The Existential Theme of London’s “To Build A Fire"
Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” is the tragic tale of a man who decides to travel alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freeing temperatures and falls victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. During his journey, the man gets his feet wet as he falls through the ice into the water of a hot spring (London 122). Because of the severity of the cold, some “one hundred and seven degrees below [the] freezing point,” the man’s life depends upon his ability to promptly light a fire to keep his feet from freezing (122-23). After one, half-successful fire-starting endeavor, and several other pitiful attempts, the hopelessness of the man’s lone struggle against the hostile environment of the Yukon begins to become apparent. After a lengthy episode of panic in which the man tries desperately to return the feeling to his extremities by “running around like a chicken with its head cut off” (128), the man at last “grows calm and decides to meet death with dignity . . .” (Labor 66). The story’s central theme is one portrayed by many existentialist writers—that man lives a solitary existence which is subject to the relentless, unforgiving forces of nature; an ever so subtle part of this theme is that it is man’s goal to find meaning in his existence.
The word existentialist, as well as the subject of existentialism itself, evades definition. Davis McElroy points out this problem by comparing the act of defining existentialism to the act of trying “to explain human existence in a single sentence . . .” (xi). For the sake of brevity, perhaps a short, simple definition would be best; according to the American Heritage Dictionar...
... middle of paper ...
...s artful placement of irony within the story.
Works Cited
“Existentialism.” The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. New York: Dell, 1994.
Hendricks, King. Jack London: Master Craftsman of the Short Story. Logan: Utah State U P,
1966. Rpt. In Jack London: Essays in Criticism. Ed. Ray Wilson Ownbey. Santa Barbara:
Peregrine, 1978. 13-30.
Labor, Earle. Jack London. New York: Twayne, 1974.
London, Jack. “To Build a Fire.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama.
6th ed. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 118-29.
McElroy, Davis Dunbar. Existentialism and Modern Literature. Westport: Greenwood, 1968.
Perry, John. Jack London: An American Myth. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981.
Walcutt, Charles Child. Jack London. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1966.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant it has a huge impact on the lives of a drinker . In small quantities, alcohol results in a mild euphoria and usually removes inhibitions, and is relatively harmless. However, when used in excess, it has the power to change many lives in many ways. Alcohol causes a lot of trouble in a lot of peoples lives not just in the drinkers life. . Some ways it effects peoples lives include alcohol poisoning and alcohol-related traffic fatalities by individuals who are problem drinkers but who are not alcohol dependent. Because alcohol has so many negative effects on a person's mental and physical health, people should avoid the consumption of it altogether.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Multiple sclerosis, also known as MS, is one of the humankind’s most mysterious diseases. Multiple sclerosis has the ability to affect nearly 3 million people worldwide. This disease tends to be more common in individuals of northern European descent and women are more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as men are. Of those 3 million people, most of them are between the ages of 20 and 50 years old. Even though multiple sclerosis is a mystery disease, scientists are working to determine the exact cause and treatment.
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the brain and central nervous system that is potentially disabling. Multiple Sclerosis, commonly called MS, is a disease where the immune system attacks to protective myelin sheaths that cover the nerve fibers, which causes communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body. The disease can cause the nerves themselves to be damaged, either temporarily or, in some cases, permanently. MS is a disease that has the natural tendency to remit spontaneously. MS is an unpredictable disease that is rare and hard to treat as there is currently no cure. However, although there is no cure many of the people who are diagnosed with MS do well with no therapy as there are many medications to help with the
Multiple Sclerosis is a nervous system disease that affects the spinal cord and the brain by damaging the myelin sheaths that protects nerve cells. Destroyed myelin prevents messages from communicating and sending properly from the brain, through the spinal cord, to internal body parts. In the United States, more than 350,000 people are diagnosed with this disease. Anyone can get this disease, but it is more common among Caucasian women. MS symptoms begin between the ages 20-40 and are caused by nerve lesions being present in multiple areas of the Central Nervous System, symptoms differ on the lesion’s location.
Multiple sclerosis is an immune mediated disease, although many researchers argue it is an autoimmune disease. MS causes the body to create an abnormal immune response to the Central Nervous System (CNS). The CNS is the body’s processing center. It consists of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The axon of these nerve cells are coated with a myelin sheath, a fatty substance that surrounds the nerve endings. This sheath protects and insulates the axons allowing electrical impulses to pass freely from one nerve cell to the next. MS causes the body’s immune system to produce T-cells that pass from the bloodstream and into the central nervous system. The T-cells directly attack the nerve cells as if they were a foreign substance. They destroy the myelin coating around nerve fibers. When any part of the myelin is damaged scar tissue forms around the nerve ending. This demyelination and scaring causes lesions on the nerves. The lesions prevent impulses from traveling throughout the body and hinders the body’s response to afferent and efferent signals being sent to and from the brain.
A disorder very often related to anorexia is bulimia nervosa, which is very similar but has a distinct difference. In Eating Disorders, Tedra Coakley defines anorexia a “psychological disease that is characterized by a distorted body image and an obsessive fear of weight gain” and bulimia as “characterized by compulsive eating followed by deliberate purging, the use of laxatives or excessive exercise in order to prevent weight gain” (Espejo, 2012, p. 36). With this in mind, it is clear that one pers...
What do Americans hope for when they send their young men and women to serve their country? Some will say justice and duty; others will hope that their loved ones gain respect and responsibility. But the overall idea that Americans want for their sailors and soldiers, whether overseas or on land, is safety. Safety from harm and from unnecessary evils that may be present in whatever zone they may be entering. What if that idea of safety was a farce? What if the very people we have sent to protect us, are becoming victims, help just a fleeting hope? America’s military is experiencing this epidemic currently. The epidemic is known as sexual assault. The commanding officers in charge of protecting our armed forces from undue violence can, in fact, be the ones hindering their safety and justice based on a myriad of discriminations. Sexual assault cases need to be taken away from military authorities and put into the hands of the civilian justice system to avoid unfair trials and mistreatment of victims. In turn, the results will offer victims and perpetrators fair trials and a chance to be heard.
A social problem, according to Thomas Sullivan (2012), is “when an influential group defines it as threating its values, when the condition affects a large number of people, and when it can be remedied by collective action”. Homophobia is indeed a social problem because negative stereotypes are prohibiting gay males and lesbians from living an equal, free life like their heterosexual counterparts. Whether the homophobic acts are minor or major, all homosexuals are discriminated, ostracized, beaten, or murdered every day. Further discussion of how homophobic stereotypes affect homosexuals, who is considered to be homophobic, and potential solutions to stop homophobia will be described below through peer reviewed literature.
When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that embodies the idea of naturalism and how, if one is not careful, nature will gain the upper hand and they will perish.
Fiero, John W., and Marjorie J. Podolsky. "Ernest J. Gaines." Magill's Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition. N.p.: Salem, n.d. 1-12. EBSCOhost. Web. 9 May 2014.
Jack London creates a setting that is hostile and “cold”. The story is set in the wilderness of the frozen Yukon, during the harsh winter months, when “there was no sun nor hint of sun” in the sky. The character that London introduces is isolated from the world. “The man” doesn't have a companion; only the dog that follows him.
Hendricks, King. Jack London: Master Craftsman of the Short Story. Logan: Utah State U P,
Klinkowitz, Jerome and Patricia B Wallace. The Norton Anthology of Americal Literature. Seventh. Vol. Volume D. New York City: Norton, 2007, 2003, 1998, 1994, 1989, 1985, 1979. 5 vols.
...hey know than by someone they don’t know. Within the most recent years law enforcement officials and judges have been taking the necessary actions to protect the women of our country from their abusers (Glazer S).