The House of Pride is a quietly devastating tale of race, identity, and decay in colonial Hawaii, told with Jack London’s sharp eye for cultural nuance and emotional contradiction. At its heart is Percival Ford — a wealthy, refined white man of impeccable education and moral ideals — who takes pride in his Hawaiian-born heritage while holding himself above the native population from which he partly descends.
When Ford attends a local social gathering on the islands, he is confronted by a powerful reality: the "house" he built, both literal and symbolic, may be rooted in denial and prejudice. Through subtle encounters and uncomfortable revelations, London exposes the tragedy of a man who has everything — except the capacity to reconcile who he is with where he comes from.
Both a character study and a critique of colonial hypocrisy, The House of Pride is a richly layered short story that explores the cost of self-deception and the fragile boundaries between pride and shame.
