William Faulkner's To Build A Fire

The man represents the fraction of society that doesn't respect nature. He doesn't understand the power of nature because he is oblivious to it. On the other hand the dog was "told a truer tale than that was told to the man by the man's judgement." The man "did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold." "The was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man." The man and the dog are together because the man needs the dog, and the dog has no choice. They have no emotional connection between them because the dog is used as a slave. In one part of the story the man uses the dog to test the trail and make sure that it is safe. The dog has more inherent knowledge about the area, all of his "ancestry knew" about the cold and the dangers of extreme cold. He also had a warm "natural covering" to keep him safe from the weather. The man was not used to the cold. He "was without imagination. He was quick and alert to the things of life, but only the things, and not the significances." He also was stubborn for his neglect to take advice.

The old man at Sulphur Creek provides a supporting role in the story. He is repeatedly brought up throughout the story when the traveler recalls the advice he was given. “The man was extremely serious when he said that no man should travel alone”(Jackson ). His advice and warning are what creates tension to the story. The traveler brushes off the old man’s advice and says the old man probably couldn’t do handle it because old men are “womanish” (Jackson ). As the traveler continues his journey he realizes that being alone and traveling in such cold weather is dangerous. When he makes the fire the first time he makes it under a pine tree. The snow from the tree falls on the fire taking away the warmth he needed to reheat his body. The second time he tries to make the fire he couldn’t hold on to the matches. The matches fell on the floor and he says how if “he had a companion on the trail he would be in no danger” (Jackson ). He recalls how if he was traveling with someone the companion could have built the fire. “Now, he must build the fire again, and this second time he must not fail” (Jackson). Later, he says “perhaps the old man on Sulphur Creek was right. If he had a companion on the trail he would be in no danger now” (Jackson ). He also understands how the world is more instinctual instead of intellectual. He doesn’t realize until later that there might be a situation which he cannot

Story takes place in the Klondike. The main character used the landscape as a clue. He also used a faint line as his way back (Kreidler, Michele L). Since it’s snowy he leaves a trail behind him. He uses takes advantage of the landscape around him but relies on it for too long. “The man is a newcomer to the Klondike and is setting out from town to join his compatriots, referred to 'the boys' at a specified point on the Yukon River” (Kreidler, Michele L). He is new in the Klondike so this already shows that if he goes anywhere he is most likely getting lost. This foreshadows the death of the man. “London describes the traveler, "a newcomer in the land," as being unaware of "his frailty as a creature of temperature…able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold"” (Robert S. Puchalik). The man doesn’t know how frail the human body can be. The setting is important because if he knew the territory he was in he would probably have a higher chance of surviving. Klondike is where the man is currently staying. It is a safe zone for him because he has warmth. He is traveling to the Yukon River to meet his compatriots.

In William Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Abner Snopes is a main character and father of Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty), who is also a main character. Abner is a very poor looking man, unclean and unshaven. He always seems to wear the same thing, a dirty white button up shirt with a dirty black hat and coat.

Albert Einstein once said, “Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better”. The Call of the Wild, a novel by Jack London, shows exactly this. People must live in harmony with nature, or it will destroy them.

There are several ways in which William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" is indicative of literary modernism. It depicts a relevant historical period and is part of the frontiersman literary tradition (Gleeson-White, 2009, p. 389). The author utilizes a number of purely literary approaches that were innovative for the time period in which the tale was originally published (in 1932), such as employing a young child as a narrator complete with misspelled words and broken, puerile thoughts. However, the most eminent way in which this story embraces the tradition of literary modernism is in the author's rendition of dynamic social conventions that were in a state of flux at the time of the writing. Specifically, his treatment of race is the inverse of how race is generally portrayed in American literature prior to the early part of the 20th century. An analysis of this integral component of "Barn Burning" reveals that Faulkner's unconventional rendering of African American characters in a desirable social status particularly as compared to that of the Snopes clan is crucial to this tale's inclusion as part of the tradition of literary modernism.

In the short fiction “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner we experience the conflict between Sarty and his father Abner Snopes. “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.” (Faulkner, p.199). Sarty has an internal conflict choosing right over wrong resulting in being unfaithful to his Father. Author William Faulkner served in the air force and was a clerk at a bookstore before he started writing which lead him after several prize-winning works to writing screen plays in Hollywood. The setting of the story take place in civil war times, where the author William Faulkner grew up 1897-1962 (Faulkner, p.196). Sarty must choose what he feels is

Some stories can have an emotional impact on readers, but every so often a story will reach out and help the reader escape into it. Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is a fascinating story with a remarkably well described setting, and geographical descriptions of the surrounding Yukon areas. It portrays an overconfident man, whom because of his lack of intuition and stubbornness, succumbs to natures unforgiving climate.

Including both Realism and Naturalism, “To Build a Fire,” is a story of a man and a dog traveling in the Yukon to a mining camp that is nine hours of hiking away. The title of the story itself shows the readers a sense of naturalism from the start. Naturalism is focused around an ill-educated or lower class individual

“To Build a Fire” is a short story written by Jack London. It is viewed as a masterpiece of naturalist fiction. “To Build a Fire” features a miner who is traveling to the Yukon Territory with a dog as his companion. The miner is the protagonist and the dog companion is called the foil. The dog plays off of the traits of the protagonist. “The central motif of “To Build a Fire” concerns the struggle of man versus nature.” (Short Story Criticism) The most argued point in the short story is the reason of the protagonist death. “Some critics believe that it was his lack of intuition and imagination that lead to his death, while others say that he dies because of panic.” (Short Story Criticism) The protagonist in “To Build a Fire” struggles in

First, I am going to analyze the dog’s relationship with the man. the man is on his way to meet the boys with his only companion, a wolf dog which represents the bond we have with nature. The dog relies on the man to provide warmth by fire and the man needs the dog for his instincts. I believe the that since it is a wolf dog it has both traits as a wild wolf and a domesticated dog. It is like a gateway between humanity and nature which allows us to be a part of it. The dog never left the man’s side because he needed him. The man however, the attempted to kill the dog to spare his life. The man also sent the dog across the lake knowing that the dog’s instincts could get him across. The man heavily relied on the dog for his survival and was willing to sacrifice him for the man’s

He was short sighted because, he sees danger ahead of him, but assumes that there is nothing wrong. He was insensitive to the harsh weather conditions he was facing. The narrator saw the effects of the harsh cold weather, but he exhorts himself in continuing with the journey to the camp. He was just trying to be stubborn, and his pride made him believe that he will be a hero by beating all the odds of the cold weather, by reaching the camp safe and sound. The narrator was overestimating his abilities, and his pride and arrogance clouds his logical thinking into making the right choice, which was to turn back, other than moving on with the journey.

I picked To Build a Fire because I like adventure stories. It seemed that's the man was a newcomer to Yukon territory in Canada, and he didn't expect this severe frost. So he wasn't prepared for the terrible drop in colds, which was more than 75 degrees below zero, and also had no experience in the country climate. At last, he succeeded to reached his destination with his dog.

Nature is merely our instrument of conquering one another. By manipulating what already exists, we create everything from nuclear warheads to high speed internet. The continuous competition between men feeds off of our technological advancement—none of which would be possible without the resources Nature provides for us. And rather than being grateful for the unequivicable power so generously offered us by our environment, we instead mock its existence. We distract from the cunningness and cruelty of our efforts toward mankind by relabeling our target ‘Nature’ rather than ‘each other’. By convincing ourselves we are somehow beginning to have Nature within our control and understanding, we forget that Nature is really only the means, not the end of our conquest. We will not be satisfied until we have defeated ourselves. As Lewis puts it, “Human nature will be the last part of Nature to surrender to Man. The battle will then be won… But who, precisely, will have won it?” (The Abolition of Man, 421)