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To build a fire by jack london english literature essay
What is one theme of to build a fire by jack london
Discuss/describe the main conflict in jack london's "build a fire"
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Naturalism is about the conflicts that bring out instincts and determination for survival.
Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is a story about a man and his journey to realization when he is forced to survive in the harsh wintery weather of Alaska. We begin with a man who is portrayed as very cocky with what appears as a lack of forward thinking. “He experienced a pang or regret that he had not devised a nose-strap … but it didn’t matter much, after all. What were frosted cheeks? A bit painful, that’s was all; they were never serious” (NAAL 1050). However, traveling with him is a dog that was packed full of instinct and skill. “It had wet its forefeet. It made quick efforts to lick the ice off its legs then began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes. This was a matter of instinct” (1050). As
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He decides to build one under a spruce tree so that he wouldn’t have to carry the sticks. When the fire is built he keeps feeding it with more branches until the snow on the tree falls and smothers the fire. Naturalism also “focuses on forces beyond human control” as well as “bad luck that can often seem to control the lives of the people.” (10) The man’s experience in the story hits a turning point at this moment. When he falls through the ice he curses his luck. Luck implies that it was something out of his control and that nature is now controlling weather he lives or dies. Similarly when the snowfalls on his fire, because he lacked the natural instincts there was nothing he could do to prevent the ultimate outcome therefor naturalism was used in that moment. Near the end the man takes dramatic strides to ensure his survival. The vivid imagery of the man falling and running again in hopes to find someone is a depressing failed attempt that unfortunately ends with him losing his life. The story described the
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
Jack London’s To Build a Fire follows an unnamed protagonist, who’s only referred to as “the man”, as he travels the Yukon Trail during a severe snow storm. Along with his husky wolf-dog, he determined to meet friends at an old junction by six o’clock. The man, who was warned not travel in the Klondike alone, presses forward through the terrain’s harsh weather. He later falls through the snow in what looked to be a secure spot. With his feet and fingers soaked, he starts a fire and begins drying himself. The man constructs the fire under a spruce tree in order to take its twigs and drop them directly onto the fire. Each time he pulled a twig a branch overturned its load of snow, eventually blotting out the fire. He grabs all his matches and lights them simultaneously to set fire to a piece of bark; it soon goes out. The man decides to kill the dog and use its warm body to restore his circulation, but is unable to kill the animal and lets the dog go. The man attempts to run from the thought of freezing to death but he quickly falls down. He decides he should meet death in a more dignified manner; the man falls off into a calm sleep.
In “To Build A Fire”, the main conflict throughout is man versus nature although it would be inaccurate to say that nature goes out of its way to assault the man. The fact of the matter is, nature would be just as cold without the man's presence regardless of him being there .The environment as a whole is completely indifferent to the man, as it frequently is in naturalist literature. The bitter environment does not aid him in any way, and it will not notice if he perishes. In the same way, the dog does not care about the man, only about itself. Ironically enough though, as the man was dying he was getting upset toward the dog because of its natural warmth, the instincts that it had, and its survival skills and those were the elements that the man lacked for survival. It is ironic that the man had to die in order to find out that man's fragile body cannot survive in nature's harsh elements, regardless of a human’s natural over-confidence and psychological strength.
Jack London has written a classic short story in the 1908 version of "To Build a Fire." This is the classic story of man fighting nature. In most genres (e.g. movies, novels, short stories) the main character comes out on top, however unlikely that is. Jack London takes literary naturalism and shows the reader how unmerciful nature is. Much like Stephen Crane in "The Open Boat," in which the one of the characters dies, London doesn't buy into that "has to have a good ending" contrivance. Through analysis of two London's letters (to R.W. Gilder and Cloudesly Johns) these two versions of "To Build a Fire" come alive with new meaning. Although there are many differences on the surface, both stories use his philosophy as expressed to Johns and both teach a moral lesson, one which will not soon be forgotten: "Never travel alone."
The Importance of Setting in Jack London's To Build A Fire In "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, the setting plays a. significant role throughout the entire short story. Jack London uses techniques to establish the atmosphere of the story. By introducing his readers to the setting, prepares them for a tone that is. depressed and frightening. Isolated by an environment of frigid weather and doom, the author shows us how the main character of the story completely unaware of his surroundings.
Literature focuses on many aspects to form a coherent and captivating story, mainly those aspects retaining to characters and conflict. Within any story, a conflict arises for a character to overcome which drives the whole story. Conflict, the struggle against many forces of multiple varieties, creates the obstacle or issue a character must face to advance past the problem. In "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, conflict plays a major role in the story. The conflicts of man fighting against nature and man against himself present the struggles the unidentified man from "To Build a Fire" faces and attempts to overcome. These conflicts of man and nature influence the whole story and the fate of the character.
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
What would you do if the only thing separating you from death was starting a fire? Most people would obviously start a fire because they do not want to die. This is exactly the same situation that a man falls into in To Build A Fire. In this story a man is setting across the Yukon in order to get to a camp where his friends are at. This is a trip that he has made many times and he can even predict what time he will arrive in that camp. He is traveling with a dog as his companion. As he goes along the trail that he has picked out he notes many things about his surroundings and the temperature is a constant figure in his mind because if it drops too rapidly that would mean death for him. When he stops to eat food he builds a fire and takes a rest for awhile. After sitting her for awhile the snow that was on the tree above him falls on top of him because it had begun to melt from the snow. When the snow falls it gets him all wet and in the process puts out his fire. Aggravated, he gets up and begins to build another fire because he knows that he will have to dry out before he can leave. This is where the story goes bad because he is unable to start another fire and he ends up dying slowly while his dogs runs to the camp. Throughout this story there are many things that begin to make the reader’s mind start to pick out certain messages. I think that biggest part of this is paying attention to the setting in this story, because this story has a lot to do with nature. The second most important in characters because both of the characters in this story tell a lot when readers begin to analyze the characters traits and actions which also ties into plot. In my opinion the main messages from To Build A Fire by Jack London are nature trumps...
The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a comprehensive story that tackles the struggles of a newcomer trying to survive a day in the Yukon with very harsh and cold weather. The man travels with a big native husky and tries many times to build a fire but fails due to his inadequate personality. The man repeatedly lets his ignorance and arrogance dictate his decisions which soon leads to his demise. The theme of the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is that being ignorant, arrogant and foolish can lead to bad decisions.
When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold."(p.1745) At first when the man started his journey to the camp, he felt certain that he could make it back to camp before dinner. As the trip progressed, the man made mistake after mistake that sealed his fate. The man's first mistake was to step into a pool of water and soak his legs to the knees. This blunder forced the man to build a fire to dry his wet socks and shoes so his feet would not freeze and become frostbitten. When the man began to build a fire he failed to notice that he was doing so under a large, snow laden spruce tree where he was getting his firewood. When the man had a small fire that was beginning to smolder the disturbance to the tree caused the snow to tumble to the ground and extinguish the fire. "It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open."(1750).
In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the setting plays a significant role throughout the entire story. The chosen setting by London creates a specific and idealistic mood for his depressing story. It forces, as well as prepares, it’s audience to what the story holds. The amount of constant detail the story holds allows the reader to anticipate the ending that is inevitable to happen.
In 1908 Jack London published a tragic tale titled “To Build a Fire” in which the main character succumbs to the elements and passes away. Throughout the story Jack London shows the awe-inspiring power of nature with no regard to human life and the feebleness of man by pairing a dog and unnamed man together on a quest across the Yukon Trail. Throughout the story the man is ill-prepared, ill-informed, and unable to use the clues around him to survive. The dog is reluctant to follow the man throughout the story, but leaves his side only when it begins to smell the stench of death. Jack London opens the story by painting the picture of the Yukon Trail.
In the story To Build a Fire by Jack London was a different but a pretty good story. Throughout the story there was many things that made to story go together and to creat a good story. I really enjoyed how the author foreshadowed things that were going to happen at the end but didn’t actually give the ending away. The author describes how cold it is and how nasty it is there and that made me enjoy the story more because then I could really imagine what was happening there. Overall I thought the story was really insightful and good.
Thinking the old man was overly cautious and crazy, the man brushes off the warning. The old man, presumably a lifelong resident of the Yukon and experienced woodsman, obviously understands the threat and the danger nature presents to naive travelers. After falling through the ice, the man slowly begins to acknowledge there may have been some wisdom in the old man’s warning. The man gives a halfcocked smile when remembering the old man’s advice about running on dry frozen feet versus wet frozen feet. Suddenly the man is desperate to build a fire. The man’s “over confidence in his own abilities led to him making poor decisions and scorning the advice of those who know what they are talking about” (“Overconfidence and Arrogance”). The man, with wet feet and two epic fire failures, entertains the old man’s warning about traveling a little more seriously. If there were two people, one could surely start a fire if the other had some trouble. Refusing to give up, the man runs on his wet frozen feet until collapsing. Nature’s inhospitable side catches up with the man. Sitting helpless in the snow, the man finally acknowledged the old man was correct. Unfortunately, the thought came too late. The man’s failure to look past himself and listen an old man’s valuable advice ultimately contributed to his
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.