Irony In Jack London's To Build A Fire

The short story "To build a Fire" by Jack London, tells about the relationship between man and nature. The story takes place in the Yukon during one of the long night. The main character who is unnamed travels with a dog along a small trail to a mining camp. The man leaves against the advice of a local and after a short time realizes that he should have waited. The temperature is extremely cold because the mans spit freezes before it hits the ground. The main obstacle of his journey is the many covered springs that mean death to whoever falls into them. The man sends his dog in front of him to make sure that the trail is safe. Eventually the dog falls into one of the springs and gets his paws wet.

“It’s only cold if you’re standing still” unfortunately for the man In “To Build A Fire” by Jack London this wasn’t true, with the harsh Yukon climate coming after him. The man could not move any body parts or even being able to feel your fingers. The man and his dog were out all by themselves in the harsh miserable weather when they got lost and could not find their way back to camp. The man then made a few decisions that forced him into not being able to bear the cold and forcing him to choose death over fighting. The man made many preposterous mistakes however, there were three main mistakes that got him killed. The three irrational mistakes that the man made to force him to death were unsuccessful fires, stepping into the ice/water trap, also the man went out against an old timer's

If developed the right way, the setting can play an important role in a story like this. London builds his setting up quickly, within the first words of this story. The story is set in the wintertime with no sign of the sun, at the Yukon Trail. A deadly and extremely cold area in the country of Canada. In the story, the narrator states, “Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside

Jack London starts early in the story to set a foreboding feeling: "Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland." (London) It is this

The power of nature is not something humans can overcome. Nature shows its power through harsh weather, and we must be smart about it. The message Jack London creates in this piece of writing is that pride cannot overcome nature; nature will have its way. The man shows too much pride to listen to others about the dangerous temperatures but only listens to himself as it costs him his life. In “To Build a Fire” Jack London shows us how dangerous it is to assume victory in the the battle of man v. nature.

lead his readers to believe that the man will suffer a tragedy in the end

The main character of the story was already freezing to death: arms, feet, body and face. It was below fifty degree. The way the author described the character’s situation in a snowy place, where no one else with him aside from his dog, it made the readers think that it was really freezing. In this state, we can consider the life and death situation. There were no use in making fire, aside from the fact that it was all wet and cold, your hands are frozen and cannot do anything. Landon, author, narrated the scenario of the story, where all you can think is to give up and die. For instance, he stated that a thought of giving up came to the character’s mind that he could not reach the camp and find his fellows. However, he refused to follow

The dreadful scenery has been fully characterized in Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire,” where the day is being described as cold and grey, having no sun or clouds during the day, and having ice-covered ground overlapped with snow on top. The setting is as important as the man in this story because the setting describes all the situations the man is put through and has to deal with throughout the story. The setting may be more important than the character with its beauty of a frozen tundra, with its darkness from the lack of sunshine, and with its mysterious, far-reaching hairline trail.

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling through the Alaskan Yukon to meet up with his friends for lunch. The author keeps the character nameless and refers to him only as “The Man” which is used to show a connection between humanity and nature. The story shows the hardships the man goes through to get to his destination through the Alaskan Yukon, yet unfortunately doesn’t make it. The conflict is a man versus nature theme which contrasts strong and direct relations of the hardships in nature. Throughout this analysis, I am going to explore the conflict between the man and the merciless nature he has to go through before his death.

“To Build a Fire” is a story tale about a dog that connects to nature more than man ever did.

    Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” is the tragic tale of a man who decides to travel alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freeing temperatures and falls victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. During his journey, the man gets his feet wet as he falls through the ice into the water of a hot spring (London 122). Because of the severity of the cold, some “one hundred and seven degrees below [the] freezing point,” the man’s life depends upon his ability to promptly light a fire to keep his feet from freezing (122-23). After one, half-successful fire-starting endeavor, and several other pitiful attempts, the hopelessness of

To build a fire is a short story written by Jack London. It is a story about an individual’s choice. The main character’s self-centeredness overcomes him, as he tries to survive the wintery weather in his travel in the Yukon Trail. He made a choice of ignoring the weather warnings, which evidenced danger in his journey. There were warnings like the absence of fellow travelers due to the cold season, but his egoism made him still embark on the journey alone, despite the warnings. The protagonist’s pride and arrogance leads to a regrettable outcome, as it leads to his downfall. The protagonist made the wrong choices because of his egotism, and arrogance and they led to his downfall. He defied nature due to his lack of logical judgment, and

Jack London’s famous short story, To Build a Fire, tells of a man that finds himself in the Yukon territory in North America making his way past a lonesome path that leads him to death. This short story makes one reflect on the foundations and instincts of the man and the dog who had accompanied him. The story shows how the man’s attitude changes as he keeps going down the snowy trail. How he begins as a confident traveler of the Yukon and ends up “running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” (London, 1908, pg. 94) after making mistakes and having regrets.

No matter what type of story you are reading, setting always plays a key element in producing the desired effect. Jack London's short story To Build A Fire provides an excellent example of this. In this story, a man hikes across a snow and ice covered plane towards the encampment where he is supposed to meet up with more travelers like himself. The setting of this story is one of the northernmost most areas of the earth, the Yukon. The man must hike across this area for approximately thirty-six miles before he reaches the camp at which he is expected. The constantly dropping temperature further complicates the man's hike. When he begins his journey at nine o'clock in the morning it is

Nature often tests man’s limits. Sometimes man can overcome these tests and win; however, there are times when man just simply fails. In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,”, a man faces many trials which test his limits. Unfortunately, through arrogance and a lack of preparation the man cannot survive the conditions of the Yukon in which he haves a hard time making it through the tremendous cold and is set up for death. The setting in “to build a fire” has an impact on the characters, plot, and symbolism. One of the first ways that the setting has an impact is on the characters. For an example, “it certainly was cold, he concluded, as he rubbed his numbed nose and cheek-bones with his mittened hand” (2). The weather had been very cold in which it caused the man’s body to be numb. The second reason setting has an impact on is the man’s food. For example, “He had forgotten to build a fire and thaw it out” (4). The cold weather caused the man’s biscuit to freeze. Another way the setting has an impact is on the dog. For example, “It had wet its forefeet and legs, and almost immediately the water that clung to it turned to ice” (3-4). The water would have caused the dogs feet to become sore. Not only has the setting influenced characters, it has also influenced the plot of the story. Another way that the setting impacts “to build a fire” involves the plot. First in the opening of the story, the man faces difficult things. For example, “the man's red beard and mustache have likewise