Actress, Keri Russell, said, “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” This statement explains the outcome of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” The Yukon is a treacherous place. It was for the man in this story, too. He did not know the land and the only thing he had to follow was a little trail made from sled dogs. The mood of the man could have been different. If the man had followed his instincts better, perhaps he would have made it to the cabin. The setting that the man was in was cold. It was colder than fifty-degrees degrees below zero he should have never been out there in the first place. London’s setting and mood in “To Build a Fire” affects the story’s meaning. The setting of the story is the Yukon Territory; it is a …show more content…
If the man have followed his instincts a little better, he would still be with us today. The dog had better instincts than the man. When the man stopped to eat lunch, he built a fire. It was so cold that his biscuits froze even when he put them inside his coat. Then he just left, he have stayed. The dog kept wanting to stay, but the man made him come. The setting that the man was in was cold. It was colder than 50 degrees below zero he should've never been out there in the first place. The old people of the village told the man that you don’t travel by yourself when it’s 50 degrees below zero. But the man didn’t listen and look where he is at now. I mean those people learned how to stay alive in the Yukon. Why couldn’t the man listens and understand that. They also said that you should always have a partner no matter what. In conclusion that is how the setting and mood affected the story. He went out in the cold that most people wouldn’t have been in. He also did not care what the old people of the village said. The man also forgot to take a partner. Keri Russell once said, “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.”
The traveler is advised not to make this trip with the lack of his inexperience in the Yukon due to the weather, the incoming storm, and its advisories. With the subzero freezing cold temperatures that came with the storm. “Fifty degrees below zero stood for a bite of frost that hurt and that must be guarded against by the use of mittens, ear flaps, warm moccasins, and thick socks.”(561)
The man’s first mistake was going out alone in -50 weather. The man went out even with the old man’s warnings, but the man did not realize the consequences of not listening to the old man. If he had listened to the
Firstly, the short story called ‘To Build a Fire’ by London was based on a man with his dog were outside in the cold, alone in the dark with the fire only to hope that he could survive the night. “He pulled the mitten on hurriedly and stood up. He was a bit frightened.” (London, 391) The man stood up because he was frightened and cold.
Even though the man can do more thing than the dog, like building a fire, the dog has much better instincts. Jack London states “It knew that this was no time for traveling.” In this story, the dog symbolizes natural instinct or reason. He questions every move the man makes. The man and the dog become more similar as the story progresses. The man is muzzled from the tobacco ice; the dog breaks through a hidden ice patch and they break the ice between its toes, so the man seems as much a "toil-slave" as his dog
In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, “the man” goes to the Yukon territory for a hike by himself. ‘The man went hiking alone to check on the chances of getting out logs in spring. The man eventually died because of his mistakes. The man was responsible for his situation because he was overconfident, didn’t listen to the old timer, and he was unprepared.
In “To Build a Fire” the main character believes he is ready to take on the extreme wilderness. He begins his hike on the Yukon Trail, but decides to take a detour and turn off to scout land. Eventually he plans to meet his friends at the old claim near Henderson Fork. The only issue is, he’s attempting to make the journey in fifty degrees below zero weather. His only partner; a dog. Even though this is his first hike off trail, he feels he is unstoppable, as if the bone chilling cold can’t touch him. He has been warned countless times to never travel alone, but he doesn’t listen. When the man starts on his route
Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is a story about a man and his journey to realization when he is forced to survive in the harsh wintery weather of Alaska. We begin with a man who is portrayed as very cocky with what appears as a lack of forward thinking. “He experienced a pang or regret that he had not devised a nose-strap … but it didn’t matter much, after all. What were frosted cheeks? A bit painful, that’s was all; they were never serious” (NAAL 1050). However, traveling with him is a dog that was packed full of instinct and skill. “It had wet its forefeet. It made quick efforts to lick the ice off its legs then began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes. This was a matter of instinct” (1050). As
In “To Build A Fire”, the main conflict throughout is man versus nature although it would be inaccurate to say that nature goes out of its way to assault the man. The fact of the matter is, nature would be just as cold without the man's presence regardless of him being there .The environment as a whole is completely indifferent to the man, as it frequently is in naturalist literature. The bitter environment does not aid him in any way, and it will not notice if he perishes. In the same way, the dog does not care about the man, only about itself. Ironically enough though, as the man was dying he was getting upset toward the dog because of its natural warmth, the instincts that it had, and its survival skills and those were the elements that the man lacked for survival. It is ironic that the man had to die in order to find out that man's fragile body cannot survive in nature's harsh elements, regardless of a human’s natural over-confidence and psychological strength.
Two comrades go on an adventure into a extremely cold environment. Will they survive? The short story is “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. The book is about a man and a dog that attempts to cross the Yukon Territory with little equipment. In “To Build a Fire” the setting supports the character, plot, and theme.
We learn about the lack of knowledge obtained by our character within the second paragraph when it states not only was he new to the land but it was also his very first winter. Because of this the character finds himself in some complicated situations. He severely underestimated the effects the cold weather would have on him and even stated that 50 degrees below zero meant nothing more to him than a little cold weather. Ultimately this lack of knowledge kick started his decent to failure.
The man towards the end refers to himself being a part of the boys. “He did not belong with himself any more, for even then was out of himself, standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow” (527). Although, this might be what the man ultimately wanted, it was far from being true. The boys might not have had as much knowledge as the old-timer, but they at least had enough to know that they need to stay together and stay on the direct route to camp. The man goes off the trail because he wants to check out timber prospects, this could be because he wanted to impress the boys. He was a newcomer, maybe he felt as if he had to earn his way into the group. The boys represent safety. When they are referred to in the story, its always in relation to food and fire, the two things needed to survive in the wilderness. “The boys would be there, a fire would be going, and a hot supper would be ready” (519). Even to the dog, the boy represented fire and
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.
In Jack London's, 'To Build a Fire';, it is obvious to see that as the story progresses, the man becomes more bestial. However at the same time the dog seems to gain the human quality of good sense. This quality of good sense, which the dog acquires, allows it to away from the same fate of the man. There are many examples of how this is portrayed as the story makes headway.
feelings in the man and the dog, of a constant battle with this world of
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.