To Build a Fire

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.

He thinks more than once that maybe the old timer’s advice is for someone else that is not a real man. He is tough and harsh on the dog which the story touches upon saying that their relationship is master and slave. “There was no real bond between the dog and the man” (London). He is smart and knows how to handle the weather, the cold, and when he realizes the first fire is needed is refreshed and still plans on making up time to reach the camp. When they leave this fire is where the dog knows the man is making a mistake, its instincts are strong and knows leaving the fire is the wrong decision.

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

When the man was trying desperately to re-light the fire he removed his gloves and lost all feeling in his hands. If he had remained calm and thought about his situation he might have had a chance to survive. Nature showed no mercy when the man attempted to re-light the fire using only his palms, and he failed. "He was losing his battle with the frost. It was creeping into his body from all sides."(1754) The man's unfortunate mistakes cost him his life and nature felt no sympathy for him. He was just another man who failed to defeat nature for one more day. If the man had brought along a companion for the journey like the old man in the town had suggested he would still be alive. However, his stubbornness would not submit to that. "The old-timer on Sulfur Creek was right, he thought in the moment of controlled despair that ensued: after fifty below, a man should travel with a partner."(1752). Instead the man brought a wolf dog with him to keep him company. The only thing that the dog was good for was as an outlet for the man's jealously when he realized all the mistakes he had made. The man envied how the dog could just sit in the snow and his warm fur would protect him from the elements. The mistakes that the man made reflect everyday life by showing how just one accident or miscalculation can cost you your life. Naturalism utilized the environment to show how fierce and apathetic the world can be. In the opening scene of "To Build a Fire" London used a bleak

Mankind’s ignorance of nature is seen through lack of preparation for nature’s unforgiving essence. In “To Build a Fire,” the narrator accounts the man’s initial thoughts of entering the deadly Yukon Territory alone: “Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero.” Through implication, it is observed that the traveler undoubtedly underestimated the temperature of the wilderness, thus urging him to pack lighter than what he should have. The ignorance of mankind is also highlighted in the traveler’s assumption that “Any man who was a man could travel alone.” People who travel together in nature have a better chance for survival. Nevertheless, the traveler’s ignorant assertion that man can always travel alone proves that his lack of preparement will bring him into deeper trouble with nature. Mankind’s ignorance of nature is also evident in mankind’s constant trialing of nature’s limits. After traveling into the Yukon with many dogs and little food, Mason’s lack of intelligence causes a chaotic event that is described as, “The miserable creatures, weak from hunger, exerted their last strength. Up--up--the sled poised on the top of the bank; but the leader swung the string of dogs behind him to the right, fouling Mason's snowshoes. The result was grievous.” Mason’s testing of nature, though it not be intentional, earned him an

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

In “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte, nature is seemingly created into its own character. Nature has the haunting role of being the giver and taker of life in this story. The forces of nature bring the men of the camp the blessing of a small child. Through this child the men are given life and see the beauty of nature around them. However, nature will ultimately strip the men of both of these things. Harte shows us that nature is the culprit that brings both beauty and pain.

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

Nature. The story takes place in Allendale, California; a house made by the humans was able to survive a nuclear blast. In the story, there are no human characters; however, humans are shown by the accomplishment of creating an artificial intelligent house. When the humans leave, the house tries to work on its own to fight a natural fire. “twenty snakes whipping over the floor, killing the fire with a clear cold venom of green froth. But the fire was clever. It had sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there. An explosion! The attic brain which directed the pumps was shattered into bronze shrapnel on the beams.”(Bradbury). In a battle against nature, the reader sees that human is destroyed by a natural disaster, fire. The readers also see Bradbury opinion on human nature; which is, human nature is clever. Humans can advance in technology, gain wealth, gain power, and etc., but when humans see a change in nature, like the fire, they might not be able to

As the journey with the man continues, the dog uses his natural survival instincts to survive. To survive the man’s

The readings for week 2, specifically Jack London’s To Build a Fire helped students meet course goal seven to “enhance the students’ understanding of the value of holistic thinking in making informed judgments and in applying values as they become increasingly conscious of what is at stake if we fail to understand the relationship between human culture and the environment.” London’s portrayal of a man traveling the Yukon on a vastly cold day provides an example of how animal instinct cast aside by human desire may lead to grave consequence in a harsh environment. While this story ends with the man’s demise at the hands of the environment, it is important to acknowledge the ways in which human negligence has had a lasting effect on our planet

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.

The protagonist is faced with “a certain fear of death” (733) upon his last failed effort to build a fire. “He [remembers] the tale of the man…who [kills] a steer and [crawls] inside the carcass” (732) in order to stay warm. The man knows that if he succeeds in killing his dog he will survive. He calls for the dog to move closer to him in hopes to “bury his hands in the warm body” (732). Fear laces the man’s tone triggering the dog’s instinctive nature; it knows something is wrong.

“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