In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, an unknown man is traveling alone in the extremely dangerous weather of seventy-five degrees below zero along Yukon Trail. Despite being warned about the dangers; he was bent on reaching his destination at the boy’s camp on Henderson Creek. Nevertheless, he tried many things to help keep his body warm but everything he tried failed. Close to death, he finally realized that it was impossible to survive this journey without a partner. The theme illustrates that sometimes it’s best to listen to others advice because everyone isn’t able to defeat nature. The man’s character is significant to the theme of the story because it illustrates the role he plays and the conflict of the story. However, London doesn’t …show more content…
The cold caused trouble that would hinder the man from building a fire to keep his body from freezing. The man was not used to the weather that he was traveling in. According to the story, it states “It was not because he was long used to it. He was a new-comer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter.” There was freezing cold water under those layers of ice he was walking on and if he gets wet, he would certainly freeze to death. Unfortunately for the man, he slipped into the icy water which instantly caused his legs and feet to turn into ice. Getting a fire started is his only option to save him. He made two attempts to build a fire, but the weather condition and the snow made it impossible. The cold caused excruciating ache and throbbing pain in his fingers, hands, and feet and he is unable to start another fire because of his hands becoming numb and with the inability to move them. Russell Hillier in Crystal Beards and Dantean Influence in Jack London 's "to Build a Fire (II) states “In his last ditch effort to destroy man 's best friend and use its very lifeblood and vital warmth in order to save his own skin”. There was no way for the man to use the dog to warm his body, “With his helpless hands, he could neither draw nor hold his sheath-knife nor throttle the animal” (London). The man’s inability to kill the Dog shows that nature began to defeat him. He was unable to build a
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
When the man is cautioned by knowledgeable men about taking note of traveling alone in severely cold temperatures, the man blatantly ignores them. He thinks to himself, “Any man who was a man could travel alone” (553). This shows not only his ignorance to the harsh realities of an extreme climate but him as a highly critical character because he assumes the old-timer is not a “real man” since he suggested not to travel alone. Not only that, but the man carries his ignorance over the course of his journey. After swiftly creating a fire in a desperate situation, he thinks boldly “...the cold of space was outwitted” (551). He believes he has successfully overcome nature’s harshness by building one fire on his lengthy journey to the next camp. His bold thinking reveals the man’s arrogant character, which prevents him from being prosperous in the harsh climate. It lulls the man into a false sense of security where he believes he is unstoppable. However, like any man, he is not as strong as he believes himself to be. As the environment does its work, the bitter cold becomes even more dangerous, and the man is faced with a choice- he can keep fighting or give in to the sleepiness of death. At this point “...he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity...Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it
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.
Both stories deal with aspects of external forces controlling and shaping the characters of the story. However, in “How to Build a Fire”, the main character struggles with a cold harsh winter in Alaska with temperatures of seventy-five degrees below zero. He must build a fire to keep warm and use his knowledge of the dangers in the snow and ice to keep him alive. Unfortunately, nature is a harsh mistress to overcome. The man later died due to the over powering force of nature, “Later, the dog whined loudly. And still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death
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 solely of instinct, the dog begins to chew the ice off of his feet. Further down the trail a similar incident happens, but this time the man falls into the spring. In order to keep his feet from freezing he has to build a fire. The first attempt to build a fire is flawed by the location the man chose under a tree. After the man is unable to light a second fire because of the loss of dexterity in his fingers, he becomes panicked and blindly runs, until totally exhausted, and dies. Throughout the story the mood gives the impression of extreme cold, and the tone is ironic. Through the actions of the main character, Jack London shows that man must be humble to nature.
Jack London had already established himself as a popular writer when his story "To Build a Fire" appeared in the Century Magazine in 1908. This tale of an unnamed man's disastrous trek across the Yukon Territory near Alaska was well received at the time by readers and literary critics alike. While other works by London have since been faulted as overly sensational or hastily written, "To Build a Fire" is still regarded by many as an American classic. London based the story on his own travels across the harsh, frozen terrain of Alaska and Canada in 1897-98 during the Klondike gold rush; he is also said to have relied on information from a book by Jeremiah Lynch entitled Three Years in the Klondike. Critics have praised London's story for its vivid evocation of the Klondike territory. In particular, they focus on the way in which London uses repetition and precise description to emphasize the brutal coldness and unforgiving landscape of the Northland, against which the inexperienced protagonist, accompanied only by a dog, struggles unsuccessfully to save himself from freezing to death after a series of mishaps. Involving such themes as fear, death, and the individual versus nature, "To Build a Fire" has been categorized as a naturalistic work of fiction in which London depicts human beings as subject to the laws of nature and controlled by their environment and their physical makeup. With its short, matter-of-fact sentences, "To Build a Fire" is representative of London's best work, which influenced such later writers as Ernest Hemingway.
The repetition of the man’s failure to build a fire eliminates his unforeseen survival. As the man begins his journey and builds his first fire he contemplates the old timers’ advice about never traveling alone. He thought to himself about the icy temperatures and the severity of the cold that’s freezing his cheeks and nose. The author describes “a fire, snapping and cackling and promising life with every dancing flame” giving the man aspiration to live (London 393). The repetition of the fire and the metaphor used in this quote shows the significance of the fire. The fire has life and the strength to keep progressing, so keeping the fire going is essential to the man’s endurance. The repetition of the fire represents the way the man will
"To Build a Fire" follows an overly self-confident man and an instinctual dog who are traveling through the woods on a dangerously cold day. The reader learns of many instances where the man ignores the cold and continues traveling, blinded by his arrogance. There are many examples of the dog showing the reader the necessity of his instincts when faced with problems in the cold. The man is traveling without another person despite the others' advice, while the dog knows he should travel with the man for fire and food. This is only one example of the contrast between these two characters. Throughout this story, the dog shows how instinct is the driving force of survival, whereas the man shows how self-confidence hinders survival.
In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, London is portraying the typical american individual through his anonymous timberman; self-reliant, brave, and unwavering. In the short story, a man goes out into the Yukon Territory in search of profitable business. His priority is to build a fire to warm his limbs and his furry follower. The story largely focuses on the conflict between nature and man, as we see this man furiously try to race against the cold’s quick overtaking of his body.
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.
There are many factor that determines your survival in the wilderness. To survive, you not only need enough and correct supplies but you also need luck and to stay calm. In the story “To Build a Fire” the man and the dog was trying to cross the Yukon Territory of northern Canada and he was traveling under freezing cold weather. To him, fifty degrees below zero simply meant a danger of frostbite and the need for warm clothes. It did not lead him to think about how vulnerable he was in this frozen wilderness. Nor did it lead him to have humility about his place in the universe. At last he end up dying in the wilderness. In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the main character, “the man,” was responsible for his situation because
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.
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.