Analysis Of The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee

A promise is a samurai’s vow and is to be kept and honored. No matter the cost, one must hold true, the words that they swear upon. Until the vow is fulfilled or when death breaks the tie, it still holds you like an unbreakable bond. A man with a conscience will hold true, and he will not run from his word, like a samurai, he will follow it till death. “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, a narrative poem written by Robert Service, tells the tale of a man who makes a promise to cremate his dying friend in the middle of the freezing, cold arctic, and he goes through drastic circumstances to keep it. Because he keeps his word, the reader learns that a man of good character will go through extremes to fulfill his promises, for in keeping his promise,

Cap loses his mind facing the harsh environment and isolation from the world.
In his attempt to keep his promise, Cap endures the harsh environment.

On Christmas day as they were traveling through the Dawson trail in the Arctic, Cap mentioned the cold. He says that sometimes it was so cold that your lashes froze. Cap describes it by saying, “Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail” (Service 709). It was so cold that your skin feels the pricking that is felt when jumping into a cold pool. Although Cap did not make his promise to Sam McGee, yet one can assumed that the weather would still be cold after the promise was made. He faces the bitter cold while finding a place to cremate his friend. Later on in the narrative poem, the body of Sam McGee that was tied to the sled caused more weight for the dogs to pull. The “ [...] dogs were spent and the grub was getting low” (Service 711). McGee’s promise caused the dogs to get tired faster having to pull the extra weight. The food was getting low and Cap couldn’t do anything about it, because he couldn’t get to a village or town quickly with the body of his friend weighing down the sled, and the meager amount of food cause him to have little energy. Set on keeping his promise, Cap refuses to leave the body of his comrade in the cold arctic, resulting in him having to face the severity of his

surroundings.
Determined to keep his promise to Sam McGee, Cap puts his mental health on the line by going days without human contact and in isolation.

Days of being alone in the Arctic with the body of his friend strapped to his sled took its toll on him. He would find himself often “sing[ing] to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin” ( Service 711). Cap needed someone to talk to, someone to converse with, that he started singing to a dead body. Being far from civilization made him wish that his friend was alive, even if McGee annoyed him all the time. His mind envisioned his friend was alive through the smile that the corpse would often give. In addition, when he peered in his crematorium to see if Sam McGee has successfully been cremated, he saw the most bizarre thing. Cap claims to have seen Sam sitting there “looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: ‘Please close that door [...]’ ” (Service 712). Needing closure and confirmation that he has accomplished his promise, Cap envisions that his friend is alright and sits up to speak to him about how good it feels to be cremated, to finally be warm. He is delusional that he sees a cremated person sit up and speak to him and praise him about the results of him accomplishing his promise. Because Cap stuck to keeping his word for his friend, isolation caused him to lose his

sanity.
Through losing his sanity in the remote Arctic and dealing with his bitter situation, Cap shows that a true friend with good character will suffer and make sacrifices to honor his obligations with his friend. One who completes his oath and stays loyal, like a samurai returning from battle, will be honored and praised. Accomplishing and following his vow, either to a friend or a master, although sacrifices and hardships must be overcome, will be rewarded and feel that satisfaction of the accomplishment. Cap, like a samurai, went through extremes and risked his life to keep his word to McGee. He could not feel satisfied until he completed his task. A true and honorable person will do anything to finish what he promised to start.