A political writer, Jack London, documents the 1906 fires in San Francisco in “The Story of An Eyewitness,” in which he describes how the catastrophic event destroyed San Francisco is similar to a foreign invasion and brought its citizens together. London argues that in a desperate situation like war, regardless of wealth, social status, or race; citizens will unite to defeat a common threat. London uses a depressing tone to describe the horrifying destruction of an “imperial” city like San Francisco by using personification, similes, and repetition to illustrate the damage and how the feeling of doom brought people together.
In the beginning of his text, London establishes his credibility in the title by referring himself as an “eyewitness”