To Build A Fire Character Analysis

The interactions between the 2 main characters

In this short story (To Build a Fire) there are 3 characters which consist of 2 primary characters and 1 secondary character. It may seem unexpected but the companion of the man is the secondary character while the man and the environment he is in play the roles of the 2 main or primary characters. The man can be seen as very arrogant and ignorant to his surroundings. While the environment around him can be seen as an antagonist that eventually brings him down.

The Man’s fatal flaw was him thinking that he was more powerful than nature. This way of thinking can be seen many times and it is what causes him to fail. He thinks he is better and stronger, yet the environment still throws obstacles

The old man told him that whenever the weather is below -75 degrees Fahrenheit always travel with someone else. Yet the man did not do that, which he then got into a problem that almost killed him due to the lack of another human companion. But he survived, but instead of regretting not listening to the old man’s advice he mocked him saying “ Those old men were rather womanish” (p.72). Eventually, after many close calls, the man finally regretted not listening to the advice, yet it was too late for him, all because of his arrogance and ignorance.

But it was not entirely the man’s fault which leads to his demise. His surroundings i.e the environment around him played a large role in ending him. His environment played the role of the antagonist who kills him. Or even the Protagonist who kills the bad guy depending on your view of the man. In the story, there are many examples of how the environment played as the antagonistic character. The first thing that set the man to his spiraling path of demise was when he broke the snow and fell into the water. But it happened as if the environment intended for him to fall, with no warning of the danger, “ At a place where there were no signs, the man broke through” (p.71). When he fell into the water this forced him to make a fire. And through the process of starting a fire, the environment acted several times more as the antagonist. The author used the cold as part of the environment and personified it to show how it was