Theme Of A Fire By Jack London

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 short story "To build a Fire" by Jack London, tells about the relationship between man and nature. The story takes place in the Yukon during one of the long night. The main character who is unnamed travels with a dog along a small trail to a mining camp. The man leaves against the advice of a local and after a short time realizes that he should have waited. The temperature is extremely cold because the mans spit freezes before it hits the ground. The main obstacle of his journey is the many covered springs that mean death to whoever falls into them. The man sends his dog in front of him to make sure that the trail is safe. Eventually the dog falls into one of the springs and gets his paws wet.

If developed the right way, the setting can play an important role in a story like this. London builds his setting up quickly, within the first words of this story. The story is set in the wintertime with no sign of the sun, at the Yukon Trail. A deadly and extremely cold area in the country of Canada. In the story, the narrator states, “Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside

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 her passage, Ms. Vollmer argues about McCandless failing to hear the warnings provided by Jack London through his stories which McCandless had read and reread many times. In his story 'To Build a Fire' Jack London has shown the difference between a person who did not care about the risks and a dog with pure instincts. The similarity between this man and McCandless was that both were inexperienced to the adverse events of nature and both failed to see the dangers. The main purpose of London's story was to warn the adventurers about the risks to the wilderness. As an enthusiast of Jack London, McCandless had read these stories many stories many times and yet failed to understand London's warnings. Shreds of evidence lie in every mistake he had made as he continued his journeys making Vollmer's argument agreeable.

Based on real experiences, Jack London’s stories of high adventures have been appealing to millions of readers worldwide. With naturalism mode of fiction and a common topic - vigorous nature - in his works, the great author always took great care to depict his characters and the struggles with nature to expose man’s qualities in formidable situations. “To build a fire” is a good example. By creating a context of severe weather with white frost dominating throughout the story, Jack London was successful in portraying his protagonist Tom Vincent with all positive and negative qualities.

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.

Jack London starts early in the story to set a foreboding feeling: "Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland." (London) It is this

In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, London describes a man’s tragic journey with his dog through the bitter Yukon. This journey ends in the death of the man as his careless decisions finally results in his downfall, however; his companion, the dog, is able to survive. London uses the dog in this story as to embody the natural survival instincts that the protagonist lacks. The dog portrays the role of the companion throughout the man’s journey.

One iconic story from Greek mythology tells the tale of Sisyphus, disciplined for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness. As a punishment in the Underworld, he must push a boulder up a hill, just to have it roll down the other side. This man’s predicament relates to Jack London’s story To Build a Fire because the man constantly tries to surpass the harshness of his surroundings, only to fail when his life source extinguished. In contrast, Walt Whitman’s poetry has an idealistic view of mankind, representing the hope that Sisyphus could eventually roll the boulder to the top. Accordingly, London views mankind as an inferior pawn of nature, while Whitman praises the common man and his redemptive qualities.

“The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in things of life, but only in the things, and not in their meanings” (London 65). To Build A Fire is written by Jack London and is based in the deep backwoods of the Alaskan wilderness. The man in the story has his mouth frozen shut and his only companion is a wolf dog as he makes his journey back to the campsite to where he belongs to. Jack London has many symbolistic items in To Build A Fire. This includes fire as a symbol of life, snow as a symbol for death, and the boys at the camp as a symbol for security.

Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire” is about a man’s battle to survive during a Yukon winter. The unnamed man has to accept that he isn’t greater than nature, and the setting Jack London created was the perfect example. Nature’s power is immense and will not be overpowered by men. Jack London used nature as the foreshadowing force to predict the man’s future.

In the short story titled “To Build A Fire,” the author Jack London explains two themes about animal-human nature. London supports his explanation by using a series of events that happen to an unnamed man and a husky in the Alaskan Yukon. The author’s purpose is to convince and persuade the audience to always trust one's instincts and to realize when one needs help or support. The author writes in a serious and grave tone to express what can happen if one disobeys these laws of nature. London’s story “To Build A Fire” is about a man accompanied by an alaskan husky looking for gold and timber with a group of men.

Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire” is a prose about an unnamed man, who was suffering to survive the the brutal nature, nevertheless died due to his underestimation of the danger of severe cold. The plot mountain can explain the plot’s development in this story. The exposition is the beginning of a plot, which introduces characters, settings, and conflicts to readers. The story takes place in the vast subarctic region in northwest Canada, where the discovery of gold along the Klondike River in 1897 set off a major gold rush.

“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.