To Build a Fire by Jack London

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What would you do if the only thing separating you from death was starting a fire? Most people would obviously start a fire because they do not want to die. This is exactly the same situation that a man falls into in To Build A Fire. In this story a man is setting across the Yukon in order to get to a camp where his friends are at. This is a trip that he has made many times and he can even predict what time he will arrive in that camp. He is traveling with a dog as his companion. As he goes along the trail that he has picked out he notes many things about his surroundings and the temperature is a constant figure in his mind because if it drops too rapidly that would mean death for him. When he stops to eat food he builds a fire and takes a rest for awhile. After sitting her for awhile the snow that was on the tree above him falls on top of him because it had begun to melt from the snow. When the snow falls it gets him all wet and in the process puts out his fire. Aggravated, he gets up and begins to build another fire because he knows that he will have to dry out before he can leave. This is where the story goes bad because he is unable to start another fire and he ends up dying slowly while his dogs runs to the camp. Throughout this story there are many things that begin to make the reader’s mind start to pick out certain messages. I think that biggest part of this is paying attention to the setting in this story, because this story has a lot to do with nature. The second most important in characters because both of the characters in this story tell a lot when readers begin to analyze the characters traits and actions which also ties into plot. In my opinion the main messages from To Build A Fire by Jack London are nature trumps...

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...the story when nature ends up killing the man. This is why setting is very important in this story, because it shows how powerful nature it and this is why I think that it is a main message that readers will derive from it. In To Build A Fire a message that comes from the characteristics of the characters is be humble. Being humble is something that is hard to do because humans like to think that they know everything and that they are going to be able to control their futures, but when they are prideful they doom themselves in the end. The final message from London’s story comes from the plot and it is to stay calm in the face of danger. He does not allow this danger to cause him to react dramatically and die because he stayed with his owner in the snow. Staying calm in the face of danger was shown through the action of each character in the story which is the plot.

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