Jack London's To Build A Fire

The Short story, ‘To Build a Fire’ by Jack London, published in 1908, is an archetypal naturalist tale regarding a man who travels alone through the unforgiving Yukon in Winter, before ultimately falling victim to the harsh environment. The story portrays the issues in being unaware of the power of nature and portrays a strong naturalist, In the very beginning of the story, his indifference to the forces of nature is evident through London’s vivid imagery of the uninhabited environment and the man’s nonchalant tone imitated through the neutral diction present. Furthermore, the quote “The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances,” explicitly foreshadows that an issue will come of his indifference

Traveling and going on adventures can be super fun, but it all depends on how you are prepared. Jack London writes a story about a man and his dog, and they go on a journey in fifty below weather. Jack London loved to write about adventure and risks. Will Manley says, “From a literary standpoint, one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century was the life and death of Jack London.” (Manley). The man in the story is not well prepared and things do not go very well. He doesn’t have warm clothing and freezed. He didn’t think that well when building a fire and it ended going out. And he didn’t travel with a partner. These are all very dangerous and should be thought about before traveling. There are three important messages to think about when going on a journey in To Build A Fire, by Jack London.

To Build a Fire Jack London expresses the unforgiving conditions of nature by writing of a man who is roaming through the Yukon, with no company but a dog, and how in the end his stubbornness and Mother Nature’s brute weather conditions and nature’s inability to care for the man ultimately lead to his demise.

The question of what or who controls our lives has been asked several times through

In 1910, Jack London wrote “To Build a Fire” with the deliberate intention of meticulously describing the setting for this particular piece. The author intently puts all his efforts to create the setting as an important, valuable role in his main theme. He purposely did not give a name to the man or the dog. He wants to make sure the reader clearly understood the setting and the importance of its role in this story. Mr. London explicitly intertwines his message on the ironic moral reality that can fall upon each one of us. It comes down to a choice. Real consequences happen. The irony can be seen through three different points as follows: the man’s pride, the dangers of 50 below zero temperatures, and the need to build a fire.

A writer named Jack London was born on January 12, 1876 (Verde). He has written many stories, "he wrote about 200 short stories"(Werlock). For example, "The Cruise of the Snark," "White Silence" and the one we will be talking about "To Build a Fire." According to Robert Evan, Jack London eventually became one of the most popular American writers in the world. In the story "To Build a Fire," written by Jack London. He uses two characters, a man and dog to express the theme of arrogance throughout the story, the author Jack London was able to use his experience with him getting lost while the temperature were dropping to help give himself a idea to write this story.

The textual evidence of the setting is significant to the story, To Build a Fire, written by Jack London because without it we would not know how severe the man’s situation was. In the story, London shares the old man is hiking on the Yukon trail which is located around the Alaskan, Canadian border so we can already infer the temperatures are going to drop far below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. In, To Build a Fire, London explained that although it was a cloudless day, you could still not see the sun in the sky which told us that it was most likely difficult for the man to know what time of the day it exactly was so he wore a watch which in the beginning of the story read nine o’clock. Throughout the text London also gave more specific details and

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is about a man fighting against nature for his life. The story is set on the Yukon Trail in Alaska during a harsh winter. The main character has recently moved to Alaska, so this is his first experience with an Alaskan winter. Throughout the story, the man is traveling on the Yukon in bitter cold and life threatening conditions with no companion other than a dog. The story allows the reader to follow the emotions and thoughts of a man freezing to death. The detailed description of the weather conditions and the main character’s attempts of adapting to his surrounding allow the reader to better understand the dangers the main character endured.

Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire” begins and ends with a man and his dog. At the story’s outset we learn not only that the day is “exceedingly cold and gray” but that “this fact did not worry the man”. He is described as “without imagination”, and doesn’t appreciate the significance of things around him. Despite warnings from others, as well as from his dog - who acts very apprehensively due to his instinctual knowledge “that it was no time for traveling”- the man makes the decision to trek for miles, alone, in negative seventy-five degree weather. Even after disaster strikes, he continued to scoff at the advice he was given to never travel on his own in such temperatures, going so far as to think that those who cautioned him against

There are many authors in this world today. Some are known for classical writings of poetry, or hundreds and hundreds of books written by them. This author though was one who portrayed himself through dozens of short stories. His name is Jack London. Jack London is a writer who shows the conflict between Nature versus Man in his writings and supports this theme through his work, “To Build a Fire.” Jack was born on January 12, 1876 and died on November 22, 1916. He is best known for his nature novels depicting how nature can sometimes be so powerful that it overcomes man. Jack was deserted by his father when he was eleven and was mainly raised by his mother in Oakland, California. When his mother became ill she passed him on to the care of

Jack London was born in San Francisco, California in 1876 and died in 1916. Through the years of his life, he was not only a writer. He pirated for oysters, sailed in the Pacific, traveled around the country during his life, and worked in factories. He let his mind escape from being a factory worker by writing. He explored the Yukon in the winter of 1897, and began publishing Overland Monthly in 1899. Many of London's short stories became classics. Some of his stories include The Call of the Wild (1903), The People of the Abyss (1903), and John Barleycorn (1913) (Stasz). One of London's most famous short stories is To Build a Fire. In the short story, "To Build a Fire," Jack London has a certain setting, imagery, repetition, irony, and symbolism he uses to expose the harsh realities of nature in order to caution the reader.

When one decides to look past the flowery language and romanticized ideas present in literature and society, it becomes apparent that nature is a cold, brutal, and unforgiving place. The comfort that comes from believing each individual holds a special place in life is belittled by the sad truth that the universe is not too concerned with whether or not each person on the planet lives or dies. The trend of naturalism that appears in American literature during the post Civil War era capitalizes on this way of thought, and brings out themes of the cruelty of the world in a matter-of-a-fact way. Ultimately, Jack London’s To Build a Fire is a stark but realistic presentation of man and the natural world that displays the characteristics of naturalist writing.

As students grow older, they are expected to take on a heavier load in school. In this development, they can struggle with understanding certain aspects of their studies. For many, analyzing literature can be difficult. These students might suffer from distractions outside of school, such as family issues, finding time to study, or just simply having problems understanding the material. Jack London’s writing however can help with these types of issues. London’s works are very easy to grasp with his straightforward writing style and explicit themes which contain storylines that students may find engaging and even relate to. More of his works should be taught in schools because they are easy to understand, and help lead students through certain

“The proper function of man is to live, not exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” said Jack London, a man known for his writings like “To Build a Fire” which is about how precious life is and how you should listen to people when they say something is a bad idea, but he sees his life differently. Trying to take life easy isn’t living, you’re not making an impact, and for Jack London he wants to take every second to do something not just sit and slowly die. Although extreme sports have many risks and you can die if it goes wrong, there’s also a chance that you can feel the most alive. I believe that is what living is, if you don’t try something that people say is insane and show them that in doing so you

Death is battle everyone fights, and without the right attitude we would not survive. In ‘To Build a Fire’ written by Jack Londons is a cautionary tale about a man with the lack of survival skills. The main character is introduced a in cold environment with no knowledge on how to survive in general. The short story embark on a journey with the idea of represents about the way we think in a dire situation.