Question

The first of these two passages from stories by Jack London is about a man at sea, heading west. The second is about a miner who has discovered

a rich vein of gold he names Mr. Pocket.
For seven weeks the Mary Rogers had been between 50 degrees south in the Atlantic and 50 degrees south in the Pacific, which meant
that for seven weeks she had been struggling to round Cape Horn.... For seven weeks she had wrestled with the Cape Horn graybeards, and in
return been buffeted and smashed by them. She was a wooden ship, and her ceaseless straining had opened her seams, so that twice a day the
watch took its turn at the pumps.
The Mary Rogers was strained, the crew was strained, and big Dan Cullen, master, was likewise strained. Perhaps he was strained most of
all, for upon him rested the responsibility of that titanic struggle. He slept most of the time in his clothes, though he rarely slept. He haunted the
deck at night, a great, burly, robust ghost, black with the sunburn of thirty years of sea and hairy as an orang-outang. He, in turn, was haunted by
These passages share a common theme that having too much passion for something may be dangerous.
How is this theme mainly revealed in these two passages?
1. through the climax in the plots
2. through images of sleeplessness
3. through the repetition of key words
4. through the dialogue between characters

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

2. through images of sleeplessness

In the first passage, the captain of the Mary Rogers is described as sleeping most of the time in his clothes, though rarely actually sleeping. This shows how consumed he is by the struggle to round Cape Horn, indicating an excessive amount of passion and dedication that is potentially dangerous.

In the second passage, the miner who has discovered a rich vein of gold named Mr. Pocket is also likely consumed by his find, possibly leading him to work tirelessly and lose sleep in his pursuit of wealth. This further emphasizes the theme of having too much passion for something being dangerous.