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Who Is The Hero In Jack London's To Build A Fire?

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Jack London composed "To Build a Fire," the tragic story of a man's battle to defeat the force of nature in the most extraordinary temperatures. All through his voyage along the trail in the Yukon, he belittles nature and overestimates himself. Very quickly his destiny is uncovered when London writes, "But all this---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" (977). The man is a chechaquo to the Yukon and he doesn't care to understand the threat of this voyage. Regardless of the man's carelessness, as a reader, hope is still alive that rescuers will save him. The end of the story, he meets his demise in the Yukon and his dependable husky leaves his side to find the camp. Nobody anticipates losing their life because of a disastrous mishap. Is it …show more content…

His hubris attitude made it troublesome for the man to envision the potential outcomes that could happen when he does not consider nature's warning signs. The man neglects to consider the conceivable outcomes of what may turn out badly. He neglects to form an association with nature or even with his husky who knows the conditions are dangerous. The man essentially observes his goal of making his journey to the mining camp and is determined to arrive. The man's absence of imagination puts him in danger with the force of nature around him. This causes him to commit significant errors as he walks through the Yukon. He doesn't permit the extremely plausible picture of him freezing or dying of hypothermia alter his journey. His absence of premonition and imagination is essential to the pomposity in plain view and his treatment of his husky serves to underline a longing to control nature. His arrogance is rebuffed in the story as he comes to understand that he, at last, must choose the option to give into

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