How To Build A Fire Naturalism

Although the circumstances nature thrust at the man were immortaly dangerous, the man’s deficit of imagination and negligence innately led to his death. Psycologically, the man was no match for the treacherous conditions around

When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing

The narrator negated the advice given to him that, "no man should travel alone in the Yukon when the temperature is sixty degrees below zero." He failed to heed to the advice because he thought of how he had saved himself from the accident, and had built the fire alone. This was pride ruling him not knowing that, he was risking his life. His arrogance made him believe that he can make it all alone, and alive. The main character’s poor decisions led to his death. He was not compatible with the cold weather, and thus could not make it alone as his pride, and arrogance made him believe. His arrogance caused his death, because he imagined that he had the ability to travel alone in the harsh cold weather, and ignored the advice given to him. This instance of the narrator dying, because he thought

Including both Realism and Naturalism, “To Build a Fire,” is a story of a man and a dog traveling in the Yukon to a mining camp that is nine hours of hiking away. The title of the story itself shows the readers a sense of naturalism from the start. Naturalism is focused around an ill-educated or lower class individual

Through Naturalist writing styles that would revolutionize literature of their time, Stephen Crane and Jack London became staples of American writing. Similarities and differences of theme and element can be drawn in both, Crane’s short story, “An Episode of war”, and London’s short story, “To Build a Fire”. Naturalistic literature is a writing style, which was popularized around the 1880’s to the 1930’s. Naturalism mainly focuses on scientific principles that are applied to human character and nature, and shares some similar philosophies to realism. Both writers express different and similar perspectives, but give very insightful views on their opinions. London’s “To Build a Fire”, focuses on a man who is faced with the forces of nature,

But, we realize almost immediately, the man has only a superficial knowledge of the Arctic. As he stands on a bank of the Yukon about to plunge into an almost absolute wilderness, he has little or no understanding either of his immense isolation relative to his surroundings or of the extreme danger posed by the cold snap. But all of this, London comments at the beginning of the third paragraph, "The mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all, made no impression on the man." Thus, the man also knows, in addition to the fact the sun will reappear, that it is fifty degrees below zero, but he does not know the meaning of this fact, it portends death for anyone who makes himself vulnerable to its ability to kill. "Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero. That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head."

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.

The man was certain for an ancient claim on the left fork of Yukon. The man is a new towards this territory. Still his attitude is a little too Confident. He treats his journey as a kind of competition with nature. In the early phases of the trip he grins at his little errors or faults and does not notice the warnings of the cold. The man imitates on what the old-timer had directed him but thinks that he can quickly overcome the man's advice rather than taking it to heart. As his errors or faults get more numerous like wet feet or no fire, the man becomes more and more anxious. Lastly his only friend left, the dog, turns out not to like him that much after all and really doesn't want to be turned into a dead sleeping bag either. The man freezes

Jack London's to build a fire illustrates strong forms of naturalism in the journey of a man and his dog through frozen tundra of the Yukon valley. The story tells the tale of a newcomer to the Yukon as he travels an a cold early morning. He was forewarned of the danger of traveling alone but chooses to regardless. This is simply because “he was without imagination”(3), meaning he was aware that it was cold and he was supposed to travel with a group, but he lacked the imagination to realize why that was important to know. This example of man's stubbornness reflects the naturalism archetype of man versus self.

In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the protagonist’s overconfidence causes him to eventually freeze to death. To begin with, the man tests the temperature of the air by spitting in the air. He shows confusion when the spittle crackles in the air, and not when it touches the ground. He admits that he does not know how cold it is, just that it is colder than usual. This detail reveals the man is inexperienced because he is a newcomer and has a lot of confidence that causes him to ignore all the warnings and advice given to him. His lack of experience shines through when he does not even know the temperature of the place. Not long after, the man feels the frostbite starting to dig into his fingers as he paused momentarily for a lunch break.

The man learns his lesson the hard way.The man encountered many internal warnings that it was too cold to be outside. First, his nose and cheeks went numb. His face, feet, and hands followed. His beard and mustache grew icy from his breath.

Naturalism To Build a Fire "To Build a Fire" is a famous short story written by Jack London who an American writer which tells the story of the ultimate failure of man and cruel nature. "The gold rush" is “To build a fire” as the representative of modern civilization, while carefully aware of the snow trap, but still wet feet, in the wilderness, is a fatal mistake; although he finally succeeded in the fire, but did not pay attention to the top of the snow on the trees; although there is strong the will to live, but ultimately lost in the hands of nature, nature become the victim. But only one partner on the dog, although it does not have the gold digger's wisdom, no advanced equipment of modern industrial civilization, but with their

The protagonist meets his demise because of his lack in intuition and imagination. (Short Story Criticism) The miner heads out to the miners camp after being warned to not travel at such cold temperatures. The miner displays his lack of intuition many times throughout the story. The miner proves he lacks in instinct when he says “fifty below zero is just uncomfortable and cold.” (London 1) “The protagonist travels against the advice of experienced prospects, thinking that he will make it successfully.” (Short Story Criticism) He shows his inexperience further when he thinks it is “fifty below when it’s actually seventy-five below zero.”(London 2)The recurring motif of man versus nature supports the lack of intuition theory. The secondary main character displays the instinct traits the man does not have. It shows how the wolf-dog senses the severity of the climate while the miner just views it as uncomfortable and cold. The miner further proves his lack of

Stephan Crane and Jack London incorporate naturalism, title significance and representation effectively through the relationship between God, man and nature, and life and death. Naturalism represents our individual control over our destiny and our actions as determined and limited through the natural world, specifically humanity. Stephan Crane and Jack London depict descriptive images of human despair illustrated by distressing environments and environmental forces within in their stories.

Naturalism is a theory in writing that focuses on the indifferent characteristics of nature. Naturalism was an extension of the outgrowth of literary realism in the mid 19th century. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution influenced the thinking of these naturalistic writers. Two authors depict naturalism in their stories heavily. Stephen Crane tells a story about a lifeboat lost at sea in “The Open Boat” and Jack London depicts a man’s trials in the wilderness through “To Build a Fire”.