He discovers the woman he has put on a pedestal is really just a mere mortal, and not a very nice one at that. In the beginning of the novel, he sees Ruth and her crowd as perfect. London writes, "Here was intellectual life, he thought, and here was beauty, warm and wonderful as he had never dreamed it could be" (London 8). Later, Eden learns the truth, and begins to despise the society that he worked so hard to join. He becomes despondent because his dreams came true and he found he did not want them after all. He is no longer innocent as he was in the beginning of the novel, and he has lost some of the charm that made him who he was. He finds that everything he worked for is a sham, and his only solace is to return to the sea that he left so abruptly. His is a sad story because it is so true. Someone once said, "What do you do when all your dreams come true?" You have nothing left to work for, and that is just what happened to Eden. (And perhaps, London too). He had nothing left to hope for, and no dreams to fulfill. The dreams that had come true were false dreams, and made him miserable instead of content. Eden's story is all the more tragic because he worked so diligently to make his dreams come true, and then, when they did, he found he did not want them after all. He would have been better off going back to being a sailor, or getting his own ship and leading a band of men. He would have been happier and he would have been more appreciated by those around him. As it was, his story ended too soon. Some readers might think that Eden's suicide...
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