In the classic naturalism tale “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, a man travels alone on the perilous Yukon Trail of Alaska. The man is so headstrong, that he ignores the advice and help of others. He decides to venture out into the subzero temperatures with only his dog beside him. A man he met in Sulfur Creek who is wiser and knows the threat nature presents, warns him that no man should travel alone in temperatures below 50 degrees. Still, the man ignores this advice because he thinks that he can survive. London conveys that one must not be too sure of themself because it could lead to unanticipated consequences. This theme is reflected by the man’s beliefs and actions, in crucial scenes, and through the author’s craft.
The theme can be inferred through the man’s beliefs and
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His use of repetition enforced how much he thought he knew. The lines, “It certainly was cold,” and “He knew,” are repeated several times. Originally, the man did not let the hostile environment faze him, but as he continued his journey he repeated often how cold the temperature is. These phrases emphasize how smart the man believed himself to be. Some may interpret these phrases as lines that state what the man knew, but clearly these lines are repeated to highlight his sureness because London wanted to stress the man’s overconfidence. London’s use of variety syntax creates suspense and shows how the man’s confidence affects his success in surviving the treacherous journey. His anger and misfortune resulting from a mistake are portrayed through various sentence structures. The paragraph begins with very long sentences, but as it continues, it becomes more staccato and intense. The paragraph ends with the line, “He knew that much.” This line retraces back to the theme after a fire building crisis. Author’s craft ultimately gives subtle hints towards the story’s
Both stories deal with aspects of external forces controlling and shaping the characters of the story. However, in “How to Build a Fire”, the main character struggles with a cold harsh winter in Alaska with temperatures of seventy-five degrees below zero. He must build a fire to keep warm and use his knowledge of the dangers in the snow and ice to keep him alive. Unfortunately, nature is a harsh mistress to overcome. The man later died due to the over powering force of nature, “Later, the dog whined loudly. And still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death
The old-timer had warned the man by saying that a person should not hike alone in temperatures that are so far below zero. At on point the man thought to himself, “All this time the man knew. The old-timer on Sulphur Creek had told him about it the previous fall, and now he was appreciating the advice” (London 838). The mans dog had also gave the man hints that he should turn back. When the man built the first fire.
This darkness brings out the situation of the uncertainty that lay in the streets of London. The true picture of what lay in the waiting is symbolized by the darkness brought about by the fog such that the individuals are threatened to walk in such streets. This is why the streets are presented as empty without people who have the ability to bring the liveliness that is characteristic of the city life. The gossip about the creature that is out there to cause harm to the people plays a role in bringing out the streets of London as frightening places that many would dread to walk on. The setting has been used by the author to show the changes that happens in the scenes.
To Build a Fire, skillfully highlights the importance of man listening to instinct. In the unforgiving cold, the inexperienced traveler is accompanied by a wolf-dog native to the land. London states “The animal was worried by the cold, It knew that this was no time for traveling” (66). Unlike the man, the dog acknowledged that the bitter frozen tundra was no place for them.
In Jack London’s early version of the short story, “To Build a Fire,” the main idea is about an arrogant man who thought he was capable of traveling through a freezing 30 mile trail. It was a below sixty degree weather day and Tom Vincent, the main character, decides to meet his friends at a camp on Cherry Creek Divide. It is said to never travel alone in the outrageous weather but Vincent’s arrogance gets the best of him. On a miserable January day, Tom starts his 30 mile journey and quite enjoys it. He admires the silence and the impossibility that he would get lost because he was on a simple trail.
The man tries several times to start a fire but is unable to due to his decline in physical health and mental status. “He realized that is was no longer a mere problem of freezing his fingers and toes, or of losing his hands and feet. Now it was a problem of life and death with the circumstances against him” (77). By the man being unprepared and inexperienced he did not know the proper place to start a fire, ultimately leading to its extinguishment upon each attempt. After three attempts at starting a fire, the Yukon’s harsh environment was just too much for the man’s body and mind to bear.
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, a man begins his day’s trek into the cold Yukon wilderness, with the goal of meeting up with other men at their camp for dinner later that day. With only the clothes on his back, one meal, and his dog to keep him company, the man is confident that he will make it to camp on time. However, his confidence and desperation overtakes him, and despite his efforts, he freezes to death in the snow, signifying that hubris and ill-considered plans can kill even the toughest of men in nature. Eventually, the dog trots off to finish the journey without him.
In this essay the representation of the city will be explored in the writing style of the Fin de siècle. This essay will investigate The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Both books represent the city differently in some aspects, and in others, share similarities.
His inability to recognise the full worth of the importance of things makes him miscalculates the temperature. This miscalculation may be enough to pay with his life. Moreover, he can see that no one has travelled along the creek for a while. But he does not draw any conclusion from this, such as he shouldn't travel alone or travel at all. If the man has received the knowledge and the ominous signs he definitely would have seen that such an attempt of walking alone in the Tundra is a suicide.
London, being raised in a challenging and difficult setting, learned to succeed on his own which began to reflect greatly on his stories and attitudes he displays in his novels. From the start of the novel, London wastes no time in showing the reader that he embodies himself- “I was a rampant individualist. It was very natural. I was a winner” (Thor 1), with Buck- “Additionally, abuse by masters requires self-defense. Buck quickly learns that he needs to protect himself if he wants to survive” (Thor 1).
When observing the minutiae within the text, one can understand how London was able to draw parallelism from the ship and its crew to the tendencies that was
The character sets out on his journey to find gold in the Yukon and comes to realize that he is faced with the intense cold weather along with the harsh snow storms that are very common in the Yukon(Prentice 608). The unidentified character knew of the harsh cold and thought he had prepared enough to tackle his journey; however, had came to the realization that sometimes thinking that someone can push through a difficult task is more challenging than just acting on it. The man had taken steps to plan out his trip by taking note on the suns location and where and when he would need to set up camp if need be(Prentice 609). He brought his trustful husky dog along with him which helped to share body heat and most defiantly kept them alive during the harsh winter
His attitude is very negative, and it seems like he feels once you enter the city of London everything unique and beautiful about the world fades away and everything conforms to some sort of order of sameness. Throughout the text we see him use different metaphors in a way to draw a picture in the readers head.
London employs plot to establish the need to overcome hubris in order to survive with nature, by having the man, who displays excessive pride and a belief that he can overcome nature, lack the ability to survive in nature. The man acts as the protagonist of this short story. In the exposition the man goes out into the harsh cold, despite all advice and natural impulses not to do so. this poor decision is made by the man because he is “quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances.(168)” The man’s view of nature is purely one of objectivity; in other words, he only perceives the material aspects of the world.