“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science succeeded where magic failed: because it did not seek any spell to cast on nature.” Since the beginning of time, man and nature have been in conflict because, as a whole, they do not cooperate. Everyone tirelessly wants their own path. Man fights for domination and nature without ever ceding his authority. In American literature, many authors illustrate this theme in their writings. Specifically writers Jack London in The Law Of Life, Stephen Crane's The Open Boat and Mark Twain's Huckleberry End. Each explores the relationship between humans and nature but with slightly different methods. Mark Twain uses nature realistically, Jack London naturalistically, and Stephen Crane is a combination of both. The Law of Life by Jack London depicts nature's indifference to the impending death of an old man. Left to die in the snow by his tribe, almost blind and lame, old Koskoosh rests near a fire with only a net of twigs to protect him from the subzero temperatures. He is aware of his impending end, but peacefully accepts the point that all men must die. With only hours left to live, he reflects on the endless rotation of life and death, how even the most robust animal would fall prey to old age and its predators. In all this he concludes that nature does not care whether a man lived or died. “He didn’t complain. It was the way of life, and it was right. He had been born near the earth, near the earth had he lived, and the law of it was not new to him. It was the law of all flesh. Nature was not kind to the flesh. She did not care about this concrete thing called the individual” (Law). The man in the middle of paper ...... Works cited • London, Jack. “The law of life”. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature Vol 2. 'Ed' 2008. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.• The open boat. Stephen Crane. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Ed. general. Nina Baym. Flight. A. Norton, 2011.• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Ed. general. Nina Baym. Flight. A. Norton, 2011. • Bilgram, Akeel. What is realism. Published by S. Abbas Raza at 01:00.Web. 02.21.2014http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/08/what-is-realism.html• “naturalism”. Dictionary.com full version. Random House, Inc. February 25, 2014. .• Quotes from Jacob Bronowski. 02/21/2014 http://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/author/Jacob_Bronowski/Web.