To Build A Fire Character Stud Essay

There were actually various signs of the temperature was dropping to a dangerous level before a stroke of misfortune hit the man. While he was chewing tobacco, the moisture around his lips froze, “... and the muzzle of ice held his lips so rigidly that he was unable to clear his chin when he expelled the juice” (London 3). Though this was an indicator of the frighteningly low temperature, he dismisses it as “the penalty all tobacco-chewers paid in that country” (London 3). Also, while trekking through the barren trail, “... his cheek-bones went numb, and the following instant the end of his nose went numb…” (London 4). Although these signs of frostbite would normally frighten someone less confident, the protagonist states in his thoughts that “...it didn’t matter much, after all. What were frosted cheeks? A bit painful, that was all; they were never serious” (London 4). This shows that he does not have a proper sense of how severe the consequences of frostbite really are. He has obtained the basic logical knowledge about it, but fails to comprehend the actual danger that is threatening him. His egotistical personality has him thinking that he can easily overcome any obstacle, whether it is set by man or nature. Ordinarily, in the viewpoint of the man, the most practical thing to do in that situation would probably be to stop and warm his frosted cheeks and nose by a fire. But that would be admitting weakness, which would be a blow to his pride. Consequently,

The temperature kept getting colder and the man could not feel parts of his body. He had tobacco in his mouth but the temperature was so cold that his mouth was iced shut and his saliva could not fall. “The result was a long piece of yellow ice hanging from his lips.” this shows how cold it is and that the temperature of frost was even worse. Everything was covered with multiple inches of snow and most of the lakes were frozen solid. However not all of the streams were solid. The man almost fell through several times and the dog did fall through once when it was forced to cross. The man successfully made a fire to warm them both up. However, when the man fell to his knees in a lake and he tried to make a fire; he failed. He tried twice to warm his frostbitten body, but did not

The man is also weak in the face of nature as nature tortures him with the physical accidents the man suffers. He firstly begins when his cheekbones and nose went numb and becomes worse as he looses touch and grasp of his hands, finishing off with the freezing of his corpse and sudden stiff death. London exclaims about the accounts the man has suffered, “This man did not know cold.” (London, 487) and “He was loosing in his battle with the frost.” (London, 493) I do agree because the man is a new comer, a chechaquo, meaning that it is the man’s first contact with such freezing environment. The man constantly through out the story efforts in combating against the forces of nature that he can not control the reason being because he was inexperienced to such environment, therefore the man is bound to be with the odds and like London exclaims, loose his battle with his environment. The environment shaped him such that it proved he is not fit enough to live in the extreme cold.

In “To Build a Fire” The man goes about what he perceives as a modest journey (London uses exploration to capture masculinity) with lots of risk, but this journey turns treacherous when he gets wet and is unable to make a fire to dry himself, and warm up. The author tells us that this character had been warned about traveling by himself in such cold temperatures by a local,

When he first describes the man stopping, Frost does focus heavily on the beuty of the woods and snow, but ever present is his description of how dark everything is. It is presented in a beautifle way, buut the whole time there is an omonis feeling over the whole description. This is portrayed in the quote, “My little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near/ Between the woods and frozen lake/ The darkest evening of the year.” (). In this section, Frost really focuses on the isolation and darkness protrayed in his descriptions. He uses the description of it being the darkest eavening of the year to create a more ominous feeling over the whole description. The darkness is used to represent death, and for the man, how easy it would be to just give up and stop living, so Frost really stresses the description of the darkness both of the eavening and the

Vicious cold at 75 below; much colder than your average winter. “Spittle crackled in the air before it reached the snow.” This is what the man experienced in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”. He is lost in a relatively unknown landscape, the Yukon territory in northernmost Canada and Alaska. Traveling alone with his dog. This story could have had a happy ending except some setbacks, that were almost totally avoidable. Seemingly, the man could still be with us today if it were not for his negligence of the old man’s advice, didn’t build his fire underneath a tree, and went with a trail mate on his journey.

From the start of the story, readers are informed of the impending danger of the snowy Yukon trail; for Yukon winters were known to get rough. London says,” He forced water out of his mouth; and before it hit the ground it had turned to ice,” (65). The man had never been in the type of weather before; but he had been warned to “never travel alone in below 50 weather” (Haddon 22). He did not heed the warning, and the result of his ignorance was death. The man goes through several catastrophic events such as freezing his hands and feet and trying to eat his dog.

When I was, little I didn’t listen to my parents that I should put gloves on when it was -2 degrees outside and so, consequently I acquired a small case of frostbite and it hurts and itches horribly. In the story the man has to stay focused on the trail or he will die. Some of the minor side effects of frostbite are numbness of the area, tingling, blood filled blisters, skin turns different colors and so on. If you were walking in a foot or more of snow you would not want to have these side effects as a distraction. These side effects are just some of the beginning side effects of being in cold temperatures. I’m guessing this wasn’t in the 21st century due to he didn’t have something to his destination him there like a dog sled team or a snowmobile. Back then they didn’t make as warm clothes as they do now so if someone did the long hike in the snow with modern clothes they would get moderately cold. The person with the modern clothes may not get as cold as the other guy but will eventually get cold. These are just some of many reasons why I believe this man had the hardest

The man never realized how cold it was outside because it was his “first winter”, but the dog knew it was below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and wanted to stay by the fire. The man should’ve stayed there and listened to the dog instead of putting himself in dangerous situations. At the end of the story the man dies from freezing to death. Now that the man is dead I realized

It is a tragic tale of a man who chooses to brave the hostile winter environment of Yukon and travel in sub-zero temperatures. Even though he is advised by an old man (London, p.72) not to travel since it is too cold the man decides to brave the cold and get to his destination. That decision and hubris, in the end, becomes his undoing and causes him to die. There is a sense of irony in the story since even though the man was observant (London, p.68) he falls through the ice "At a place where there were no signs, the man broke through." (London, p.71). After that, the man tries to start a fire but does it under a snow filled tree that dumps snow on his fire and extinguishes it "The

I was running so low on energy and it was hard for me to think straight. I slipped down snow covered icy patches, and pushed my legs in and out of the deep snow.

It was a cold, blustery day, the snow whipped over the highway. The wind howled like a wolf pack. Ice covered the highway, making it as slick as a wet bar of soap. Our tires slid and the yellow light came on.

His mind doesn't dive deeper than what is immediate in his current situation, allowing crucial warning signs to slip by. For instance, he regards his environment without alarm when he spits into the air. He merely observes that the temperature is at least fifty below as his saliva freezes before it hits the snow. Brushing it off, he thinks that "The temperature did not matter" (65). Later, he notices the tobacco he's chewing has froze on his mouth as well. Again, he simply thinks of his previous experiences, only noting "It had not been as cold as this" (67). The serious repercussions of braving subzero temperatures never enters his mind. It doesn't occurs to him to "Think about man’s general weakness, able to live only within narrow limits of heat and cold"

“Alright,” Michael yells bitterly from behind me. Smiling, I carefully unzip my cramped tent and gaze in awe at my utterly stunning snowy mountain view. Small, white flakes are falling from the light gray sky, working together to make yet another layer of untouched snow. Down below are treacherous slopes, steep cliffs, and slippery patches of ice that used to terrify me but don’t anymore. Seeing that Rachel, Michael, and I have been