The Forces Of Nature In Jack London's To Build A Fire

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

McClintock states, “Indeed, the cold itself functions as an invisible antagonist in ‘To Build a Fire’ It meets the man as soon as he goes outside into the brutal Klondike winter” (McClintock 347). McClintock really explains the idea of conflict of the cold within the short story. Telling on how much it really is an enemy and the factor it plays. The Man also faces himself as an enemy, being he is too foolish to learn when he is wrong. He constantly fights his own foolishness everytime he goes against the more experienced advice he is given. The narrator tells, “You were right, old hoss; you were right” (London 506). It is obvious that the Man realizes that his foolishness of not listening to the Old Timer lead to his death. Since the theme of foolishness plays a respectable role in this story, the conflicts given throughout the story shows the readers on how the main character could have avoided a number of conflicts, just by listening to the advice he was given. Furthermore, the conflicts throughout the story exemplify the theme of foolishness.

Some stories can have an emotional impact on readers, but every so often a story will reach out and help the reader escape into it. Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is a fascinating story with a remarkably well described setting, and geographical descriptions of the surrounding Yukon areas. It portrays an overconfident man, whom because of his lack of intuition and stubbornness, succumbs to natures unforgiving climate.

Jack London, a 20th century author, is famous for novel The Call of the Wild and short story To Build a Fire. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, was originally published in 1903, but it is still being printed today. The novel tells the tale of Buck, and his transition from house dog to a sled dog who works in the Yukon Territory. On the other hand, To Build a Fire, also by Jack London, was published in 1908, and is about a man and his dog who are traveling in the Yukon alone. Because of amateur mistakes, the man ends up freezing to death. While Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire both share the same setting, and feature characters in similar situations, they are quite different in terms of the main character and the relationship

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.

The Call of the Wild and to Build a Fire are told from different points of view, one from a man’s view and the other from a dog’s. “Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey, when the man turned aside from the Yukon trail and climbed the high-earth bank, where a dim and little-trained trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland,” stated Jack London in the first sentence of To Build a Fire. The prior quote describes the actions of a man traveling, which prove that the story is being narrated by a male character. In the Call of the Wild the point of view is demonstrated though this quote, “During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was even a trifle egotistical.” The mention of the character’s puppyhood show that the narrator is a dog, not a man. As shown above, To Build a Fire and the Call of the Wild are told by a man in the former story while narrates a dog in the latter.

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

The words and phrases Jack London uses in To Build a Fire gives rich meaning to the story. The story covers a man's fatal journey through the Yukon wilderness with his dog. The further the reader goes into the story, the more the reader learns about the man's personality. The man is young and quite arrogant in his ability to survive in the extreme cold. In the end, the man's misjudgments lead to his early death.

Imagery is another important element which London uses to illustrate and emphasize his theme. In “To Build a Fire” Earl Labor sees the “mood and atmosphere, which is conveyed through repetitive imagery of cold and gloom and whiteness,” as being “the key to the story’s impact” (63). London does rely heavily on imagery to set the mood of the story, and in this way he draws a picture of the harsh environment that his character must endure. London uses imagery with such skill that the reader can almost feel the deadly cold of the environment and can almost hear the “sharp, explosive crackle” when the man’s spit would freeze in mid-air (119). Through the use of such vivid imagery, London guides the reader toward the realization of the story’s theme; the reader can visualize the man “losing in his battle with the frost” and therefor can picture man in his conflict with a cruel and uncaring universe (128). Symbolism is also an important element in “To Build a Fire”. David Mike Hamilton’s criticism, he says “the fire symbolizes life as does the white snow that falls at the beginning of the story.” He also views “the dark point in the midst of the stamped snow, foretelling the end of the fire, and thus of life” (2). I strongly agree with Hamilton’s criticism; “the dark point in the midst of the stamped snow” because it not only foretells the end of the fire but of the end of life itself.

In Jack London's "To Build a Fire" we see a classic story of man against nature. In this story, however, nature wins. One reason that this is such a compelling and engrossing story is the vivid descriptions of the environment the nameless main character endures. Plot and characterization are brief, and the theme is simple. Yet this story is still a very popular story, and it has a mysterious quality that makes it great.

Jack London, an american novelist, wrote a short story called To Build a Fire in the early 1900’s. To Build a Fire is about a man who travels alone through the dangerous environment of Yukon in below-freezing temperatures. The man’s goal was to meet up with “the boys” at a camp that was a couple of miles from where he began his journey. He had no doubt that he would make it to the camp, for he had a husky wolf-dog by his side, and the skills he needed to survive. However, the man ended up running out of energy and falling into a nice, satisfying sleep, murmuring, “You were right, old fellow. You were right,” to the old man of Sulphur Creek who warned him about travelling alone.

“To Build a Fire” is a short story written by Jack London. It is viewed as a masterpiece of naturalist fiction. “To Build a Fire” features a miner who is traveling to the Yukon Territory with a dog as his companion. The miner is the protagonist and the dog companion is called the foil. The dog plays off of the traits of the protagonist. “The central motif of “To Build a Fire” concerns the struggle of man versus nature.” (Short Story Criticism) The most argued point in the short story is the reason of the protagonist death. “Some critics believe that it was his lack of intuition and imagination that lead to his death, while others say that he dies because of panic.” (Short Story Criticism) The protagonist in “To Build a Fire” struggles in

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling through the Alaskan Yukon to meet up with his friends for lunch. The author keeps the character nameless and refers to him only as “The Man” which is used to show a connection between humanity and nature. The story shows the hardships the man goes through to get to his destination through the Alaskan Yukon, yet unfortunately doesn’t make it. The conflict is a man versus nature theme which contrasts strong and direct relations of the hardships in nature. Throughout this analysis, I am going to explore the conflict between the man and the merciless nature he has to go through before his death.

Do you think you could survive the Yukon trail, a mile wide and three feet of ice, and just as many feet of snow, in weather colder than fifty below? The story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, is about a man who tried to take the Yukon trail and get to his friends with just a dog to guide him. He was told that no one has ever made the journey alone, yet he chose to take on the journey. Through the story the man faces many conflicts not only through himself in having too much pride, but also with the physical ones such as the cold which lead to his death. The main theme in the book is the man’s perseverance to try and survive. The man on the Yukon Trail has to show perseverance through the story even with the harsh weather and signs of bad events coming upon him. In his story “To Build a Fire,” Jack London discusses the theme of perseverance through two literary elements, conflict and foreshadowing.