Characterization And Conflict In Jack London's To Build A Fire

As I read this short story in the beginning, the gist of what I have captured the narrator writing is whether the man with a strange habit does really exist or not. Or, if he did exist who was the man that was hitting the narrator in the story on the head without stopping. It sticks in my mind wondering who the strange man was to the narrator. Somehow, despite the agony of trying to understand the motive underlies the story; I was at first wondering what was the strange man had gone through

The narrator then gets up and walks outside, and then the unexpected happens. “…The changing” takes place in the husband. His change makes it to where “the hair begun to come away all over his body…he was white all over, then, like a worm’s skin…” This continues the idea that not everything is exactly as it seems. The wife was in shock since her husband “turned into the hateful one.” The “thing my [the wife] husband had turned into” then howls “a crazy, awful howling”, which can be thought as the yelling a human does. This creature is then told to be a “man thing”, or man, who “had no gun, like the ones from man places do”. Men who hunt wild animals will most often have a gun or weapon for defense, but since this man had no weapon he “picked up a heavy fallen tree branch in its long white foot.” This startles the wolf family because the mother “knew the man would kill” the wolf puppies. The wife knows that her husband would never be so cruel to his kind, but she now knows that her husband is not a wolf. He is a strong man who is ready to kill if it’s

To build a fire is a short story written by Jack London. It is a story about an individual’s choice. The main character’s self-centeredness overcomes him, as he tries to survive the wintery weather in his travel in the Yukon Trail. He made a choice of ignoring the weather warnings, which evidenced danger in his journey. There were warnings like the absence of fellow travelers due to the cold season, but his egoism made him still embark on the journey alone, despite the warnings. The protagonist’s pride and arrogance leads to a regrettable outcome, as it leads to his downfall. The protagonist made the wrong choices because of his egotism, and arrogance and they led to his downfall. He defied nature due to his lack of logical judgment, and

The man represents the fraction of society that doesn't respect nature. He doesn't understand the power of nature because he is oblivious to it. On the other hand the dog was "told a truer tale than that was told to the man by the man's judgement." The man "did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold." "The was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man." The man and the dog are together because the man needs the dog, and the dog has no choice. They have no emotional connection between them because the dog is used as a slave. In one part of the story the man uses the dog to test the trail and make sure that it is safe. The dog has more inherent knowledge about the area, all of his "ancestry knew" about the cold and the dangers of extreme cold. He also had a warm "natural covering" to keep him safe from the weather. The man was not used to the cold. He "was without imagination. He was quick and alert to the things of life, but only the things, and not the significances." He also was stubborn for his neglect to take advice.

Readers of all ages, literature lovers, and book fanatics often find conflicts within their own lives just as the characters of the stories they read do. Some are able to find a way to overcome and conquer, while others get stuck behind or can not find a way to beat them. In Jack London’s short story called “To Build a Fire,” the main character conflicts with mother nature, who keeps tearing him down at every possible point. The main character, who is only referred to as the Man, is battling his way alone through the harsh temperatures of the Yukon. On this journey he runs into many obstacles and challenges. The Man does not listen to the advice he is given, leading to his inevitable death at the end. The most notable theme London builds

As a matter of fact, the man seems rather flat. The author, by barely giving us any information regarding the man's personality, his life, or his physical appearance, helps in his dehumanization. By not even giving us his name as well, he keeps us strangers to him. Indeed, all throughout the story the narrator makes references to him by calling him "the man" and "he" (100). The minimum of details is revealed, and the narrator emphasizes his tendency to be insensitive and unaware of the environment he is in: "But all this--[…] the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all--made no impression on the man" (101). As if the man was not consciously aware of the danger, we have trouble entering his mind; so what is really going through his head? Unable to answer the question, we may feel upset about his lack of

Nature is always pushing man to his limits. When man heeds the warning signs that nature has to offer and those warnings of other men, he is most likely to conquer nature. When he ignores these warnings, nature is sure to defeat man. To build a fire is a prime example of this scenario. In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, an inexperienced traveler in the Yukon travels alone with his dog, even though it is ill advised to do so. The man is strong and smart but nature humbled him during his quest to reach his friends. The man’s inexperience with traveling in the cold subzero temperatures doomed him from the beginning, but his strong focus under extreme pressure and his keen sense of

The narrator’s fury towards the old man indicates the narrator has a double personality. This allows him to be kind to a man whom he hates. Readers fear this narrator because he does not hate the man, but the man’s

The man had a conversation about his journey to the old man and the old man shared some wise advice. He did not listen to this advice which led him to making many foolish decision. Also because he did not listen to the old man in the first place, he started to regret it near the end of the story. “The old man on Sulphur Creek was right, he thought in the moment of controlled despair that followed. After 50 below zero, a man should travel with a companion” (London 75).

The setting acts as an antagonist to the man because it creates conflict, man versus nature, and is partially the cause of the man’s death. The brutal and harsh conditions of the Yukon works against the man in almost every way possible. In the story, the man gets his feet wet and struggles to build a fire (Line 255). The gradual freezing and numbing of his body begins which will eventually lead to his inevitable death.

At the end of the story the man panics, then realizes the hopelessness of his situation. With this realization comes a calm composure: "his idea of it was that he had been making a fool of himself, running around like a chicken with its head cut off... Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it decently." (London) This catharsis that comes

lead his readers to believe that the man will suffer a tragedy in the end

In the prologue, Narrator (as the unnamed protagonist will be dubbed from here on out) establishes himself as a man invisible in the eyes of society, living underground in a “warm hole” (Ellison 5). He views society through a cynical lense, and tells readers to “bear with me” (Ellison 12) as he shares his story.

No matter what type of story you are reading, setting always plays a key element in producing the desired effect. Jack London's short story To Build A Fire provides an excellent example of this. In this story, a man hikes across a snow and ice covered plane towards the encampment where he is supposed to meet up with more travelers like himself. The setting of this story is one of the northernmost most areas of the earth, the Yukon. The man must hike across this area for approximately thirty-six miles before he reaches the camp at which he is expected. The constantly dropping temperature further complicates the man's hike. When he begins his journey at nine o'clock in the morning it is