To Build a Fire by Jack London Essay

The Short story, ‘To Build a Fire’ by Jack London, published in 1908, is an archetypal naturalist tale regarding a man who travels alone through the unforgiving Yukon in Winter, before ultimately falling victim to the harsh environment. The story portrays the issues in being unaware of the power of nature and portrays a strong naturalist, In the very beginning of the story, his indifference to the forces of nature is evident through London’s vivid imagery of the uninhabited environment and the man’s nonchalant tone imitated through the neutral diction present. Furthermore, the quote “The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances,” explicitly foreshadows that an issue will come of his indifference

He is with his Alaskan husky wolf-dog who is the only one beside him. The man is a relative newcomer to the Yukon, but somehow the cold doesn’t faze him. As he is walking across a trail that goes over the top of a creek he suddenly falls through and gets wet up to his shins. Before the trip, an old wise man warns him that it is too cold to travel, but the young man doesn’t listen and moves onward. He quickly begins to start a fire to dry himself and his wet clothes. However, like the foolish man that he is, he starts the fire right under a spruce tree. The fire ends up melting the snow and it falls onto the fire extinguishing it and any hopes of starting another one. The man then makes a decision to kill the dog and stick his hands inside its warm belly. He realizes that he cannot do this because his body is so cold that it will not allow him to. He then attempts to run around trying to let friction heat his body. This is a futile attempt. The man then begins to fall into a deep, deadly, relaxing sleep. The dog begins to come closer to him and smells death on the man. The dog then runs back towards camp where the others are.

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. Immediate, acting

To build a Fire by Jack London, the story goes the man went alone in the woods and died. In the story, “the man” (main character) is responsible for his situations because he didn’t listen to the old timer, he thinks he is all that, and finally he wasn’t able to stay calm at all.

Naturalism was a literary movement or tendency from the 1880s to 1930s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. Basically characters can be studied through their relationship with their environment. A lot of jack London’s work was based on naturalism, and “To build a fire” was no different. The story starts off with an unnamed man in Yukon (where he is foreign) where it is more than 50 degrees below zero. "The man's red beard and moustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled. Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice held his lips so rigidly

Jack London was one of the great writers in the Naturalism Period, his pieces came from a unique experience during a winter spent in the Yukon. His stories are truly special pieces to read. London, who was born 1876 in San Francisco, ventured to the Yukon in the winter of 1897 which provided inspiration for his literary art (“Jack London: Biography”). Author of many other stories, he published “To Build a Fire” in 1902; he later died in 1916 (“Jack London: Biography”). In this story, a man and a dog venture onto the cold Yukon Trail during the winter, a brutal setting for anyone. With the combination of foolish mistakes and a lack of good luck, he passes away before he can reach camp to have dinner (London, “To Build A Fire”). London, through his brilliant writing, conveys that a person should never underestimate the forces of nature. In “To Build a Fire,” Jack London builds this theme through his use of conflict, foreshadowing, and figurative language.

In comparison from the dog and the man, the dog uses his natural instinct and primal nature to survive while the man uses his mind which is useless in the situation that he is in. For instance, when London writes, “ This fear quickly became poignant as he realized that it was no longer a mere matter of freezing his fingers and toes, or of losing his hands and feet, but that it was a matter of life or death, with the chances against him” ( Landon 479-482). This is expressing that nature is indifferent from the man, man has no control over nature making him fall into the hands of it, his fingers slowly being overtaken by the frostbite, he realized that he would die in the freezing Yukon winter because he was a mere speck in its forest, vulnerable to everything around him. More importantly, a victim succumbing to mother nature ’s brutal force which had shown him no mercy. Proving that the man is not adapted to the Klondike unlike his furry companion a native born animal with instincts that help him endure these conditions, whilst the man suffers with only clothing as a barrier of

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

One common theme in “To Build a Fire” is pride. The protagonist throughout the story believes himself as tough and almost “unbreakable.” He looks down on the old-timer from Sulphur Creek, saying that “those old men were rather womanish.” The protagonist’s hubris is so great that he believes the harsh weather can’t stop him from reaching his destination. Even when the protagonist falls into the river, a very dangerous situation out in such harsh conditions, the protagonist only worries about how this setback will delay him a few hours. The main character’s hubris prevents him from realizing the danger of the setting until it is too late. Another theme in “To Build a Fire” is the indifference of nature toward humans. This theme is closely linked with the conflict posed by the setting. Jack London’s descriptions of the Yukon wilderness present it as an unforgiving place, covered in an “indescribable darkness.” The dog is a prime example of the uncaring attitude nature presents toward humans. The dog only cares about its survival. As stated in the story, “there was no real bond between the dog and man.” When the dog catches “the smell of death,” it immediately leaves the protagonist’s body toward the camp for food and for warmth. Neither the dog nor the environment show any care for the protagonist’s well-being. This, with the addition of the protagonist’s hubris, spell a death trap in the man’s conflict against the

The story is about a man that wants to go to old camp on Henderson Creek. The temperature when he is traveling is 32 degrees below 0 or 107 degrees of frost (London, 2013). He is walking from the morning, and there is a dog that follows him. The weather there is so cold till his foot hand and face go numb. He stops and trying to keep himself warm by looking for a branch or any wood there. He is building a fire from that wood, but the fire does not hold to much time because the wood he providing is not enough to keep it up. "The sight of the dog put a wild idea into his head. He remembered the story of the man, caught in a storm, who killed an

Jack London demonstrates the belief that humans’ primary relationship with nature is that nature is unpredictable, and that man has no control over it. In To Build a Fire an unnamed man and his dog are travelling in Alaska. He and his dog are travelling to meet

The narrator in this story is omniscient, expressing the thoughts of the protagonists and the dog, these varying viewpoints exemplify the main character’s arrogance. “The animal was depressed by the tremendous cold. It knew that it was no time for traveling. Its instincts told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgement.” The man completely disregards the dog’s natural instincts, which are deeply imbued in nature and relies on his

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

The character goes by the man the whole story. All we know about him is that he is very clueless about mother nature's signs that something doesn't seem right and that he is very stubborn. “But all this the mysterious, far-reaching hairline trail, the absence of the sun in the sky, the tremendous cold,

In the story “To Build a Fire” written by Jack London, a man and a dog travel together through the Yukon in freezing temperatures to get to a cabin where the man’s friends are. The significant events in the story such as the man falling into a creek, the man’s fire going out and the dog leaving the mans body reveals the authors own understanding of how nature and humanity interact. The use of third person pronoun, symbolism and metaphors work together in order to help readers understand the themes that nature is indifferent to humans and that you shouldn't ignore the advice of others.