The Sea-Wolf

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1904

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Chapters 19-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary

Larsen talks with the men who came aboard with Maud Brewster. They were previously on the mail steamer City of Tokyo bound for Yokohama. Instead of bringing them to the port, however, Larsen determines to use the men to supplement his crew. As Johnson and Leach are discovered, Humphrey asks Larsen what he intends to do to them, and Larsen implies that he has “all the crew I want” (143) with the new additions from City of Tokyo. Humphrey threatens vengeance if Larsen harms Johnson and Leach, at which Larsen is amused, and he proposes a contract: He promises not to “lay my hands upon Leach and Johnson” (143) if Humphrey promises not to kill him. Humphrey agrees.

With Leach’s and Johnson’s boat directly beside them, Larsen gives orders for the Ghost to proceed. The small boat falls behind, but thanks to Johnson’s expert seamanship, they manage to catch up. Larsen taunts them, saying, “You want to come abroad, eh? Well, then, just keep a-coming” (145), yet he does nothing to help them come aboard. He teases the two runaways and stays just beyond their reach. Aghast, Humphrey talks with Louis about possibly forming an alliance should Larsen do anything especially reckless. Louis gently refuses, claiming that he isn’t fool enough to stand against Larsen.

For two hours, Larsen sails the Ghost to keep out of Leach’s and Johnson’s reach until, finally, the boat is lost to view. Johnson and Leach have been left behind to die on the open sea; the crew is stunned and the new men from City of Tokyo horrified. When Humphrey confronts Larsen about his promise, Larsen claims that he technically never laid his hands on the two men. Humphrey, stunned, realizes that Maud Brewster’s safety must become his responsibility if she is to be protected from Larsen.

Chapter 20 Summary

Maud Brewster sleeps through the ordeal concerning Johnson and Leach. The next morning, she comes to breakfast in the cabin with Humphrey, Larsen, and the hunters. Her appearance causes a stir, with the hunters (and Humphrey) falling shy. Larsen is curious about her and her straightforward manner, especially when she asks him directly when they’ll be reaching Yokohama. Larsen replies that they will arrive in several months, after the hunting season. There follows a discussion about what is right, with Maud struggling to understand the motives behind this man. When Humphrey is called upon to support Larsen’s decision, he can only concede to the captain’s command, being unable to verbally combat him.

Larsen begins to ridicule Humphrey. Having this happen in front of Maud is intensely embarrassing for Humphrey, who is beginning to develop feelings for her. Larsen turns his attention back to Maud and asks her the same question he asked of Humphrey at the beginning: “What do you do for a living [...] By what right do you live when you do nothing to deserve living?” (153). Though Maud is visibly frightened, she stands her ground against Larsen’s inquiries and reveals that she makes $1,800 a year from her own work.

Humphrey realizes he knows her and says her name. Maud Brewster is a writer of some literary renown, and Humphrey himself once wrote a review of her work. Excited to have discovered each other in such unusual circumstances, Maud and Humphrey begin talking about mutual acquaintances and the literary world.

Chapter 21 Summary

Larsen reminds Mugridge of a previous threat to tow him over the side of the Ghost if the cook didn’t wash and clean his shirt more regularly. Having failed to do this, Mugridge is caught by the sailors, tied by rope, and flung overboard. Humphrey remarks that “it was a pitiful spectacle” (159) as Mugridge struggled to save himself from drowning as he was towed in the ship’s wake. Maud Brewster comes on deck and joins Humphrey.

One of the crew spots a shark. Larsen shouts for the men to pull Mugridge in. They manage to do so, but not quick enough: The shark has bitten off one of Mugridge’s feet. Maud is horrified. Larsen treats it as a funny, unpredictable turn of events, and he orders Humphrey to do what he can to help Mugridge. Larsen decides that vengeance must be taken on the shark. The sailors fish it out of the sea with a hook, affix a stake between its open jaws so that it can’t eat, and hurl it back into the sea to die of starvation.

Chapters 19-21 Analysis

With the introduction of the book’s first female character, the dynamics of the crew as well as Humphrey’s character begin to change rapidly. As a plot device, Maud’s character acts to provoke new responses and emotions among the male crew. Her influence is especially strong upon Humphrey and Larsen, who spend the most time with her. Humphrey’s full identity as Dean of American Letters, the Second, and influential critic of American literature is revealed through his conversations with Maud; in this way, Humphrey becomes himself again only because there is a woman present to remind him of the society from which Larsen abducted him.

Maud is a spectacle, a convenient plot twist that allows London to instigate a change within his characters that otherwise wouldn’t happen. So far, in herself she is little, barely characterized beyond the broad generalizations and idealizations that Humphrey holds for women. While this emotional impact sparks Humphrey’s interest and creates more tension between Humphrey and Larsen, London chooses to give Maud a pecuniary worthiness that Larsen will appreciate: “A woman who earned eighteen hundred dollars a year was worth looking at” (154). Both Larsen and Humphrey are invested in Maud’s future.

That London chose to introduce a character who fits Humphrey’s generalizations is telling: Maud becomes a reminder of the life Humphrey left behind and has had such trouble reconciling with his time aboard the Ghost. With Maud acting as a stand-in for Humphrey’s original middle-class, gentlemanly society, Humphrey falls out of Larsen’s spell. No longer is Larsen the topic of Humphrey’s thoughts, no longer is the enigma of the captain intensely curious. Humphrey is snapped out of his fatalism and reminded of the society he left behind, one that he must actively reclaim instead of submissively following Larsen’s orders.