To Build A Fire Essay

418 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Nature meaning in literature

To Build a Fire is a remarkable account of one man’s finish line. In it this story holds quite a few rather important morals. There is as well a very important theme. The theme most referred to is that of the power of nature. The force that it can display on earth is immense and cannot be duplicated or overpowered by humans. However one man decided he would be the one prove this axiom wrong. One man became totally confident that he can and will withstand the awesome mighty strength of nature. Stubbornness is a horrible character flaw of the man in the story. He discards all warnings of the weather that he received from those with experience. Full of himself and ambition the man embarks on his final trail. He sights no big problem regarding

Show More
Related

  • Comparison Of Into The Wild And Jack London's To Build A Fire

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the course of human history, man has managed to do some really dumb things. Whether it’s because we lack sufficient knowledge, make a mistake, or are just too stubborn to use sound judgement, dumb decisions are made every day by everyone. However, none have a greater level of stupidity than the choices made by the man in Jack London’s To Build a Fire. This is a story of pride, ignorance, and stupidity, which ultimately leads to the downfall of its main character. This short story is a caution against over confidence and unpreparedness, showing the harsh effects of both. Ultimately, it is an issue of man’s pride versus the harsh conditions of nature. It shows that one cannot simply overlook nature, because doing so can lead to the destruction

    Read More

  • Jack London’s Use of Repetition in “To Build a Fire”

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jack London’s To Build a Fire follows an unnamed protagonist, who’s only referred to as “the man”, as he travels the Yukon Trail during a severe snow storm. Along with his husky wolf-dog, he determined to meet friends at an old junction by six o’clock. The man, who was warned not travel in the Klondike alone, presses forward through the terrain’s harsh weather. He later falls through the snow in what looked to be a secure spot. With his feet and fingers soaked, he starts a fire and begins drying himself. The man constructs the fire under a spruce tree in order to take its twigs and drop them directly onto the fire. Each time he pulled a twig a branch overturned its load of snow, eventually blotting out the fire. He grabs all his matches and lights them simultaneously to set fire to a piece of bark; it soon goes out. The man decides to kill the dog and use its warm body to restore his circulation, but is unable to kill the animal and lets the dog go. The man attempts to run from the thought of freezing to death but he quickly falls down. He decides he should meet death in a more dignified manner; the man falls off into a calm sleep.

    Read More

  • Survival In Laurence Gonzales To Build A Fire

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Hunter Thompson, “Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it.” In “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, the man was clumsy and fell to the side of disaster. According to the tips in “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales, there are many steps the man could have taken that would have given him a better shot at surviving. For example, the man may have survived if he would have taken correct, decisive action, if he would have stayed calm, and if he would have surrendered. Each time that he failed to complete these actions, it was like the wind blew and pushed him closer to his final disaster.

    Read More

  • Stephen Crane's The Open Boat and Jack London's To Build A Fire

    2312 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Choices and Responsibility in London's To Build a Fire and Crane's The Open Boat

    1644 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 'To Build a Fire,' the man's antagonist is nature: London displays the man's journey as restricted by external forces. First, the temperature of the tundra is seventy-five-below zero (978), which naturally exposes the man?s ?frailty as a creature of temperature? (977). Obviously the man is subject to the forces of winter, and can not change his homeostasis as a warm-blooded animal. Similarly, London employs the ?traps? (979) of snow-covered pools of water to show that while humans may presume we are invincible, nature will stealthily remind us of our vulnerability (through invisible germs, for example). Just as the man does not see the ?trap? (981) that soaks his legs, he fails to notice the dog?s apprehension regarding their journey (981). Here London shows man's self-proclaimed superiority is falsely assumed, as he lacks the ?instinct? (978) that the dog possess; later, the man can not kill the dog (985), which signifies the dog is not subordinate regarding survival. After the man steps in the water, London notes, ?He was angry, and cursed his luck aloud? (981). By attributing his misfortune to ?luck,? the man relieves himself of responsibility, recognizing himself as a victi...

    Read More

  • Naturalism In The Open Boat And To Build A Fire

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ezing, cold weather. The two types of conflict in “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are: man vs. self and man v. nature which are common in naturalism literature. London uses naturalism to show how harsh and indifferent nature really is and how no matter what, nature will always be there. He furthermore presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, ultimately if you are not the strongest you will not survive. London showed us that we only can depend on ourselves to survive in this world or in the Yukon of Alaska. "To Build a Fire" illustrates that the closer to death the character comes, the plot declines. As the story advances, the man's ambitions go from making it to camp, to staying warm, to just simply surviving. When reading, you can sense the lack of effort on the man's part, only brings him closer to a freezing, unavoidable death.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Setting in Jack London's To Build A Fire

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    Providing the separation between survival and death. setting was the most important factor in "Building a Fire" by Jack London. Works Cited and Consulted Hendricks, King. Jack London: Master Craftsman of the Short Story. Logan: Utah State U P. 1966.

    Read More

  • Jack London's Life and Accomplishments

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Overview: “To Build a Fire”." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 7. Detroit:Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Nov.2013

    Read More

  • Conflicts of "To Build a Fire" by Jack London

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    The external conflict of man against nature and the internal conflict of man against himself play a huge role in the whole story, leading to the fateful outcome of the man. The man fell victim to the struggles the conflicts presented, majorly impacting the story. "To Build a Fire" encompasses the idea of man becoming his own enemy and people remaining insignificant to forces of natures. The conflicts presented in the story embody the aspect of nature as an unstoppable, unpredictable, and powerful force that easily overtakes man. That thought shows how one man has little effect on nature, and in the end, does the most harm by subjecting oneself to nature's fury. The story, "To Build a Fire" by Jack London truly shows how weak an unprepared person compares to the unruly forces of nature.

    Read More

  • Naturalism in Jack London's To Build a Fire

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold."(p.1745) At first when the man started his journey to the camp, he felt certain that he could make it back to camp before dinner. As the trip progressed, the man made mistake after mistake that sealed his fate. The man's first mistake was to step into a pool of water and soak his legs to the knees. This blunder forced the man to build a fire to dry his wet socks and shoes so his feet would not freeze and become frostbitten. When the man began to build a fire he failed to notice that he was doing so under a large, snow laden spruce tree where he was getting his firewood. When the man had a small fire that was beginning to smolder the disturbance to the tree caused the snow to tumble to the ground and extinguish the fire. "It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open."(1750).

    Read More

  • Man Listening To Instinct In To Build A Fire, By Jack London

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    The human race views knowledge as power. However, in the primal wilderness knowledge can be more harmful than helpful. In Jack London’s To Build a Fire, an ill-prepared man struggles for survival in the harsh Yukon land. London conveys an outstanding story, while also teaching an important lesson.

    Read More

  • To Build A Fire: Naturalism

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    “To Build A Fire” is a clear example of naturalism and follows many of its conventions. Some of the characteristics of naturalism are being conditioned or controlled by the environment, having the world understood only through objective science, conflicts which bring out the instincts of man, pessimism, and presenting a viewpoint which is detached from the reader.

    Read More

  • How To Build A Fire Naturalism

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the man’s second attempt at a fire, he built it under a pine tree. With all surrounding objects coated in snow, “it was his own fault” but much less “his mistake” as for the snow fell from the pine tree putting the fire out (London, 72-73). Nonetheless, he ought to have expected his actions, such as placing his fire directly under a pine tree, resulted poorly as for the little heat he had was taken by the fallen snow. London amending his actions from "fault" to "mistake" proposes the hazy area in the man's obligation; while he ought to have foreseen the consequences of his actions, and in this manner be held at risk, he didn't, so he is then said to be irresponsible. With this man in the killing cold, he was illustrated as to be “shocked,” which is an understandable statement to the readers because his only heat was taken; but, then the author stated the man “sat and stared” and then was “very calm” (London, 73).

    Read More

  • To Build A Fire

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mankind is presented through the eyes of the unnamed human character, a man who sees the entire world through facts. He lacks both imagination and experience within his environment and yet he is stubbornly determine to reach his goal - the camp with the fire and his friends. However, because of this man’s lack of imagination and experience he cannot foresee the result of his stubbornness. Instead, he relies on factual knowledge to interpret his situation. And, at the beginning of the story the reader is alerted to the fact that the man’s ‘facts’ are incorrect: Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost.

    Read More

  • A Critique of Jack London's To Build a Fire

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    I agree with Karen Rhodes observation that to build afirecan be interpreted as the story of a man in the journey of human existence. However, I think her view of to build a fire as an American experience comes from the fact that she is an American. I agree with her theory that the Man's death in the end was due to the nature of the man and his environment. The protagonist in to build a fire did nor have any grasp of the danger he was in. he tried to reason himself through it all. He thought, " Maybe, if he ran on, his feet will thaw out; and anyway if he ran far enough, he would reach camp and the boys. (Jack London, 157).

    Read More

More about To Build A Fire Essay

Open Document