The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is about a man who wants to get to the mining camp at Henderson Creek. The story starts off with the exposition, which is basically explains the situation. The man starts his journey without realizing how cold it is outside. The only one who is traveling with the man is a dog who seems to know that it is not safe to travel in those conditions. As the man starts to feel his cheeks cold he stops to build a fire and get warm. But only for a while then he starts off again but the dog wants to stay near the fire. Hinting that he fears of the weather ahead. Next, is the rising action , which is the building of conflict. As the man is traveling he gets his legs wet so he builds another fire. When
I chose the story 'To Build a Fire' by Jack London. I chose this story because it was the one that caught my attention the most. As I was reading it, I really wanted to know the fate of the man at the end of the tale. This short story is about a man who sets out on a journey through the Yukon trail. He goes on the trip all alone, only accompanied by a dog despite the warnings of the locals that going alone on a journey with such freezing weather is dangerous. At the end, the man realizes he should have heeded the warnings as he slowly dies of hypothermia from the cold weather.
Sometimes everyone feels like giving up, and the only thing a person can rely on is his will to survive. Giving up is admitting defeat, in every circumstance. In the story by Jack London, To Build a Fire, the main character learns a hard lesson of reality, when he meets his fate. The result came about because of many factors, mainly the man’s lack of psychological perserverance on the journey, as well as the harsh temperature and surroundings. If there was any hope for the man to survive these conditions, it would rely wholey on his persistance and motivation. The man expected his fate after it was too late to change it, weighing all the variables and realizing there was no probable way to escape his prediciment. The man’s fate was
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
To Build a Fire is a story is a perfect example of the writing genre Naturalism. It contains elements like survival depends on instinct, nature is impersonal, man lacks free choice, and heredity and environment direct and influence our lives. In the story nature is the antagonist and is very impersonal, as it is in life. The dog
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
Including both Realism and Naturalism, “To Build a Fire,” is a story of a man and a dog traveling in the Yukon to a mining camp that is nine hours of hiking away. The title of the story itself shows the readers a sense of naturalism from the start. Naturalism is focused around an ill-educated or lower class individual
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.
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.
London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's,
With the kind of setting in the story it caused many bad things to happen such as freezing in water. Through out the story the man is always aware of the dangers he has to face. The dog also knew what she had to do in order to stay alive. And With that said what do you think you would do in a situation like the mans where he needed to build a
The man knows the temperature is colder than 50 below; he has no experience traveling in such weather yet continues absentmindedly to meet ‘the boys’ at their camp in Henderson Creek. A dog followed at his heels, “It’s instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgement” (Anderson 28). The man was aware of the dangers of his trip, including thin ice skin hidden beneath pockets of sunken snow. Several times he avoids these traps wishing not to be delayed and even compels the dog to lead when he is unsure himself. The dog’s instinct screams no but the man shoves it forward anyway and the dog’s legs are soaked briefly before turning to ice. The dog quickly bites and licks at the ice to remove it from its fur. After a swift lunch and a small fire the dog again reminds the man of the dangers that lie ahead, “…it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold” (Anderson 30). Regretfully, the man saw no signs before falling through a pocket of snow and ice which left his feet wet. “He was angry and cursed his luck aloud. He had hoped to get into camp with the boys at six o’clock, and this would delay him an hour, for he would have to build a fire and dry out his footgear” (Anderson 31). Ignorant to his surroundings, the man’s fire is put out when snow falls from the boughs of the spruce above his fire. He finally acknowledged
Like a tsunami happening right after a earthquake, nature doesn't care that the town or city was already partially destroyed, it does what it does because it simply doesn't care. Like in the story right after the man had fallen in the water, as if he wasn't cold enough already nature goes and drops the temperature even more. In the naturalist story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London the theme is that nature doesn’t care who you are, this is shown by the use of the elements of plot, imagery, setting & mood, and finally the conflict of the story.
“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.
I picked To Build a Fire because I like adventure stories. It seemed that's the man was a newcomer to Yukon territory in Canada, and he didn't expect this severe frost. So he wasn't prepared for the terrible drop in colds, which was more than 75 degrees below zero, and also had no experience in the country climate. At last, he succeeded to reached his destination with his dog.