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Whose Business Is to Live

Jack London · English text · 12,145 words

London places a question of survival at the center of a story about people facing danger and responsibility. The title invites readers to consider who has the right or duty to preserve a life when circumstances become severe.

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Background

The story’s moral problem fits London’s interest in individual endurance and the harsh social conditions of frontier life. Its tension comes from the difference between abstract principle and immediate need.

Reading notes

  • Identify the choices available to each character at the crucial moment.
  • Notice how the story distinguishes intention from consequence.
  • Consider how the title changes meaning after the ending.

Version note

Prepared from the English text supplied in the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press bilingual anthology. The site owner confirmed publication permission for this source edition on 21 October 2026. Publisher and edition details remain recorded in the rights audit.