It seems that many famous people had poor childhoods. Jack London had an extremely difficult childhood, marked by poverty and uncertainty, and yet he is one of the most famous writers of the 20th century. London's lack of stability in his life and the various stages he went through, such as being a sailor, vagabond, Klondike Argonaut and self-made millionaire, colored the pages of his writings. Lack of stability in a child's life can be a detrimental factor in their life. a young person's ability to succeed. London was the illegitimate child of an astrologer and a Welsh farmer's wife (Jack London Encyclopedia of World Biography). Unfortunately, when London's biological father learned of London's conception, he ran away. London's mother, Flora Wellman, was stricken with typhoid, a deadly disease that affected large numbers of people in her time. Due to her illness, she was unable to breastfeed her new son. Mrs. Virginia Prentiss was the nanny they hired. Sadly, she had recently lost her own child. Wellman half-heartedly married John London on September 7, 1876. It is believed that this marriage was more out of convenience than love since Jack London needed a father figure and John London's daughter (who recently lost her mother) needed of a mother figure in his life. John was not able to support the family (financially), so London had to find a job very early in his life. He started with small part-time jobs and eventually worked his way up to full-time employment at West Oakland Cannery. London was considered a deprived youth (Jack London). “My body and soul were starved when I was a child,” explained London (Jack London). What London meant by saying his soul was starved as a child was that he did not have access to a good education. It was only in the middle of a paper that he was able to write about it. Research can only take a person so far in their quest for knowledge. The only way to fully understand a subject is to gain experience. This book made millions, which by definition made Jack London a self-made millionaire. Hard work as a child and an unstable childhood. These are subjects for stories written by Jack London. Being a man of many traits, London always sought adventure, whether it was becoming a sailor for a Klondike Argonaut. These excursions provided him with subjects on which he could give first-hand accounts. His life, with all its associated challenges, colored the pages of his many great novels. Works Cited Labor, Earle. “Jack London.” Discovering the authors. Ed. online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Gold. Gale. N. pag. March 2, 2010 “Jack London”. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Flight. 9, 495. Detroit: Gale. Print