To Build A Fire Symbolism

“To Build A Fire” by Jack London depicts the adventure of a brave man on his futile journey across the Yukon wilderness at temperatures 75° below zero. The man is in a constant battle against nature struggling to brave the harsh cold weather and reach the camp, yet he repeatedly loses this unwinnable battle every time. The multiple attempts to start and maintain a strong fire symbolizes the hope of survival for the man in the frigid wilderness. However, each futile attempt to keep the fire burning alerted the man to the dangers of the serious position he was in.
The use of fire is one of the many tools that separate the human race from other animals across the earth. Creating a strong fire is one of the major keys to success in the wilderness in order to provide warmth, light, and a stable energy source to cook food. The man built three fires in total throughout the short story: first to thaw out his frozen toes and fingers, next to warm up his feet after cracking through ice and dampening his feet, lastly to thaw out his fingers by igniting all seventy of his matches at once. The flames of the fire “meant life, and it must not

perish” signifying that this was the man’s only tool of survival, and after he
He is viewed as the wise hermit of the story that forewarned the man of the dangers of traveling in the glacial cold alone. After every mishap, the man reflects on his mistakes and alludes to himself that the old-time of Sulphur Creek warned him of this, and was correct. This could be seen as the man was shocked that his fire was blotted out by snow, and “just hear his own sentence of death” due to the eradicated flames which represent life in the wilderness. The man states, “Perhaps the old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right” if the man had a trail-mate to accompany him, as the old-timer advised him, perhaps he would have made it to the cozy cabins, instead of suffering a chilling