The Role Of Survival In Jack London's To Build A Fire

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

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

In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the protagonist foremost values his pride, which leads to his demise. The story starts off with the protagonist taking a detour in the Yukon so that he could survey the trees in the area (he was doing this so that he could send logs down the river to the gold prospecting camp, where he would sell the wood to the prospectors for money). But, the protagonist’s pride blinds him from what could have and should have done to ensure his survival in the Yukon. About halfway through his journey, he accidentally breaks through the ice on the spring and his foot falls into the water. At the temperatures mentioned in the story (seventy below zero), if he did not dry himself properly, it could lead to serious frostbite and/or death. So, he was forced to build a fire, and the “fire was a success. He was safe. He remembered the advice of the old timer on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The old-timer had been very serious in laying down that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had an accident: he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish” (London 8). The man keeps feeding the fire and gets ready to take his (frozen and potentially dangerous) footwear off, and feels content and a sense of satisfaction of disproving the old-timers. But, just as it seemed to be that the fire was stable and strong, snow that was on the branches of the spruce tree he was under fell

Throughout history man successfully found a way to survive in the most harsh conditions even, when all odds were against them. In Ellie Wiesel's memoir Night, Ellie and his father find a way to survive in the most difficult conditions. In the concentration camps Ellie and his father spends years in the face of death, basic survival prevailed over the moral teachings of society.

He tied his boat off and started to climb the cliffs. He knew that no one had lived to tell what was behind the cloud, but still he climbed. His motivation was to prove everyone wrong and come back alive to tell what was behind the cloud. The chances of living are very slim. There is many dangerous things that can happen,but still he climbed the cliffs with his bare hands. He was almost there and all of the sudden a branch cracked. The sound of it made him look around to everything that was close. A tree branch was under him, but he didn’t notice at all. The top of the cliff was so close and finally he reached the top. The sound of paws hitting the ground caught his full attention. He stood up fully on top of the cliff and he watched in horror as one

There are many examples of hard-wired human instincts that help keep us alive. Perhaps the most obvious case is the fight-or-flight response. When humans are faced with danger or stress, a biological trigger helps us decide whether to stay and fight or quickly flee the situation-- flight. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, we see how closely linked human nature and survival are. Elie Wiesel suggests that some people are morally better than others and circumstances greatly affect people’s behavior.

Survival can cause people to do things they’ve never done before and never thought of doing. There are many ways to survive and push yourself to survive. Lying, selfishness, and hope are major keys to surviving any situations. The text Night by Elie Wiesel, proves that with certain choices and acts, you can survive no matter the situation.

In Jack London's “To Build A Fire” the story follows a man and his dog in the Klondike and their obstacles of trying to get to the boys which are his compatriots. The story revolves around the winter and how mankind reacts to the wild. The author uses nature to illustrate the poem’s tone by vilifying nature and using it as an obstacle.

In Washington in 1982 there was a plane crash on the pentatonic river. A man repeatedly saved other lives in the place of his own. Rosenblatt states “The odd thing is that we do not even really believe that the man in the water lost his fight.” This man had so much courage and faith to put others lives before his. This saying, he had a plan in mind, he followed through with it, and achieved it so he did not lose the fight, he really won, and also shared his victory with others. He gave up everything he had to give hope to others. Rosenblatt gave another point being, “When the helicopter took off with what was to be the last survivor, he watched everything in the world move away from him, and he deliberately let it happen.” One could think he was content with what he had done. He sacrificed himself for the life of another life. This being said, the anonymous man in the water not only saved 5 lives with a humble heart but gave hope to

One can express many different types of themes in Jack London’s, “To Build a Fire”. Though I feel strongly that London’s theme in the story is about that the environment shapes who we are because it shows that the man is not strong enough to live up to his environment. Allowing the environment to kill the man indicates that he is weak both mentally and biologically, while on the other hand the dog is stronger by surviving the same harsh environment. Instinct superior to reason is another theme that is highly portrayal able in London’s story. In order for the dog to survive and the man to die, the dog required instinct, of which the man lacked. The man did acquire reason and observance but not good enough to allow him to reach his goal

With the list of important survivor characteristics in mind from “Deep survival”,by Laurence Gonzales, it becomes obvious that the overconfident man in “To Build a Fire” ,by Jack London, did not posses the necessary qualities people need to survive a desperate situation. For example, throughout this story he repeatedly broke rule four, take correct decisive actions. While he did take decisive actions, they were not always correct. Actions such as: forgetting to build a fire, building a fire under a tree, and running when his feet were wet. Furthermore, in lines 468-470 he was not grateful to be alive after all of his careless mistakes, instead he was jealous of his dog because it was warm and he was not. The man is, therefore, also breaking

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

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