Jack London's To Build A Fire

774 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A one paragraph analysis of the major theme of building a fire by jack london

In 1908 Jack London published a tragic tale titled “To Build a Fire” in which the main character succumbs to the elements and passes away. Throughout the story Jack London shows the awe-inspiring power of nature with no regard to human life and the feebleness of man by pairing a dog and unnamed man together on a quest across the Yukon Trail. Throughout the story the man is ill-prepared, ill-informed, and unable to use the clues around him to survive. The dog is reluctant to follow the man throughout the story, but leaves his side only when it begins to smell the stench of death.
Jack London opens the story by painting the picture of the Yukon Trail. He describes the large area by stating “The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice. On top of this ice were as many feet of snow. It was all pure white rolling in gentle undulations where the ice jams of the freeze-up had …show more content…

In the story the unnamed man forces the dog to walk across ice that cannot support the dog’s body weight. The dog falls through the ice and gets its feet wet, the dog begins to bite at the ice around the paw. Jack London then writes “He removed the mitten from his right hand and helped tear out the ice particles. He did not expose his fingers more than a minute, and was astonished at the swift numbness that smote them. It certainly was cold. He pulled on his mitten hastily, and beat the hand savagely across his chest.” (127). This is a perfect example of how fragile humans are, the unnamed man exposed his fingers for less than a minute and he was already experiencing extreme numbness. By the unnamed man experiencing numbness in his fingers so quickly it again shows the harsh conditions of the Yukon Trail. In most conditions removing one’s gloves for a minute is not a big deal, but in this condition, it could lead to losing multiple fingers due to frost

Show More
Related

  • Unprepared In Jack London's To Build A Fire

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    The man was so confident that he thought he had many protecting to keep him warm and last through the hold snowy trip. ”He held on through the level stretch of woods for several miles, crossed a wide flat of rigger-heads, and dropped down a bank to the frozen bed of a small stream. This was Henderson Creek, and he knew he was ten miles from the forks. He looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock. He was making four miles an hour, and he calculated that he would arrive at the forks at half-past twelve. He decided to celebrate that event by eating his lunch there” (London par. 8 ). This shows that he was confident that he would last through the whole trip with what he is just wearing. He was also confident because he was moving fast and he thought he was traveling fast but he was not traveling quick enough. “He was. pleased at the speed he had made. If he kept it up, he would certainly be with the boys by six. He unbuttoned his jacket and shirt and drew forth his lunch. The action consumed no more than a quarter of a minute, yet in that brief moment the numbness laid hold of the exposed fingers. He did not put the mitten on, but, instead struck the fingers a dozen sharp smashes against his leg.” (London par. 14). He was confident on how fast he moved and stopped and relax to enjoy his frozen

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Christmas day as they were traveling through the Dawson trail in the Arctic, Cap mentioned the cold. He says that sometimes it was so cold that your lashes froze. Cap describes it by saying, “Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail” (Service 709). It was so cold that your skin feels the pricking that is felt when jumping into a cold pool. Although Cap did not make his promise to Sam McGee, yet one can assumed that the weather would still be cold after the promise was made. He faces the bitter cold while finding a place to cremate his friend. Later on in the narrative poem, the body of Sam McGee that was tied to the sled caused more weight for the dogs to pull. The “ [...] dogs were spent and the grub was getting low” (Service 711). McGee’s promise caused the dogs to get tired faster having to pull the extra weight. The food was getting low and Cap couldn’t do anything about it, because he couldn’t get to a village or town quickly with the body of his friend weighing down the sled, and the meager amount of food cause him to have little energy. Set on keeping his promise, Cap refuses to leave the body of his comrade in the cold arctic, resulting in him having to face the severity of his

    Read More

  • To Build A Fire Character Stud

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "To Build a Fire," Jack London expresses his perspective of the multitude of greenhorns who flocked to the yukon in a rush for gold. It is evident that he believed that these newcomers were too inexperienced and blinded by gold fever to survive the trip. Like many of them, "the Man" is driven by his own foolish ego to act irrationally and to not follow wise advice. Though his consience continually nags at him, his ego-driven way of thought keeps pushing him blindly forward. The Man is not only representative of other fortune hunters like himself, but he also repersents every person on this planet. All of us, at some point in time, pushed our own consience aside and followed our own selfish ego.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Passage in Shelley's Frankenstein

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    Suddenly, they noticed something was passing by them in a distance of a half a mile. ?We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north.? It was very strange to see another human/carriage on ice. It was a shock to the crew to see a single man on sled drag by dogs through Northern Sea. Comparing to a well equipped ship, the sled looked like a deadly ride. As mentioned earlier you could only see the endless ice surrounding them and they couldn?t believe that a single man would travel far from the Big Land. However, the man on a sled was a gigantic stature and most likely he was a strong and a brave man.

    Read More

  • The Call Of Jack London

    2184 Words  | 5 Pages

    The group stopped along the Yukon near about the Stewert River for winter. London became vary ill with Scurvy and was forced south for survival. Upon his re entry to San Francisco Jack learned of his fathers death. He could not find work of any kind, so once again he tried his hand at writing. His first writing, a story about life on the Yukon, was accepted by a magazine called Overlan... ...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Two Versions of To Build a Fire

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    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."

    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

  • Naturalism in Jack London's To Build a Fire

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Happened During The Ice Storm Summary

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first the author paints a picture of a small village or town that is getting hit by a ice storm. The narrator shows how cold it is by commenting, “But the freezing rain kept coming. Tree branches glistened like glass. Then broke like glass. Ice thickened the windows until everything outside blurred” (Heynen 1). From this the reader can tell this isn't a regular snow day. Tree branches are freezing so much that they are just breaking like glass. Also the windows have become translucent from how thick the frozen ice is on them. The narrator also states, “Some farmers went ice-skating down gravel roads” (Heynen 1). The gravel road is so frozen that a person can ice skate on it. That itself shows how cold it is outside in this story. The reader should be able to tell

    Read More

  • To Build A Fire By Jack London

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    To Build a Fire - Jack London The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a comprehensive story that tackles the struggles of a newcomer trying to survive a day in the Yukon with very harsh and cold weather. The man travels with a big native husky and tries many times to build a fire but fails due to his inadequate personality. The man repeatedly lets his ignorance and arrogance dictate his decisions, which soon leads to his demise. The theme of the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is that being ignorant, arrogant and foolish can lead to bad decisions.

    Read More

  • The Role of Setting in To Build a Fire by Jack London

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Jack London's To Build a Fire

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    An Analysis of Jack London's To Build a Fire. In her cultural criticism of Jack London's "To Build a Fire", Jill Widdicombe explores the question of whether the story's protagonist might have perished from the extreme cold of the Klondike winter even if with a traveling companion. She describes the brutality of the winter weather and, alluding to the man's confidence in his ability to survive the weather, describes it as "behavior most of us can understand" - especially if we are accustomed to warmer surroundings. She states: "the extreme cold of frosty landscapes--or "The White Silence", as London describes it--is so quiet and abstract that it does not immediately appear to be lethal".

    Read More

  • Overconfidence and Arrogance in To Build a Fire by Jack London

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overconfidence and Arrogance in To Build a Fire by Jack London Overconfidence and arrogance led to the death of the man in Jack London's "To Build a Fire. " This overconfidence in his own abilities led to him making poor decisions and scorning the advice of those who know what they are talking about. Instead, he laughs at the old man after he tells him "a man should travel with a partner" (1769) and goes out into the frigid weather anyway.

    Read More

  • Imagery In Jack London's To Build A Fire

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the man thought he could travel the Yukon on his own even after the old man told him that it was not a good idea. He went through many obstacles, and the dog kept giving him warnings but the man’s ignorance and overconfidence got the best of him. London’s use of imagery, irony, and the relationship between the man and the dog helped the reader foreshadow the man’s death.

    Read More

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

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Jack London's To Build A Fire

Open Document