Journey to Destruction in Steinbeck's Flight and London's To Build a Fire
Not many people have to face death in the cold wasteland of the Arctic or rugged mountains of California, but Pepe and "the man" do. Although the ironic destruction of Pepe and the man were caused by relentless forces of nature, their attitudes and reasons for going on their journeys differed.
The setting in both stories consisted of extreme climate and conditions. In Flight the climate was desert hot during the day and chilling cold at night. "The Torres family had their farm, a few sloping acres above a cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean. Behind the farm the stone mountains stood up against the sky." Pepe spent his last days in the mountains where the conditions were harsh. "His throat was almost closed with thirst. He crawled into the heavy brush feeling with his fingers for water. "There was no water in the bed of the stream, only damp earth." In contrast, the climate in "To Build a Fire" was frigidly cold. "Day had broken cold and gray, ...
One conflict seen in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is the conflict between man and nature, which Louie, Phil, and Mac faced while lost at sea. As the men spent countless days at sea their points of view about the situation “were becoming self- fulfilling” (Hillenbrand 155). The
John Steinbeck's Novel, Dubious Battle. We are lucky to have many talented writers who have successfully taught US history through their outstanding pieces of literature. One writer of this kind is John Steinbeck in the novel Dubious Battle. It takes place in the 1930’s when Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt was President.
Power corruption and rebellion are interconnected. Abusive power tends to arouse opposing forces due to unfairness and struggle for control. Both authorities in Fahrenheit 451 and Catching Fire seek maintenance of power by constructing inimical social beliefs and harsh rules into the society. The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, authored by Ray Bradbury, depicts how the Capital sustains its authority though mental manipulation and exploitation of technology. Whereas the party in Catching Fire directed by Francis Lawrence manipulates people through coercion and extreme violence. In spite of different schemes, both central characters develop rebellious spirit and place themselves opposition to the dictatorial law. Hence, in Fahrenheit
There are few novels that have the ability to shed light on historical context while simultaneously tell a captivating story. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck does an excellent job of telling a fascinating story and juxtaposing the historical importance of the time period. Set during the great dustbowl of the 1930’s, Steinbeck wrote this evolutionary tale to inform Americans across the country about the hardships faced by those who were left destitute by the natural disaster. Although the subject of the novel is the social and economic climate of America during the dust bowl, Steinbeck described different themes to illustrate how impactful the incident truly was. The dustbowl not only left thousands homeless, hungry, and poor, it also altered the social dynamic of the United States. Family dynamics changed, new prejudices developed, and religion became more prevalent. Through the themes of race, religion, gender, and class Steinbeck immerses the reader into the time of the great dust bowl. The reader becomes a 1930’s destitute farmer, who is looking to support his family in any manner possible.
Men are strong and powerful human being’s, but does nature defeat them? In all through these three pieces that Edgar Allen Poe and Herman Melville wrote it is proven that nature is stronger than man. It is shown that in every aspect that nature is too over powering for man to handle. The factor of nature being strong, dangerous and unpredictable at the same time is too much for any man or any manmade object to overcome. The power of nature does defeat man in every way; it cannot be stopped or slowed down no matter what is done to prepare for it. When people think of man, they think of carefree living with no problems other than other human beings, but truth to be told, the power of nature is what is in control and will always be in control as long as man remains alive on this powerful and unpredictable planet.
Jack London has written a classic short story in the 1908 version of "To Build a Fire." This is the classic story of man fighting nature. In most genres (e.g. movies, novels, short stories) the main character comes out on top, however unlikely that is. Jack London takes literary naturalism and shows the reader how unmerciful nature is. Much like Stephen Crane in "The Open Boat," in which the one of the characters dies, London doesn't buy into that "has to have a good ending" contrivance. Through analysis of two London's letters (to R.W. Gilder and Cloudesly Johns) these two versions of "To Build a Fire" come alive with new meaning. Although there are many differences on the surface, both stories use his philosophy as expressed to Johns and both teach a moral lesson, one which will not soon be forgotten: "Never travel alone."
that he wants to tend. Lennie has been shot by George in the back of
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.
Once Phil is endowed with life, during the first days of his existence, he ambles into the forests near Ingolstadt. Though not to the same degree as man, here he feels pain, hunger, and the sensations of temperatur...
As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end
“And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is a failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath” (Steinbeck 349). John Steinbeck, the author of The Grapes of Wrath, portrays the migrant’s resentment of the California land owners and their way of life and illustrates that the vagrants from Oklahoma are yearning for labor, provisions, and human decency. Similarly in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee elucidates the concept that people should be treated with inclusive human dignity and be affected by good aspects rather than deleterious behavior. In addition to both novels, “Suffering with Them”, “Evil’s Fate”, and “To Hope” share the same concurrent theme. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath and “Suffering with Them”, “Evil’s Fate”, and “To Hope” illustrate a synonymous, thematic message that evil’s inhumanity, during corrupt times, induces a perception of hopefulness for good to conquer immorality.
...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.
One story tells how a man dying just wants a sip of some water before he dies. How the man had to overcome his fear and make it to the water and bring it back before he dies. The other tells the story of a brave man who got lost out in the cold weather. He had to survive the negative fifty degree temperatures. How he almost killed his dog just to get his hands warm and how much detail the author went into to make the story a better read. The author wanted to make the reader almost feel the pain that he was going through. Both of the stories relate well to the realism era but not as well as “To Build a Fire” does. Imagine having to sit in fifty below temperatures with nothing to keep warm and having to deal with a dog at the same time. That would be very challenging to most people and only the tough and smart could survive those conditions. Some people might have different thoughts but they should just read the story themselves and decide on which of them relate to the era better, “To Build a Fire” or “Mystery of
The theme of this story is actually stated in the story if it is read carefully and Crane reinforces it innumerable times. The theme of the story is man’s role in nature and is related to the reader through the use of color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature. The story presents the idea that every human faces a voyage throughout life and must transition from ignorance to comprehension of mankind’s place in the universe and among other humans.
The story “To Build a Fire” by jack London is one of the most famous stories of survival in the wilderness. The story is about a man leaving a camp to walk to another camp at a temperature of 75 degrees below zero, with an Alaskan husky dog as a companion. The story takes place in the past and was written in 1908. The man in the story is purposely not given a reputation, as the deterministic environment is additional more necessary than his free will and individuality. His aim at the start of the story is to reach the camp to meet "the boys," presumptively to prospect for gold.