hundred down and two hundred a month as long as you stay away" and only when Joe takes the offer does Percival smile.
There is he is "sitting under the algaroba trees between the lanai and the beach" in Hawaii and all he can do is judge the female dancers for their "bare shoulders and arms" instead of taking in the view of the land and sea. Percival reflects on how the women he has dated are different than the "frightening" army women: "He ruled those women by virtue of his superior mentality, his great wealth, and the high place he occupied in the commercial baronage of Hawaii." He also doesn't get along with the army men who he claims " were like their women!"
Dr. Kennedy even sees what kind of person Percival is and describes him perfectly: "You go through life like a perambulating prayer-wheel, a friend of nobody but the righteous, and the righteous are those who agree with you as to what is right." Percival is stunned to learn from Dr. Kennedy, that Joe Garland, who Percival believes "is bad and immoral," is his half-brother.
Percival continues on his path of negativity and feels "shame" for his father's actions: "He was appalled by what was in his blood." Instead of embracing his half-brother, he tells Joe " "I want you to go and never come back" and offers him " Five hundred down and two hundred a month as long as you stay away" and only when Joe takes the offer does Percival smile.
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