To Build A Fire, Written, by Jack London

1683 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: to build a fire by jack london naturalism,

Naturalism
Naturalism is a literary movement in the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries. Naturalism is often detailed under realism. Naturalism relates the scientific method to philosophy by simply stating that social conditions, heredity and environment have an inescapable force in shaping human behavior. Nature is indifferent to human kind. Naturalism excludes all supernatural elements from its viewpoints. In naturalism, characters are important in the writing, although the authors give their characters less control over their lives. Naturalism relies on the truth that you can not control anything outside of yourself. Also, Naturalism notes that people without a lot of choices can not change the outcome of their lives, stating that people live without free will. What influenced naturalist authors to write in such a way that they can have no happy endings in their literature?
To Build A Fire, written, by Jack London was about a young man who went on a search of gold alone to the Yukon river. After falling in an underground spring, he is soaking wet and tries to build three fires to keep warm but is not able to sustain them. The man comes to the realization he is going to die if he does not find warmth. The young man gets the idea to kill his dog and to use the corpse to warm himself. The only problem is that dogs have the keen ability to sense danger. The story ends as the man "drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known".
The first naturalistic element of To Build A Fire is the difference between man’s way of thinking and the dog’s natural instinct. The second element is that the character is in a race against time with nature and nature wins the battle. To Build A Fire sh...

... middle of paper ...

...uit high school to study art. His parents eventually divorced. When traveling to Africa, he became victim to tropical fever and was also in trouble with Boer authorities. He led a bohemian life. Malaria caused him his death.
Edith Wharton was born to well known distinguished family who traveled Europe a lot and sent her to a large number of private schools after returning to New York. After returning to New York, her father grew ill and died.
As seen, The lives of these authors made a big influence in their writing. The authors of these naturalistic novels led unhappy lives leading them to think in the way that their characters lived. Regardless of some of the opportunities that the authors may have had, their lives did not turn out so well. Their unhappy and unfortunate lives growing up was the biggest influence in adding naturalistic elements to their literature.

Show More
Related

  • A Fire Not Built

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    “To Build a Fire”, a short story written by Jack London, is viewed as a masterpiece of naturalist fiction. “To Build a Fire” features a miner and his wolf-dog companion who are traveling in the Yukon Territory to meet fellow miners. The miner is the protagonist and the wolf-dog companion is the foil because the wolf-dog plays off of the traits of the protagonist. The central theme of “To Build a Fire” concerns the struggle of man versus nature. “To Build a Fire” tells of a man traveling in the extreme cold through the Yukon Territory. Before heading out on his journey, the man is warned not to travel alone in the extreme cold, but he travels any way. The man faces many hardships while on his journey. Despite his effort to stay warm and survive, the man freezes to death before he reaches his destination. The wolf-dog in the story studies the situation and knows that traveling is not a good idea. The wolf-dog stays with the miner until his death. Once the miner dies, the wolf-dog finishes his journey by heading off to the miners’ camp on his own. The most argued point of this short story is the reason for the protagonist’s death. Even though the miner in “To Build a Fire” eventually panics after being unable to start a fire, he struggles in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory and ultimately finds his death due to ignorance caused by a lack intuition and imagination.

    Read More

  • Perseverance in the Klondike

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    “To Build a Fire” written by Jack London, was published in 1902 and then re-published again in 1908, which is the most recognized. London sailed to join the Klondike Gold Rush in July of 1897, his time there influenced many of his works. The main character of the story is an unnamed man, a newcomer to the Yukon, who is going to meet his friends at an old claim. His companion is a big husky wolf dog, whose instincts tell him that it is too cold to venture out , but he relentlessly follows the food and fire provider. All of the elements are against the man, but he continues to push forward even when he loses feelings in his hands and legs. The man finally comes to the realization that he is going to die; he lies down in the snow and falls into a comfortable sleep. The dog stays with the man for a while confused and wondering why he is laying in the snow, he curiously walks up to the man and sniffs; the smell of death fills his nostrils. The dog leaves the man and searches for the other food and fire providers. In London’s “To Build a Fire”, he displays the perseverance that the man undergoes in various stages as he faces his imminent death.

    Read More

  • Individualism In Jack London's To Build A Fire

    399 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, London is portraying the typical american individual through his anonymous timberman; self-reliant, brave, and unwavering. In the short story, a man goes out into the Yukon Territory in search of profitable business. His priority is to build a fire to warm his limbs and his furry follower. The story largely focuses on the conflict between nature and man, as we see this man furiously try to race against the cold’s quick overtaking of his body.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Jack London And E. Cummings

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jack London, who lived in the 19th century, and Edward Estlin Cummings, who lived in the 20th century, experienced many drastic changes from their era that would ultimately change the way they lived their lives, thought, and wrote. For London, writing was being changed in the sense that it was taking a less traditional approach, in favor for a more scientific approach. The period of naturalism is most commonly referred to as a period that was broken off of realism. However, some argue that naturalism is not just a piece broken off from realism, but rather an answer to the period of realism. "Naturalism is, in fact, viewed as a response to Realism" (Schoenberg). Although Realism and Naturalism share similar characteristics such as trying to effectively describe humans, they differ greatly in the way they try to achieve it. Naturalism trys to describe humans and the way they act exclusively by usin...

    Read More

  • to build a fire

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London shows how man vs. nature and how inexperienced traveler in the Yukon tries to travel alone with his dog, even though it’s advised not to. Yet he is stubborn and thinks he is right, and sets off for Henderson Creek to meet his friends. He faces many different conflicts of man verses man, and man verses nature.

    Read More

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

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

  • To Build A Fire By Jack London

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Imagery In Jack London's To Build A Fire

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” is a story about a man who travels only alongside a husky through the frigid conditions of the Yukon, and becomes a victim to Mother Nature. The man was warned before hand by an old man that he should not travel alone through the frigid Yukon. He ignored the old man’s advice and tried to prove to him that he would be able to cross the Yukon on his own. As the man traveled he was able to recognize the dangerous conditions around him and notice what it was doing to his extremities. Still he made no effort to slow down which resulted in his death. The imagery, irony, and relationship between the man and dog in the story help foreshadow death.

    Read More

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

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Jack London's "To Build a Fire" we see a classic story of man against nature. In this story, however, nature wins. One reason that this is such a compelling and engrossing story is the vivid descriptions of the environment the nameless main character endures. Plot and characterization are brief, and the theme is simple. Yet this story is still a very popular story, and it has a mysterious quality that makes it great.

    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

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

    1644 Words  | 4 Pages

    Naturalism portrays humans' control over their actions and fate as limited and determined by the natural world, including their very humanity. The freedom described by Jean-Paul Sartre results in all individuals having the ability to make present choices independently. Despite the fatalism illustrated in naturalism, the characters in London's 'To Build a Fire' and Crane's 'The Open Boat' are ultimately responsible for their choices and consequences of their choices.

    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

  • To Build A Fire: Naturalism

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...teristic of naturalism is presenting a viewpoint that is detached from the main story, or in a 3rd person omniscient viewpoint. The author of “To Build A Fire” does this by not assigning names to any of the major characters such as the man or dog. This creates a detachment which helps the reader focus on not only the character, but the plot as well. The man in the story is seen as representing all of humanity, rather than as one individual. The concept of man versus nature is prominently at work here.

    Read More

More about To Build A Fire, Written, by Jack London

Open Document