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A one paragraph analysis of the major theme of building a fire by jack london
A one paragraph analysis of the major theme of building a fire by jack london
A one paragraph analysis of the major theme of building a fire by jack london
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“To Build a Fire” Literary Analysis “To Build a Fire” was written by Jack London, a writer made famous by his indifferent naturalism. The story features an unnamed man who is traveling through the Alaskan wilderness along with his dog. The story turns dark when the man attempts to build a fire to dry his clothing, and then fails. Due to the man’s failures, he ultimately freezes to death. This is typical of a Jack London story, who believed in the futility of man and the complete power and control that nature has over man. London spent a lot of his life in nature, including traveling the Yukon trail in Alaska as well as traveling across the Pacific on a small boat. “To Build a Fire” is one of London’s most famous short stories, as well as a …show more content…
The story frequently compares the thoughts of the man and the dog, stating that even though the dog does not have the capacity for a coherent string of thought, it knows more than the man. The narrator explains why in this quote: “This man did not know cold... but the dog knew and all of its family knew. And it knew that it was not good to walk outside in such fearful cold”. London believed that the dog was closer to nature and its instincts than the man. Including this dynamic and showing how each of them dealt with the wilderness and the cold was extremely effective in conveying the message of how nature is inherently better and more powerful than man. Especially considering that at the end of the story, the dog survives and reaches the camp, whereas the man freezes due to the man’s own ignorance. To further this, the narrator states that the dog made no effort to show his uncertainties to the man. The dog, in this story, is a symbol of nature and how it endures. Even in this partnership between the dog and the man, the dog is uninterested in helping the man survive and thrive. The dog does not care about the man at …show more content…
Nature does not get warmer for the man. Nature does not allow his hands or feet to warm. Nature does not allow the man to muster the strength to kill the dog. Nor does nature give the man enough endurance for him to be able to make it back to the camp. “To Build a Fire” shows just how unrelenting and unsympathetic nature truly is. This theme can be shown in many of London’s other works, such as “The Law of Life.” In this story, a Native American, who is arguably closer to nature than the man from “To Build a Fire”, is still at the mercy of nature. Though the man from “Law of Life” knows he is to die and it is what he was meant for, the man still finds himself scared and anxious about death. And, as he saw a moose be eaten by wolves as a child, he too is eaten by wolves. Conversely, Walt Whitman proposes that nature is there to enrich a man’s life and is there to serve man. Whitman explores this in his poem, “Give Me the Splendid, Silent Sun.”Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;/ Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities!” Whitman proposes that nature is a safe space for the man to enjoy life and be free. This is wildly different than London’s idea of nature where nature is Law and is
They say to “always be prepared for unexpected situations,” this represents the man in the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. The man is unprepared because he does not
In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London shows how man vs. nature and how inexperienced traveler in the Yukon tries to travel alone with his dog, even though it’s advised not to. Yet he is stubborn and thinks he is right, and sets off for Henderson Creek to meet his friends. He faces many different conflicts of man verses man, and man verses nature.
In his report, “Keeping His Head”: Repetition and Responsibility in London’s “To Build a Fire,” Lee Clark Mitchell shares that most naturalist aficionado quiver at the style. This is in part because the enthusiasts thought London’s plot was “childish” and speed was sluggish (76). Mitchell suggests that these readers are ignoring the style and viewing it as irrelevant but he believes the style should be paid attention to because London does not write in the standard naturalist way. He finds London's style rather “compelling” and “curious” and believes other will too if repetition and tenses are accounted for (80, 78).
Naturalism portrays humans' control over their actions and fate as limited and determined by the natural world, including their very humanity. The freedom described by Jean-Paul Sartre results in all individuals having the ability to make present choices independently. Despite the fatalism illustrated in naturalism, the characters in London's 'To Build a Fire' and Crane's 'The Open Boat' are ultimately responsible for their choices and consequences of their choices.
In response to the romantic period (1798-1870), authors began to focus their writing on ordinary people and their everyday lives rather than the supernatural, nationalism, heroism, and strange and faraway places, themes characteristic of romantic literature. In the story “To Build a Fire” shows what a realism story looks like. Everything about it is based on real events that can happen, is realistic. Whatever happens to the man, you can relate to because you know how cold it can get and maybe you also can relate how hard it is to build a fire. A lot of people, like the man in the story, sometimes arent as bright in the head and can be the cause of their own problem. In the story there is a part where the man fails to kill the dog because his hands are frozen, shows how a lot of times you cant accomplish something, you fail. Instead of a happy ending and expecting for the man to find his way back to camp, he does not, he dies, adds that very realistic event that would of happened to many other people and the story has a bad ending
In ‘To Build a Fire”, the author, Jack London creates a tale that reflects his voyage in the Klondike gold rush as a miner in the glacial and cold terrain of Alaska and Canada during 1897 to 1898. The short story is about an unnamed man who takes his own journey through the Yukon in Alaska, where the temperature is 75 degrees below zero. The man and his dog, a husky, set out for their journey on an exceeding cold and gray day. Although he never reaches his destination, the unnamed man faces many obstacles throughout his journey that portray the characteristics of a hero; this can be shown through his persistence, independence and knowledge.
When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that embodies the idea of naturalism and how, if one is not careful, nature will gain the upper hand and they will perish.
To Build a Fire is a remarkable account of one man’s finish line. In it this story holds quite a few rather important morals. There is as well a very important theme. The theme most referred to is that of the power of nature. The force that it can display on earth is immense and cannot be duplicated or overpowered by humans. However one man decided he would be the one prove this axiom wrong. One man became totally confident that he can and will withstand the awesome mighty strength of nature.
London, Jack. "To Build a Fire, by Jack London." The World of Jack London 2012®. Web. 02
...ezing, cold weather. The two types of conflict in “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are: man vs. self and man v. nature which are common in naturalism literature. London uses naturalism to show how harsh and indifferent nature really is and how no matter what, nature will always be there. He furthermore presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, ultimately if you are not the strongest you will not survive. London showed us that we only can depend on ourselves to survive in this world or in the Yukon of Alaska. "To Build a Fire" illustrates that the closer to death the character comes, the plot declines. As the story advances, the man's ambitions go from making it to camp, to staying warm, to just simply surviving. When reading, you can sense the lack of effort on the man's part, only brings him closer to a freezing, unavoidable death.
Jack London creates a setting that is hostile and “cold”. The story is set in the wilderness of the frozen Yukon, during the harsh winter months, when “there was no sun nor hint of sun” in the sky. The character that London introduces is isolated from the world. “The man” doesn't have a companion; only the dog that follows him.
An Analysis of Jack London's To Build a Fire. In her cultural criticism of Jack London's "To Build a Fire", Jill Widdicombe explores the question of whether the story's protagonist might have perished from the extreme cold of the Klondike winter even if with a traveling companion. She describes the brutality of the winter weather and, alluding to the man's confidence in his ability to survive the weather, describes it as "behavior most of us can understand" - especially if we are accustomed to warmer surroundings. She states: "the extreme cold of frosty landscapes--or "The White Silence", as London describes it--is so quiet and abstract that it does not immediately appear to be lethal".
Providing the separation between survival and death. setting was the most important factor in "Building a Fire" by Jack London. Works Cited and Consulted Hendricks, King. Jack London: Master Craftsman of the Short Story. Logan: Utah State U P. 1966.
Overconfidence and Arrogance in To Build a Fire by Jack London Overconfidence and arrogance led to the death of the man in Jack London's "To Build a Fire. " This overconfidence in his own abilities led to him making poor decisions and scorning the advice of those who know what they are talking about. Instead, he laughs at the old man after he tells him "a man should travel with a partner" (1769) and goes out into the frigid weather anyway.
Karen Rhodes analyzed to build a fire in a cultural context. He believed "London's works were written so that he could survive in a world he increasingly came to see as "red in tooth and claw""(1). It is obviously the story of a man fighting the stresses of Nature. According to Rhodes, to build a fire was drawn from the year London spent in Canada's Yukon Territory. London depicted arctic and very cold conditions throughout the story. Rhodes believed to build a fire represented London's Naturalistic Flavor. "It pits one man alone against the overwhelming forces of nature"(Karen Rhodes, 1). He also believed to build a fire can either be interpreted as the Pioneer American experience or can be read as an allegory for the journey of human existence (Karen Rhodes, 1). According to Rhodes, there are two versions of to build a fire; the first one was written in 1902 while the second one was written in 1908. We are studying the 1908 version." It has come to be known as everyman trekking through the Naturalistic Universe"(Karen Rhodes, 1). To build a fire is indeed the story of a man trekking through the universe alone except for his dog. The man's death at the end was the culmination of the story. " His death came through no lapse of observation, no lack of diligence, no real folly but the nature of himself and his environment" (Karen Rhodes, 2). I think his is a fine criticism of London's to build a fire. London had made use of his life experiences in writing the story.