Literature assignment
Sadooh_77
sample.docxSurname 6
Name:
Instructor:
Class:
Date:
“To Build A Fire” Analysis
The short story by Jack London features a man who is new to Yukon. He decided to travel alone through the harsh environment of Yukon. He is on a voyage to meet his finds in a camp. It is freezing outside, and the place is covered in ice and snow. The landscape does not, however, affect the man. As he walks, he spits and his saliva freezes as it falls. He anticipates that he will meet the boys by six o’clock and they will have ready hot supper and a fire. He thus puts his lunch inside his clothing so that it does not freeze. He is accompanied by a native dog that looks up to him for warmth and shelter (London, 66). He then reaches a creek divide where he had planned to have his lunch. The man remembers the words of the old-timer who told him that it would get old outside. The conditions force him to make a fire to have warmth and to defrost his lunch. They thereafter leave, and the man falls into a pool that was under the snow. He is also later faced with a lot of cold struggles like numbness, and he ends up sleeping in the snow, and the dog left.
Setting
The setting of a story is the context in which a story takes place, and it allows readers to experience and visualize the occurrences (Rappaport, 287). Setting is greatly significant for London’s story. The setting of the story is in Yukon, a place in Alaska, Canada. The main idea of the story revolves around nature and the environment. Yukon is extremely cold, and we can tell how bad the winter weather was for the main character. The narrator, towards the end of the story, vividly describes how the man’s fingers were numb that he was unable to light a fire. He further defines how he eventually fell and was unable to reach the camp that was nearby (London, 79). The setting makes a reader emotionally invested in the story and also makes one relate to the occurrences presented. The setting is also linked to the title of the story. If at all the setting was not a cold place, it would not be appropriate to have the present title.
It is also dark since during winter the sun barely makes an appearance. The man in the story has not seen the sun for days, and he knew that for more to come, he would not see any. The inhospitable nature of the story is greatly supported by the location, and the man and dog have to go through it. We, however, find that the man is optimistic since he anticipates a cheerful moment when the sun would show.
Time
The timing of the story is also significant. It was written during the Klondike Gold Rush era, and many people were out there searching for a fortune. Several miners, especially young men headed to Yukon. At that moment, most of them did not get rich, and many died due to the harsh environments. The newcomer to Yukon is thus presented in the story and how he was determined to meet his friends despite the harsh conditions.
Point of View
The narrator of the story uses the third person point of view. The narration is omniscient, and the narrator also comments on the personalities and the behaviors of the characters (Simpson, 47). He differentiates the thoughts of the man to that of the dog. Using the third person, London can make a judgment on the main character. He says, “The trouble with (the man) was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significance” (London, 65). He presents the naivety and arrogance of the man despite being advised by the old-timer. A reader also pictures the man as foolish as presented by the narrator. Since a reader is unable to relate to the character’s intimate thoughts, one is left with the conclusion that the man is foolish, naïve, and arrogant.
Characters
The dog is the second character presented in the story. He seems to be faithful to the man since he accompanies him throughout the cold weather. The development of the dog is also static, and he seems not to have any conflict within him. The other character feature is the old-timer from the sulfur creek. He is portrayed as a caring and wise man. He advises the man on how it is not good to travel in the cold weather where the temperatures were below fifty degrees. His advice does not, however, represent conflict. He is a minor character. Other minor characters are the boys that the man anticipated to meet. They are only known to wait in the camp, and their appearance remains static throughout the story.
Themes
Having examined all the other elements of the story, it is vital to understand the intention and the message of the author. Themes represent the key message of an author (Williams et al., 235). Several themes are presented by the author. The first theme is persistence. The man, despite the cold and harsh weather, did not stop his plans of meeting his friends in the camp. He is, nevertheless ignorant in not heeding the advice that the environment would not be conducive for his journey. He got numb during his voyage, but he does not give up. He attempts to run to produce heat in his body. Also, he tries to kill the dog so that he can use its blood to have warmth (London, 76). The perseverance of the man shows the possibility of survival in conditions that could easily kill someone.
The other theme presented in the story is the theme of nature versus an individual. Nature is winning since the man in the story faces a lot of struggles to reach his destination. First, we find that his hands become numb, and so does his feet. Also, after he had created a fire for the second time, the snow from the trees fell on it, and it went out. He is unable to make another fire since he runs out of matches. His chances of survival after the fire went out became slim. He faces the harshness of nature alone, and he attempts to prove otherwise, especially when he remembers the old-timer’s advice. The author says, “He treated the flame carefully and awkwardly. It meant life, and it must not perish” (London, 75). The author showed that the man predicted his fate in case the fire would go out. Fire acted as a symbol of life in the story. The man’s hands, on the other hand, represented power, but he lost it when they became numb.
Another theme presented by the author is death. First, through the advice that the old-timer gave the man, it shows that there were dangers that lurked in travelling during the cold weather. We also find that the man contemplated killing the dog since the warmth from the dog would increase his chances of survival. He lacks empathy for the dog, and this is also evident during the instance that he first send off the dog across a dangerous patch of ice. Despite the early signs of death that faced the man, he kept ignoring and focused on reaching the camp. After his own body betrayed him towards the end, he acknowledged the possibilities that could face him. He even pictured his friends coming to look for him after he died. The author writes, “It was his last moment of fear. When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity” (London, 78).
In conclusion, I chose this story since it is fascinating and has moral lessons. One learns that perseverance is imperative. The key themes bring out the ideas of the author and succeed in educating a reader. Also, it is essential to heed advice and consider the happenings in our surroundings. Ignorance and stubbornness could lead to the death of an individual or even projects. London did a great work in choosing the appropriate setting and time to present the story.
Works Cited
London, Jack. To build a fire. Bantam Classics, 2007: 64-79.
Roberts, Edgar V., and Henry E. Jacobs. Fiction: An introduction to reading and writing. Prentice Hall, 1992.
Simpson, P. (2003). Language, ideology and point of view. Routledge.
Rappaport, Bret. "Tapping the Human Adaptive Origins of Storytelling by Requiring Legal Writing Students to Read a Novel in Order to Appreciate How Character, Setting, Plot, Theme, and Ton (CSPTT) are as Important as IRAC." TM cooley l. rev. 25 (2008): 267-300
Williams, Joanna P., et al. "Teaching elementary school students to identify story themes." Journal of Educational Psychology 94.2 (2002): 235.
