An Interpretation of the Apostate from the Perspective of Schizoanalysis
Abstract
In Jack London's short story The Apostate, Jack London portrays the protagonist Johnny's escape as both a critique of Western capitalist society and an expression of concern for the working class. Read through Deleuze and Guattari's concepts of the molar line, molecular line, and line of flight, Johnny's trajectory reveals his refusal to remain confined within the factory's rigid order, his oscillation between labor and desire, and his eventual break from the codes regulating individual life under early twentieth-century capitalism. In his reflection, he oscillates between continuing labor and seeking release, with the molecular line repeatedly surfacing in his consciousness. In an effort to resist the inhumane suffering imposed on laborers by economic deterritorialization, he ultimately disregards his mother's advice and starts a journey without destination. Through this line of flight, he breaks through the codes and constraints that early twentieth-century Western capitalist society imposes on the circulation of individual life, thereby revealing the possibility of new modes of existence within capitalism and suggesting the fluidity of desire.
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