Children of the Frost

First published in 1902, Children of the Frost is a collection of ten short stories linked by setting, the Northern Wilderness, and by theme, the plight of the North American Indian. While still pronouncing for the superiority of Anglo Saxon culture, London nevertheless shows a telling dignity in the way the Indian Tribes lived their lives and in their fight for survival against the incomers. Amongst the stories here are some telling examples of London's belief in evolutionary theory, particular The Law of Life, in which a tribe, departing for Winter hunting grounds, leaves behind an enfeebled elder man to die. London shows the man as someone who is not bitter, but reconciled to his fate, confident in the natural order of the wild in which his people make their lives.