Jack London's To Build A Fire

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John Griffith London was born in San Francisco, California on January 12, 1876. His parents were Flora Wellman and William Chaney, a prominent journalist, lawyer, and early leader of American astrology. London never knew his real father. Later Wellman married John London, a Civil War veteran, who settled the family in Oakland, California.
During adolescence, London decided to go by the first name of Jack. One of London’s earlier jobs involved working with the fish patrol searching for poachers. At the age of seventeen, London set sail on a seal ship for the Pacific Ocean. Tossed and turned about by a hurricane, London nearly died. After arriving home safely, London decided to put pen to paper. London entered a collegiate writing contest where …show more content…

London found himself traveling northward into the far regions of Canada and the Yukon hoping to find fortunes in gold. London did not find any gold, so he returned home. London’s northern gold adventures were not a waste, but rather an inspiring backdrop for his writing. In fact, the setting for “To Build a Fire” depicted the harsh environment London observed during his travel to the Yukon. For years, London wrote short stories for a California magazine, Overland Monthly.
Deciding to settle down, London married his first wife, Bess Maddern, in 1900. London and Maddern had two daughters before divorcing a few years later. In 1905, London married his second wife, Charmain Kittredge. Years later London endured many health issues. At the age of forty, London died from kidney disease. London left behind a legacy of stories involving nature, life lessons, and creative character inflections for readers to …show more content…

Thinking the old man was overly cautious and crazy, the man brushes off the warning. The old man, presumably a lifelong resident of the Yukon and experienced woodsman, obviously understands the threat and the danger nature presents to naive travelers. After falling through the ice, the man slowly begins to acknowledge there may have been some wisdom in the old man’s warning. The man gives a halfcocked smile when remembering the old man’s advice about running on dry frozen feet versus wet frozen feet. Suddenly the man is desperate to build a fire. The man’s “over confidence in his own abilities led to him making poor decisions and scorning the advice of those who know what they are talking about” (“Overconfidence and Arrogance”). The man, with wet feet and two epic fire failures, entertains the old man’s warning about traveling a little more seriously. If there were two people, one could surely start a fire if the other had some trouble. Refusing to give up, the man runs on his wet frozen feet until collapsing. Nature’s inhospitable side catches up with the man. Sitting helpless in the snow, the man finally acknowledged the old man was correct. Unfortunately, the thought came too late. The man’s failure to look past himself and listen an old man’s valuable advice ultimately contributed to his

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    In conclusion, the man thought he could travel the Yukon on his own even after the old man told him that it was not a good idea. He went through many obstacles, and the dog kept giving him warnings but the man’s ignorance and overconfidence got the best of him. London’s use of imagery, irony, and the relationship between the man and the dog helped the reader foreshadow the man’s death.

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    Karen Rhodes analyzed to build a fire in a cultural context. He believed "London's works were written so that he could survive in a world he increasingly came to see as "red in tooth and claw""(1). It is obviously the story of a man fighting the stresses of Nature. According to Rhodes, to build a fire was drawn from the year London spent in Canada's Yukon Territory. London depicted arctic and very cold conditions throughout the story. Rhodes believed to build a fire represented London's Naturalistic Flavor. "It pits one man alone against the overwhelming forces of nature"(Karen Rhodes, 1). He also believed to build a fire can either be interpreted as the Pioneer American experience or can be read as an allegory for the journey of human existence (Karen Rhodes, 1). According to Rhodes, there are two versions of to build a fire; the first one was written in 1902 while the second one was written in 1908. We are studying the 1908 version." It has come to be known as everyman trekking through the Naturalistic Universe"(Karen Rhodes, 1). To build a fire is indeed the story of a man trekking through the universe alone except for his dog. The man's death at the end was the culmination of the story. " His death came through no lapse of observation, no lack of diligence, no real folly but the nature of himself and his environment" (Karen Rhodes, 2). I think his is a fine criticism of London's to build a fire. London had made use of his life experiences in writing the story.

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