The Unnamed Man 's Imminent Downfall

On the morning of September 11, 2001 millions of people were in shock the moment they received news that the World Trade Center was hit. The images from this horrific day flooded the media’s television screens and newspaper articles. Perhaps the most gruesome images shown were those of people jumping out of the building as they were collapsing. Tom Junod, a writer for the Esquire magazine, illustrates his perspective of this shocking incident through pictures, media coverage, and depicting people’s reactions in his article The Falling Man. Tom Junod’s article should be read by anyone who believes they have felt all there is to feel from the 9/11 attack. He will prove otherwise that there is indeed still much emotion to

He was short sighted because, he sees danger ahead of him, but assumes that there is nothing wrong. He was insensitive to the harsh weather conditions he was facing. The narrator saw the effects of the harsh cold weather, but he exhorts himself in continuing with the journey to the camp. He was just trying to be stubborn, and his pride made him believe that he will be a hero by beating all the odds of the cold weather, by reaching the camp safe and sound. The narrator was overestimating his abilities, and his pride and arrogance clouds his logical thinking into making the right choice, which was to turn back, other than moving on with the journey.

` E.B White, author of famous stories like Charlotte’s Web, once said ,"The middle track was missing, the one with the marks of the hooves…”. He continues on with this phrase, trying to connect the reader to the concept that change comes with time. In “” Once More to the Lake” by E.B White and ” Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins, both writersauthors strive to make the reader understand how nothing can stay the same throughout the tests of time. In White’s story, he narrates an experience of going to the lake that he used to visit when he was young. He takes his son with him, and at first, sees himself in his son, but eventually succumbs to the repercussions of time, proving that he is closer to death than previously thought. Additionally, the poem ”Forgetfulness” address the same topic. Billy Collins, the author, describes experiences that display memories being forgotten over time. Collins, therefore, tries to show the reader that memories tend to fade, or change, over one’s lifetime. Therefore, using diction and figurative language, E.B White and Billy Collins help one better understand that the true tragedy of time is the change that comes with it.

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 man exhibits quite a bit of self-reliance and pride similar to McCandless. The man seems to do everything he can to make his journey successful, but he failed before his adventure began. No one really knows how dangerous nature can be until one has experience a near death experience. The man regrets not listening to the old-timer, thinking: “All this the man knew. The old-timer on Sulphur Creek had told him about it the previous fall, and now he was appreciating the advice.

On an extremely cold winter day (−75 °F or −59 °C), a man, who remains unnamed throughout the story, and his native wolf-dog go on the Yukon Trail after being warned of the dangers of traveling alone in extreme weather conditions by an old man from Sulfur Creek. With nine hours of hiking ahead of him, the man is expecting to meet his associates ("the boys") at a camp in Henderson Creek by that evening. The man is accompanied only by his dog, whose instincts tell it that the weather is too cold for traveling. However, the weather does not deter the man, a relative newcomer to the Yukon, even though the water vapor in the man's exhaled breaths and the saliva from the tobacco he is chewing have frozen his mouth shut. It is here where London's use of symbolism of "heat (sun-fire-life) and cold (darkness-depression-death)" immediately

In this story a man was traveling and decided to take an alternate route. He had the mindset that he was capable to do anything without consequence. “Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero. That there should be anything more to it than that was thought that never entered his head.” This quote shows that his journey was to get through the woods on his own path without considering the consequences of the weather.

Though London illustrates how nature is a difficult external force, the man is responsible for his misfortune, as his circumstances are the consequences of his choices. The narrator explains that the man was traveling ?to take a look at the possibilities of getting out logs in the spring? (978); more than likely, he did not have to perform this task, which required taking ?the roundabout way? (978). Also, despite being a ?newcomer to the land? (977), the man fails to bring a human companion to the ?unprotected tip of the planet? (982): just as the Earth is exposed to space here, as the narrator describes, the man has little defense against the cold. The man is not ignorant of the extreme cold, but rather, arrogant; though warned about the conditions (982), the man does not bring anything except a small lunch (978). Another sign of his lack of preparation is his failure to sufficiently protect himself from frostbite: he ?experienced a pang of regret that he had not devised a nose-strap...[that] passed across the cheeks, as well, and saved them? (979). Granted, the man can not see the water he falls into (981), but the fundamental responsibility for the journey is his. Furthermore, he elects to build the fire to thaw himself under the spruce tree, which proves disastrous (983). The narrator notes, ?It was his own fault, rather, his mistake? (982); the man also recognizes this, and knows he

Isolation revealed in two literary works. In many works that we have read isolation is a found in a lot of them. Two different literary works that implicate isolation are “To build a fire” and “The Scarlet letter”. Isolation in the literary work “To build a fire” is exemplified when the man and his dog go up north to search for gold in the worst weather conditions.

The Man is very ignorant. The old-timer gave him advice on not traveling alone when it is fifty below zero, but he ignored his advice. For example, “The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below” (London par. 21). The old-timer told the man that no person should

Jimmy Lee Bayliss looks like a regular person because he wears normal clothes, and acted like nothing was wrong. Jimmy Lee Bayliss made himself look innocent by getting rid of the fire he created and blamed it on Duane Scrod Jr. also known as Smoke, so people will judge him by his casual look. In addition to the great examples, Smoke is another person who is judged by his look. This also proves you should not judge a book by it’s cover because like Mrs.Starch, he looks really mean, but deep down, he is really nice and soft. Smoke looks mean because he is big, has a low voice, and has a camo book bag. Deep down he love outdoor activities, and he is soft because he helped save the baby panther names Squirt to track the mom

In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” the conflict is between man and nature. London wants us to know our limits and not to try to impress other people. The man faces many conflicts trying to live in the wild him just himself and his dog. He is foolish, ignorant, and brave. He is foolish because his fingers get numb and he tries to build a fire. Another thing is he is ignorant, he is this because he ignores the people at the camp telling him not to go into the wild. However, he is brave. This is because not many people would even think about doing what he did never mind do it. The man can draw similarities to Chris Mccandless because of what they did. Eventually the man did die, he was on his way back to camp and died climbing up the hill. The cold is what

In "To Build a Fire," a mysterious man, referred to as "the man" (Rhodes 1) in many literary critiques, must survive a hump over the frozen tundra of the Klondike, and with him he takes his husky. The two characters act as foils to each other, each experiencing the same situations as the other, but it is their responses to the situations that show the difference between the two. For example, both the husky and the man break through the ice and got their paws/feet wet: "Suddenly it (the husky) broke through… the water that clung to it turned to ice" (London 500) and then later "…the man broke through (the ice)" (London 501-502). It is the husky, however, that proved more adept to coping with the freezing climate of the North, especially after having gotten wet in a freezing creek. Because of this innate ability of the husky, he survived the ordeal whereas the man died of hypothermia after his fire, which was meant to dry out his foot, was snuffed out by the Northern snow. "It was as though he had heard his own sentence of death. For a moment he sat there and stared at the spot where the fire had been" (London 503). It is this symbol of survival that is perhaps the most characteristic and recurring theme in London's writings, known as Spencerism.

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.

One of the most prominent facets of the man’s personality is his overwhelming arrogance. The man is a newcomer to the Yukon territory or “chechaquo”, and is inexperienced in the customs of the land. The man believes that he will be unaffected by the harsh conditions and does not seem to grasp the grave reality of the situation. This characteristic is displayed early in the story, when the man rebuffs the old timer’s warning advice and later mocks the old man and his caution of the danger of traveling in the freezing temperatures, especially without a partner. “Those old-timers are rather womanish, some of them, he thought” (1210). Despite the likelihood that the old-timer has spent his lifetime in the area, the man considers his advice to be weak and believes, arrogantly, that he is superior in his masculinity and abilities. Eventually, the man realizes that he should have listened to the words of the old man in Sulphur Creek. Further, the man’s arrogance is displayed again when he ignores the warning signs that the environment is not suitable for such a long solo trek. Despite the incredible cold, the man fails to comprehend just how miniscule he is compared to nature. “…the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all made no impression on the man” (1205). It is this arrogance that limits the man’s ability to grasp how insignificant his life is compared to the great power of