When man faces against nature, he does not win. In “To Build a Fire” Jack London explores this theme. The unnamed protagonist overestimates his own abilities while lacking to understand how unforgiving mother nature is. He ventures out when it’s below fifty degrees does every possible thing he can think of to try to survive—while simultaneously not thinking things through, like setting a fire under a tree with branches of snow on it, and not following the advice of locals—and finds death.
On the other hand, the dog in the story moves on to find other humans and lives to see another day. In “To Build a Fire” London explores the theme of man versus nature in a heartbreaking tale about a foolish man. The first mistake the man does is being outside in the first place. A newcomer to the land, and his first winter there, he only sees the cold as uncomfortable and not as dangerous. He does not stop and think about how humans are fragile and cannot be in a place where it’s too cold or too hot. Instead, he figures he will be okay despite the advice given to him because, “Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought” (1119).
The man tries so hard to prove that he is man enough to be out on the cold by himself, that he dismisses the advice and it costs him his life. Similarly, Sandra Bucheler the author of Understanding and Treating Patients in Clinical Psychoanalysis: Lessons from Literature, points out, “The protagonist is called, simply, ‘the man,’ perhaps a reference to how much his identity is built around his conception of manliness” (Bucheler 19). On the other hand, the dog is not trying to prove anything to himself. Thus, he is able to quickly realize how it is much colder than below fifty degrees and too cold to be traveling. The dog, “Had its instinct…and that made it question eagerly every unwonted movement of the man as if expecting him to…seek shelter somewhere and build a fire. The dog had learned about fire, and it wanted fire” (1115). A hint of worry enters the man’s mind when he begins to experience frost in his cheeks. However, he quickly dismisses it by stating that while frosted cheeks are painful, they are not dangerous. Though the dog is often disappointed in the man, the dog never tries to stop him. This is because, “It was not concerned in the welfare of the man” (1117). This is due to the fact the man shows no affection towards the dog and only sees it as something else he must assert dominance over (Rothstein). In addition, this line explains how mother nature feels towards people, or rather how it does not. When the man dies after attempting to build a fire for the second time, the dog lingers on for a little while. However, when the man does not wake up, the dog leaves.
The dog does not really mourn the death of the man, only the food and fire he provided. This is another example of how mother nature does not mourn the death of people, rather it goes on like nothing ever happened. A real life example of man versus nature is explored in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. Krakauer tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate. Inspired by London’s stories of Alaska and transcendentalism, he ventures to the Alaska wilderness alone while lacking the proper tools and experience. McCandless only makes it about three months before dying from hunger; or as others theorize, an accidental food poisoning from seeds. Krakauer also explores the death of Carl McCunn. McCunn was a Texan who moved to Fairbanks and arranged a trip to a remote lake (81). However, McCunn neglected to arrange to have a pilot pick him up by the end of the summer, and he died. A friend of McCunn expressed he was not surprised, “He had a tendency to wing it sometimes, to act impulsively, to get by on bravado and style” (81). This quote, though not about London’s fictional character, perfectly describes how people tend to think everything will work itself out, though when it comes to nature that is rarely the case. When one ventures out to nature, one should be prepared for everything.
In “To Build a Fire” London explores the theme of man versus nature in a heartbreaking tale about a foolish man. While the dog senses what the man is doing is wrong, he does not warn him; the dog does not feel he owns anything to the man as the man has never treated him well. The dog’s poor treatment can be traced to the fact the man only sees him as a tool and as something he needs to establish dominance over. In the end, nature wins, and the dog trots up the trail to find for other providers. Other real life examples, include Christopher McCandless and Carl Mccunn as they ventured into the wilderness and ultimately lost.
‘Open Boat’ (Crane) and ‘To Build a Fire’ (London) revolve around the common theme of naturalism, which implies philosophical action. Both stories depict the inferiority of humans to nature. Both Crane and London try to assert that man does not have free will and is entirely under the control of nature. The men in both stories have a similar fate since both are found trapped in natural forces way beyond their control.
Similar to the theme of natural forces, in ‘The Open Boat,’ Crane describes the plight of four men who have been shipwrecked and are isolated on the ocean in a tiny dinghy. The fate of these men has been decided by the roaring seas, as a force of nature they can’t circumvent. The central theme in ‘The Open Boat’ is the struggle for survival against extreme natural forces.
London’s ‘To Build a Fire’ shows the helplessness of a man facing adversely cold conditions. It is absolutely impossible for him to change his fate, and he is left with no option but to try and endure the harsh realities of nature. Building a fire is the man’s main goal, for it provides him with the hope of life and survival. However, after building a fire, the man and his dog bask in its momentary pleasure when they find that “for a moment the cold of space was outwitted,” not realizing that the flames would soon wear out and give way to the frigidly cold conditions.
Soon the fire dies down, bringing him closer to death. His hopes for life are revised with the lighting of the second fire, which promises him ‘life with every dancing flame”. Once again, this is short-lived as the fire ends with the falling of snow from a tree, ending not only his hope for life but his life.
Nowadays, literary critics are being well aware of the fact that it was namely throughout the course of late 19th and early 20th centuries, that the naturalist motifs in European and American literature have come to their all-times-high prominence.
In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that, during the course of this historical period, more and more writers have been realizing that Darwin’s evolutionary theory, concerned with the survival of the fittest, correlates perfectly well with the essence of human societies’ inner dynamics.
As it was noted by Cuddy and Roche (2003): “[In early 20th century] The notion of the survival of the fittest in relation to inherited traits and response to environmental factors became fertile conceptual ground for literary analysis of human nature and society” (22).
The validity of such an idea can be well explored in regards to the literary legacy of one of America’s greatest writers – Jack London, as the extreme naturalism of many of his short stories and novels conveys a clearly defined philosophical message – only the objectively existing laws of nature, to which people are being subjected as much as plants and animals, which should be thought of as the basis of true ethics.
According to McClintock (1970): “Since, for London, science had dislodged idealistic concepts of man, his temperament insisted that affirmations of the human condition, too, have a scientifically justifiable rationale” (336).
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that in literary works of Jack London, naturalist motifs do not only serve the purpose of increasing the extent of plot’s emotional appeal, but they are also being expected to enlighten readers on the true essence of their existential mode. In this paper, we will aim to substantiate the validly of an earlier articulated thesis at length, while exploring the emanations of literary naturalism in London’s short story To Build a Fire and in the novel The Call of the Wild.
Analytical part
The close reading of London’s ‘Northern’ short stories and novels, points out to the fact that naturalistic themes and motifs, contained in them, are being utilized not only for the purpose of exposing a particular ease, with which a formerly civilized individual can be reduced to a primeval savage, while facing the elements, but also for the purpose of revealing a variety of Western ethical conventions conceptually fallacious, since they do not correspond to the essence of their carriers’ physiological functioning.
As Rossetti (2006) had put it: “Naturalism rebukes the primitive for his or her debasement. At the same time, however, it necessarily posits a privileged class and confirms that class’s elite status” (5).
The soundness of this suggestion can be explored within the context of a following quote from To Build a Fire: “As he [traveler] turned to go on, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled” (The World of Jack London). Apparently, the author had made a deliberate point in drawing readers’ attention to purely physiological process of spitting.
Nevertheless, given story’s overall context, the fact that the traveler has been spitting rather excessively, does not degrade him in readers’ eyes, as this context confirms the validity of London’s conviction that whatever is natural, cannot be referred to as ‘immoral’ or ‘anti-aesthetic’, by definition.
In its turn, this explains why the apparent ‘distastefulness’ of London’s preoccupation with expounding upon utterly graphic aspects of human existence, clearly visible in this particular story, did not result in lessening the extent of story’s literary appeal.
The same can be said about the effects of utilization of naturalist motifs in London’s novel The Call of the Wild, where author had gone a great length while describing physical violence’s mechanical subtleties with great precision.
For example, in the scene where Buck receives his first ‘submission beating’, London appears to have deliberately strived to produce a heavy blow onto readers’ sense of aesthetic appropriateness: “The man, shifting the club from right to left, coolly caught him [Buck] by the under jaw, at the same time wrenching downward and backward.
Buck described a complete circle in the air, and half of another, then crashed to the ground on his head and chest” (11). It is needless to mention, of course, that the way, in which London had gone about describing the scene of Buck’s beating, can be best referred to as utterly graphic.
And yet, given the fact that London had never made a point in treating the subject of violence as ‘thing in itself’, while aiming to simply entertain intellectually marginalized readers, we cannot be referring to this particular scene’s clearly defined naturalism as being distasteful, in semantic sense of this word.
The earlier suggestion helps us to realize the essence of London’s literary talent. Apparently, unlike what it used to be the case with many of his writing contemporaries; he was not only able to benefit from tackling the issue of violence in intellectually honest manner, but also to show that, under no circumstances, should emanations of physical violence be regarded as ethically inappropriate, by definition, because in the natural environment, they do provide an additional momentum to the process living organisms becoming ever-more complex – hence, violence’s high morality.[1]
In its turn, this explains the phenomenon of why it were author’s particularly naturalistic literary pieces that appealed to intellectually sophisticate readers the most – whatever the ironic it might sound.
In his article, Nash (1966) states: “His [London’s] readers had little difficulty seeing the moral for their own lives of Buck’s reversion to the primitive. Significantly, London’s White Fang (1906), in which a wolf becomes a family dog, never enjoyed the popularity of The Call of the Wild” (530). Thus, it will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that it is due to London naturalism’s strongly defined philosophical sounding that even today; most readers consider it contextually appropriate.
Another reason why it is being the case is that London often exposes naturalistic themes and motifs in conjunction with his characters being on a great mission. For example, even though author’s description of traveler’s physical appearance in To Build a Fire, implies his lessened ability to conform to the conventions of Western civilized living: “The man’s red beard and mustache were likewise frosted…
Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice held his lips so rigidly that he was unable to clear his chin when he expelled the juice” (The World of Jack London), it nevertheless does not imply his lessened ability to act as such living’s actual agent. The reason for this is simple – in To Build a Fire, the character of a traveler never loses its cool, right to the very end. In its turn, this subtly confirms the sheer objectiveness of a so-called ‘White man’s burden’ notion.
It is namely the fact that White people’s exposal to the hostile environment does not usually undermine their ability to face life’s challenges in a rational manner, which created objective preconditions for them to be given the mission of spreading the light of civilization throughout the world.[2] This is exactly the reason why in To Built a Fire, author’s utilization of naturalistic motifs invokes perceptional stoicism in readers.
As Gurian (1966) had rightly noted: “Jack London’s men fight, as heroes, against surrounding force… London depicts protagonists fighting to win in a causative naturalist universe” (112). By naturalistically juxtaposing the character of traveler against the hostile forces of nature, London provides readers with the insight onto Faustian workings of White people’s psyche.
There can be very little doubt as to the fact that the strongly defined naturalism of many scenes in The Call of the Wild, serves essentially the same purpose. Given the fact that in this novel, dogs are being endowed with essentially human psychological traits, it comes as not a particular surprise that, while being exposed to the scenes of bloody rivalry between Buck and Spitz, readers gain a better understanding of what accounts for the essence of dynamics, within just about any human society.
Apparently, London believed that the representatives of Homo Sapiens specie are nothing but primates, with the layer of their civilizational sophistication being only skin-deep.[3] Just as it is being the case with apes, people think of ensuring the propagation of their genes (through sexual mating) and of gaining a dominant position within social hierarchy, as such that represent their foremost priorities in life.
Therefore, the following naturalistic scene, where Buck and Spitz fight to the death, while trying to ensure their dominance, within the pack, can be best referred to as perfectly connotative of how people go about gaining social prominence, within a society to which they happened to belong: “In vain Buck strove to sink his teeth in the neck of the big white dog.
Wherever his fangs struck for the softer flesh, they were countered by the fangs of Spitz. Fang clashed fang, and lips were cut and bleeding, but Buck could not penetrate his enemy’s guard” (35).
Apparently, throughout the course of his life, London never ceased being aware of a simple fact that, on this earth, there is simply no enough place under the sun for all – only the smartest and the strongest enjoy dialectically predetermined existential superiority. This is exactly the reason why there are clearly defined Social-Darwinist[4] undertones to naturalist themes and motifs, contained in both: The Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to think that these motifs are being essentially nihilistic. According to Auerbach (1995), the utterly naturalist way in which London’s characters address life’s challenges, is itself can be thought as the source of a new morality, based upon people’s recognition of natural laws’ full objectivity: “This [Darwinian] struggle… demands the dominance of one man over another; hence the origins of a master/slave dialectic… by working, [slave] becomes master over nature, and in doing so frees himself from nature as well as from himself” (59).
What it means that it is utterly inappropriate to refer to London’s literary naturalism as an indication of the fact that he thought of ‘primitiveness’ and ‘realness’ as basically synonymous concepts.
Quite on the contrary – as the reading of The Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire points out to, characters’ exposal to naturalistically defined primitivism, on the part of nature itself (in the short story) and on the part of gold-seeking brutes and their dogs (in the novel), cannot be discussed outside of how it helped these characters to realize the sheer extent of their perceptional nobleness.
Conclusion
We believe that the line of argumentation, deployed throughout paper’s analytical part, confirms the validity of an initial thesis that the presence of naturalist motifs and themes in London’s The Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire, should be thought of as having philosophical rather than purely instrumental purpose.
While never ceasing to treat readers in intellectually honest manner, sublimated in his tendency to provide graphically detailed accounts of characters’ struggle with the hostile environment and with viciously-minded competitors for the same environmental niche; London strived to promote an idea that it is only those capable of understanding the full spectrum of ‘survival of the fittest’ concept’s implications, who deserve to remain on the leading edge of biological evolution.
Given the fact that, due to being subjected to ideological oppression of political correctness, more and more men in Western countries now grow exceedingly feminized, it is very likely that in the future, London’s literary naturalism is going to be increasingly referred to as such that contains clues as to very essence of masculine virtuousness.
References
Auerbach, Jonathan “Congested Mails’: Buck and Jack’s ‘Call”. American Literature 67.1 (1995): 51-76.
Carroll, Joseph. Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Cuddy, Lois & Roche, Claire. Evolution and Eugenics in American Literature and Culture, 1880-1940: Essays on Ideological Conflict and Complicity. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2003.
Gurian, Jay “The Romantic Necessity in Literary Naturalism: Jack London”. American Literature 38.1 (1966): 112-120.
Exploring Futility in John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums,” And Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” and “The League of Old Men” Hashemipour, Saman, Sağlan Furkan, and Ömürcan Türkoğlu. “A Twentieth-Century Countrywoman in Steinbeck’s ‘The Chrysanthemums’: A Socio-Cultural Study of Oppression.” International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation (IJLLT), vol. 2., no. 3., 2019, pp. 36-41.
This article from a peer-reviewed academic journal is published by a collective of scholars, including a lecturer and two researchers, from Girne American University, Turkey. The article explores the symbolism of Elisa as the main character in Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and especially her representation of the ignored and oppressed women of her time. No methods are explicitly identified in the article, and the authors use a combination of direct quotes from the story and additional sources commenting on its historical context. The main argument is that, while Elisa symbolizes the unfavorable situation experienced by the early 20th century women, the chrysanthemums represent her hope that is eventually rooted out and destroyed. While fairly simple, the argument is easy to agree with, and the authors develop it with sound logic and sufficient reasoning.
This source can be useful for the paper by demonstrating how the futility of certain endeavors can be built-in in the existing social structures, and the attempts to overcome them result in unyielding pressure. The author’s reflection on the historical context and particularly the “limited social freedom” allotted to the protagonist is particularly useful in this respect (Hashemipour et al. 36). It can contribute to the discussion by showing how social mores can be just as insurmountable an obstacle as the hostile natural environment and the course of history itself.
Hillier, Russell. M. “Crystal Beards and Dantean Influence in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire (II).” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, vol. 23, no. 3, 2010, pp. 172–178.
This article from a peer-reviewed academic journal is published by Russell Hillier, an Associate Professor of English at Providence College, Rhode Island. The aim of the article is to identify Dante’s influences in London’s “To Build a Fire.” In order to achieve it, the author uses a combination of close reading and historical analysis. On the one hand, Hillier searches for textual parallels in London’s and Dante’s texts. On the other hand, he uses additional sources to identify Dante’s “Inferno” as one of London’s main literary experiences in his formative years as a writer. The author’s conclusion is that the short story’s imagery uses deliberate parallels with “Inferno” to construct a hellish image of the Yukon Territory. Not all parts of this argument are equally convincing because not every aspect of hellish imagery discussed necessarily goes back to Dante, but the author’s ideas still provide plentiful food for thought.
This source would be best used in the paper to discuss the depiction of futility in the conflict between a person and a natural rather than social environment. The author’s interpretation of the “infernal rendering of the unforgiving Yukon wasteland” and the hellish associations it invokes can illustrate the protagonist’s insurmountable task (173). As such, it would provide material for comparison with the stories where futility comes from a conflict with historical circumstances and social mores.
Maiti, Abhik. “A Story of Repressed Feminism: Exploring Steinbeck’s Women Characters with Special Reference to ‘The Chrysanthemums’.” International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, vol. 5, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-14.
This article from a peer-reviewed academic journal is published by Maiti Abhik, a History MA pursuing an MA in English at the University of Calcutta. As the title suggests, the article explores female characters in Steinbeck’s fiction with a particular emphasis on Elisa from the short story “The Chrysanthemums.” The author’s methods include the identification of consistent patterns and themes pertaining to Steinbeck’s representation of female characters throughout his works, as well as a close reading of the titular story. The author’s central argument is that Elisa is a feminist character who tries and fails to exercise her creativity and agency in an oppressive patriarchal environment. The argument is well-supported with textual evidence, be that the direct quotes from Steinbeck’s text or the references to other scholars. Admittedly, the author’s thesis is not hard to prove to begin with, as Elisa being at odds with the conditions created by other men, such as her husband or the tinker, is fairly evident.
This source would be best used in the paper to demonstrate how futility can manifest in encounters with a social environment. The key piece supporting the paper is the author’s interpretation of the story as Elisa leaving her attempts at an independent agency and “succumbing to the social modes” (Maiti 12). It will add to the interpretation of futility in the other two stories.
Pizer, Donald. “Jack London’s ‘To Build a Fire:’ How Not to Read Naturalist Fiction.” Philosophy and Literature, vol. 34, no. 1, 2010, pp. 218-227.
This article from a peer-reviewed academic journal is published by Donald Pizer, a Professor of English at Tulane University, Louisiana, and a well-known specialist in American literary naturalism. The article analyzes London’s famed story “To Build a Fire” as an example of naturalist fiction and opposes those critical interpretations of the work that Pizer considers to be unsupported. The article’s main thesis is that new historicist and cultural studies misinterpret classical Naturalist texts by disregarding the authors’ use of literary means. Pizer’s method includes a close reading of the text itself and the literary means it employs as opposed to uncovering its cultural and social context the author was presumably ignorant of. The author’s conclusion is that misreading naturalist texts in this manner is an exercise that threatens to undermine their strongest features, such as directness and plain language, pursuing deconstruction for deconstruction’s sake. Overall, the argument is convincing due to frequent references to the primary source and the straightforwardness of the author’s thesis, as opposed to the often cryptic interpretations he critiques.
This source would be best used in the paper to how futility results from underutilizing one’s resources. According to Pizer, the protagonist’s struggle ends up futile because he challenges both “instinct… and racial wisdom” (222). It can demonstrate how futility can logically result from a prior rejection of the resources at hand.
Reesman, Jeanne C. Jack London’s Racial Lives: A Critical Biography. University of Georgia Press, 2009.
This scholarly monograph is written by Jeanne Reesman, a Professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The book discusses the often contradictory and conflicting attitudes toward race in London’s writing throughout his long and fruitful writing career. One of the book’s most important points is that London, despite his reputation for supporting white supremacy, often adopted non-white perspectives. These could include African American, Hawaiian, Japanese, mixed ancestry, and, most important for this paper, Native American. The author approaches the matter historically as well as topically, analyzing London’s attitude toward race in different settings and pieces and exploring the topic chronologically in each of these sections. Overall, Reesman’s argument is fairly convincing, especially since the author touches upon the topic that has rarely been a specific and explicit focus of study before.
For the purpose of this paper, the best way to draw upon this source is by using its interpretation of London’s “League of Old Men.” The author views the short story as the portrayal of Native American ways declining before the onslaught of modernity symbolized and epitomized by “the machinery of the trial” (Reesman 65-66). When compared to other short stories, it can contribute to the discussion of how the futility may manifest in the doomed attempts to confront the slow yet inexorable historical processes.
Works Cited
Hashemipour, Saman et al. “A Twentieth-Century Countrywoman in Steinbeck’s ‘The Chrysanthemums’: A Socio-Cultural Study of Oppression.” International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation (IJLLT), vol. 2., no. 3., 2019, pp. 36-41.
Hillier, Russell. M. “Crystal Beards and Dantean Influence in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire (II).” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, vol. 23, no. 3, 2010, pp. 172–178.
Maiti, Abhik. “A Story of Repressed Feminism: Exploring Steinbeck’s Women Characters with Special Reference to ‘The Chrysanthemums’.” International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, vol. 5, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-14.
Pizer, Donald. “Jack London’s ‘To Build a Fire:’ How Not to Read Naturalist Fiction.” Philosophy and Literature, vol. 34, no. 1, 2010, pp. 218-227.
Reesman, Jeanne C. Jack London’s Racial Lives: A Critical Biography. University of Georgia Press, 2009.
Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” has been greatly considered to be the foremost example of the naturalist movement and the conflict between man and nature. The protagonist of the story is the man who “was a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter” and he is the prime tool at the hands of the writer to establish his themes. (London, To Build a Fire). The main character in the story exhibits the most interesting characteristics in an analysis of the man-nature conflict worked out by Jack London and the man’s foolish confidence despite nature’s enormous power is described by the writer in the most convincing manner.
Thus, the story “To Build a Fire” presents the main character, the man, as involved in a fight with the natural powers including the cosmic, human, and bestial forces, foolish and regardless of the experienced people. The various instances of the story very clearly exhibit these characteristic aspects of the protagonist in the novel.
The brief basic plot of the story
The story “To Build a Fire” is indubitably a wonderful narration of man’s fight against the natural forces and hence the characters display the elements of naturalism. The man in the story is presented as fighting against cosmic, human, and bestial forces. He underestimated cosmic powers and he is least worried about the lack of sun or the excess of cold and it turns out to be foolish. “He was used to the lack of sun…Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below–how much colder he did not know. But the temperature did not matter.” ((London. To Build a Fire). Similarly, the man in the story overestimates the human powers.
As one of the studies on the story reveals, “Failing to understand that he, no more than his ancestors, is equipped to deal instinctively with the elements, he ignores the unique human faculty of reason.” (London. To Build a Fire: Biography). That is to say, he discounts the advice given by the old-timer on Sulphur Creek that “after fifty below, a man should travel with a partner,” (London) and by the time he realized the fact of all, he had lost all the sensation of the body. However, the most pitiable fact is that the man catastrophically discards the signals given by his own body persistently, which might make him more mindful of the danger.
The unnamed man in “To Build a Fire” who engages in a nine-hour trek across the Klondike’s ruthless winter landscape has been the most favorite tool at the hands of London to illustrate the exciting theme of his story. Thus, the writer sets the character making the journey alone, except a dog, disregarding the advice of an old-timer and ultimately freezes to death before reaching the destination, following various disasters on the way.
The man in the story, his features, fate, and the end, etc are closely related to the themes of the story and the following comment makes it clear. “The man’s behavior and his ultimate fate highlight the story’s themes of survival in the wilderness, the individual versus nature, and death.” (London. To Build a Fire Study Guide: Themes).
Another major characteristic of the character of the man is that he represents the existentialist quest in every man and no specific name given to the character has a great bearing on this. That is to say, London has not provided the central character any particular name, but simply refers to him as “the man” right through “To Build a Fire” and it has been to powerfully emphasize the theme of existentialism in the story.
“By not naming the character, London has placed him at an even greater distance from the reader within his deadly setting, thus isolating him all the more in a bleak and hostile universe.” (London. The Existential Theme in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”). In ultimate conclusion, it becomes evident that the characteristic features of the man in the story “To Build a Fire” are closely linked to the main themes of the story. The man with his important characteristics becomes the foremost aspect of the story in drawing the everlasting impression on the writing by London.
Works Cited
London, Jack. To Build a Fire. Read Print. 2006. Web.
London, Jack. To Build a Fire: Biography. 1876-1916. Web.
London, Jack. To Build a Fire Study Guide: Themes. Book Rags. 2005-2006. Web.
London, Jack. The Existential Theme in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” Lone Star College: North Harris. 2008. Web.
In the story “To Build A Fire,” Jack London presents a bitter conflict between man and nature in the harsh Yukon Trail environment. The author’s choice to use nature as the antagonist portrays an understanding of a force working against the main character, the man, as he struggles to endure in the cold. By giving nature several aspects of human features, London personifies the environment by creating different things that went wrong, which could have been avoided. London foreshadows the man’s fate throughout the story by making him recall what should have happened. The human-nature relationship portrayed by London shows that due to man’s selfishness, he is unable to survive the cold.
Throughout the tale London explores a heartbreaking relationship between man and nature. He shows how the main character is entirely encircled by threatening signs, and through his instincts, the right thing to do is to turn back. However, due to the man’s stubbornness, he considers the old-timers’ advice “that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below as rather womanish,” having saved himself after an accident (London and Anette, 264). The man’s stubbornness makes him think that “all he had to do was keep his head, and he was all right” (London and Anette, 264). With pride, he fails to notice the rapidity with which the cold was numbing his hands, feet, and face while his body was chilling through his skin due to blood loss.
While outside the village, the man acknowledges the coldness of the temperature, colder than below fifty, from a sanctuary of the bleakness of the open-air world. The personified nature relentlessly subjects the man to constant challenges that make it hard for him to reach his safety. The antagonist is shown as if to exact revenge against the protagonist due to his arrogance. The man believes in his ability to prevail against nature’s forces, and with a vengeance, nature seems to counter every move he makes to safeguard himself against the cold. That is why “each time he pulled a twig he had communicated a slight agitation to the tree” when he built a fire beneath the spruce tree (London and Anette, 265). Nature’s wrath against man leads to the blotting out of the fire, and “where it had burned was a mantle of fresh and disordered snow” (London and Anette, 265). With the fire out, the man realizes the aggravated threat and tremendous power that he faces, which makes him distressed when he realized that he had not control.
The lack of relationship with the dog is another cause of the man’s death. How they related was entirely established on toil-slave nature, and “the only caresses it had ever received were the caresses of the whip-lash and of harsh and menacing throat-sounds that threatened the whip-lash” (London and Anette, 262). The dog only considered keeping the company of the man since he could provide food and fire to keep it warm. As the man “was losing his battle with the frost. It was creeping into his body from all sides,” the dog could not help but see the man face his death (London and Anette, 272). The dog’s inability to warm that man against what he does wrong is due to the feeling the man has never treated him well.
Everything that could potentially go wrong went wrong in the story. London shows that nature was acting in a manner that reassured the reader that it was after the man. The selfish nature of the man makes him incapable of help even when he can read from the dog what to do. Moreover, the arrogance seen in the man contributes to his death as he finds himself incapable of fighting against nature’s forces.
Work Cited
London Jack and Anette P Kane. To Build a Fire and Other Stories. English Language Programs Division United States Information Agency 1991.
Henry James’ notion that a character is as intriguing as their response to specific situations is backed by the works of several literary composers in stories with one or several characters. “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Tale-Tell Heart” are fictional compositions that shed light on some of the most destructive habits of humans and their inability to cope once they reach their breaking point. In both stories, the main characters rely on their instinct to make critical decisions but are driven beyond their capabilities. The authors of both short stories adopted the themes of despair and the struggle between humans and nature to lead their audience into empathizing with characters while anticipating their end because they neglected their instincts.
“To build a Fire” is a short story that features a male character and his dog on their journey through the piercing cold and ice forests toward a boys’ camp where they would seek refuge. However, the man was not successful in his venture as his trip was cut short by his negligence and mistrust of an older man’s advice and his instinct. In the story’s beginning, the man realizes that the weather is colder than usual but does not acknowledge how this might impact his health (Harrison 315). Jack London suggests, “As he turned to go on, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall, the spittle crackled in the air. Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below, much colder, he did not know. But the temperature did not matter” (London 120). The man noted several other times that the temperature was low. Nevertheless, the man paid no attention to his instincts, thus leading to his demise.
“The Tale-Tell Heart” takes a different twist as the narrator’s inability to control their senses, thoughts, and ambitions led to his fall as he confessed to committing murder and surrendered himself to the police when he could have easily gotten away with his crime. At the story’s beginning, the narrator suggests that he is not mad for doing what he did and professes that he was ill, but his disease enhanced his mind, senses, and feelings. The character says, “I did not hate the old man; I even loved him. He had never hurt me. I did not want his money. I think it was his eye. His eye was like the eye of a vulture, the eye of one of those terrible birds that watch and wait while an animal dies, and then fall upon the dead body and pull it to pieces to eat it” (Poe 64). Therefore, the only obsession that the narrator has with the man is his strange eye, but his inability to control his feelings drives him to commit the heinous act and take the blame.
The factors that contributed to the downfall of the character featured in “To build a Fire” were his neglect of critical advice offered by an old man over his intuition and misguided ambitions of obtaining refuge once he arrived at his destination. The man thought of and remembered how the older man told him of the dangers people traveling across the snow faced (Harrison 321). The author notes, “He remembered the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The man had been severe when he said that no man should travel alone in that country after 50 below zero. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone, and he had saved himself. Those old men were rather womanish, he thought. All a man must do was to keep his head, and he was all right” (London 72). However, he later realized that his ideas were far-fetched and agreed that no man could survive a journey through the snow without a dedicated human companion.
On the other hand, the components that facilitated the crimes and downfall of the narrator in “The Tale-Tell Heart” are his conflicting feelings and internal crisis as they pushed him to commit the murder. The narrator was hesitant to kill his victim because he had no substantial reason. However, his thought of the old man’s eye drove him to the edge because of the cold feeling he experienced. He suggests, “When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye, a cold feeling went up and down back; even my blood became cold. And so, I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever” (Poe 65-65). Although the narrator sought to carry out an irrational act, his conflicting emotions and thoughts convinced him that he was sane because he planned his actions for more than a week. Thus, the narrator’s thoughts and ideas suggest that he realized his mistakes but resisted acknowledging them because he believed in his intuition and sanity.
“To Build a Fire” depicts the battle between man and nature, proving that natural factors are much more powerful and can destroy any human. The character in the story heard many tales of how people were lost in the vast snow but did not forecast that he would fall, victim, because he thought he had everything in place. In the end, nature seemed to work against him as all the fires he built went off, and his matchsticks all caught fire (). Subsequently, the character slowly loses his senses and cannot feel his face, fingers, and legs. After a while, the traveler fell into a deep sleep to symbolize how nature overcame his powers. The author notes that “the man dropped into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known. Later, the dog howled loudly, and still it moved close to the man and caught the smell of death” (London 79). Therefore, the man succumbed to the harsh weather conditions and did not have the opportunity to narrate his tale because he struggled with the forces of nature.
Similarly, the narrator in “The Tale-Tell Heart” pits his ego against human instincts and attempts to justify his wicked actions but fails. The character purports, “So you think that I am mad? A madman cannot plan. But you should have seen me. During that week, I was as friendly to the old man as I could be, and warm and loving” (Poe 64). In addition, the man knew he was sick but fought off the idea by suggesting that his illness made him stronger and more sensitive. Although the narrator was sure of getting away with the crime, his guilt turned upon him as his situation escalated out of control. The narrator comments as if playing a game with them, I asked them to sit down and talk for a while. My easy, quiet manner made the police officers believe my story. So they sat talking with me in a friendly way” (Poe 67). Nevertheless, the man could not stomach his actions and kept hearing voices. Therefore, he used all his might to justify and evade his actions but was unsuccessful, as they were inhuman.
The most notable feature of “To build a Fire” and “The Tale-Tell Heart” is the author’s use of empathy to draw his audience’s attention to the character’s plight and suffering. London describes how the man felt a sharp pain but trod on due to his belief in achieving his goals. The traveler thought about the advice he was given several times but could do nothing to alter his fate because of limited options. In addition, he considered all the possible solutions to save his life, including killing his dog but was unsuccessful (Carroll 142). However, the man’s fate is evident when his body systems start failing, and his plans to light a fire end up harming him. Similarly, the narrator in “The Tale-Tell Heart” suffered from several issues that pushed him to his breaking point. Judging by the story’s plot, the character might have been insane because the voices in his head did not stop even after he had murdered the old man. Instead, they became louder and resulted in more suffering, ultimately forcing him to surrender.
Another notable trait of the characters in “To build a Fire” and “The Tale-Tell Heart” is their struggle with obstacles that require conquering in different ways. In “To Build a Fire,” the main character resists and fights obvious signs that warn him from making his trip in the cold weather but proceeds. The man’s arrogance makes him ignorant, leading to his demise (Carroll 139). The traveler assumed he was bigger and better than others with more experience and did not accept that nature would endanger his life. On the other hand, the character in “The Tale-Tell Heart” fights with the voice inside his head or yet another personality detached from his humanity. I believe the narrator occasionally regains his senses during some periods of the day, but by night, his alter ego kicks in and takes complete control of his mind and actions. As a result, he is not sure of the morality of his actions and goes back and forth to justify his actions and convince the reader of his actions.
“To Build a Fire” and “The Tale-Tell Heart” are two different stories that feature characters with fragile mental states and unstable mind frames. Although they face different circumstances and are not fighting the same battle, their actions lead the readers to wonder about the severity of their instability. Both stories describe instances when individuals argue against their instincts and attempt to fight against nature. However, both characters fail because of factors that push them to their limits. The traveler in “To Build a Fire” loses his life to the harsh weather while his dog walks free, and the narrator in “The Tale-Tell Heart” cannot keep up with his act because of voices in his head. Nevertheless, the authors of both stories explain the characters’ experiences in detail and solicit empathy from readers, who feel the individuals suffering but question their sanity and rationality.
Works Cited
Carroll, Joseph. “Death in literature.” Evolutionary perspectives on death. Springer, Cham, 2019. 137–159. Web.
Harrison, Dave, and Knox Lively. “To Build a Fire.” Achieving DevOps. Apress, Berkeley, CA, 2019. 311–367. Web.
London, Jack. “To Build a Fire.” Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 10th ed. New York: Pearson/Longman 119-29. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 10th ed. New York: Pearson/Longman 413-16. Print.
“To Build A Fire” (August 1908), written by Jack London, details the story of a man who foolishly underestimated the environment that he found himself in which resulted in his death. The short story describes the actions the actions the man took to meet up with his associates and how they contributed to his misfortune.
Throughout the events in the story, the man remembers various flashbacks of advice given to him by a man from Sulphur Creek, which revealed the foolishness of his actions. Not checking the temperature, not having someone else come along with him as well as not being observant of his surroundings are the main contributing factors that lead to his demise. After reading the story, the central idea that can be drawn from it is that assumptions can kill.
Action and Reaction
The first situation that supports the idea that assumptions can kill can be seen in the commentary of the main character in the story when it comes to the surrounding temperature. He continuously made allusions to his supposed capacity to handle the weather, thought that the temperature was not as cold as it was, and believed that he could make it to this destination before the temperature got lower. The problem with this scenario is that his survival hinged on him being right when in reality he was wrong about the temperature, his ability to survive and being able to make it to his destination without any problems. This is a clear case of action and reaction wherein his actions of assuming without verification lead to a life threatening situation that could have been avoided (Hillier 175).
Failure to Recognize Limitations
Another of the details that support the postulation that the main idea of the story is that assumptions can kill is the inability of the main character to recognize his limitations. It was mentioned in the story that this was the first year that the main character had spent in the snowy wilderness. He was used to a bright sun, warm summers and long days. Not cold nights that could last days and an environment that is more hostile than inviting.
As such, it can be stated that assuming that an individual’s capacity to be alright in one environment would translate into being in another is an incredibly foolish belief (Feast 2). A winter environment brings with it dangers that require years of experience to handle appropriately and yet the main character believed that he could do so through his inherent “toughness.” The result of his way of thinking was his death in a snowy landscape with only the dog as his witness.
Apparent Foreshadowing
Further support of the assumed main idea of the story can be seen in the creative foreshadowing that the author utilized. For example, sulfur matches were considered as a much-needed method of starting a fire and are thus considered essential for survival. Their use can be correlated to the advice from the man from Sulphur Creek, who was mentioned several times throughout the story as a source of valuable information that could have saved the main character.
The scene where the main character dropped several sulfur matches and was unable to properly start a fire can be considered as the author connecting the fact that despite being given a lot of advice, the main character still did not heed them. The sulfur matches thus act as a symbol of the advice that the man was initially given which enabled him to survive at the start, but since he did not follow most of it, he wound up freezing to death later on (Kreidler 1). This method of foreshadowing supports the hypothesis of this story since it shows that the assumptions of the man when it came to not following the advice given to him lead to his death.
Instinct Versus Assumptions
Another support idea for the assumed main idea of the short story can be seen in the perspective of the dog in the story and how it clashes with the actions of the man. In the story, we can clearly see that the instincts of the dog are telling it that it is not a good idea to continue on the journey; however, the main character pushes on. This particular interaction between the two can be considered as symbolic of assumptions versus instincts since the man clearly showed in numerous instances that he refused to believe in his instincts and carried on due to his belief.
Conclusion
Based on everything that has been presented so far in this paper, it can be concluded that the main idea of the story is that assumptions can kill. What readers can gain from the reading is that people often overestimate what they are capable of doing or underestimate the full ramifications of their actions, especially when it comes to the outcome of situations that hinge on unsubstantiated assumptions. All in all, reading “To Build A Fire.” is a great way of introducing readers to the concept of how decisions can have a very real impact on outcomes.
Works Cited
Feast, James. “To Build A Fire.” Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition (2006): 1-2. Print.
Hillier, Russell M. “Crystal Beards And Dantean Influence In Jack London’s “To Build A Fire (II)”.” Anq 23.3 (2010): 172-178. Print.
Kreidler, Michele L. “Jack London’s “To Build A Fire.” Literary Contexts In Short Stories: Jack London’s ‘To Build A Fire’ (2009): 1. Print.
To Build a Fire by Jack London tells the story of a man who perishes in extreme whether conditions because he fails to take precaution before setting out on a journey on cold weather. The story is both naturalist and realist.
The naturalism movement in literature concerned itself with the struggles that a man had to go through to survive in the world. The nameless protagonist in the story goes through struggles as he encounters biting cold on his way to meet some boys. He walks through snow yet he had not dressed appropriately for the cold. The man uses his knowledge in order to fight the severe cold just as naturalism shows the struggles of man against nature.
At the end, nature subdues him (An Introduction to Realism and Naturalism, n.d.). The man who has set out to seek gold becomes preoccupied with the cold that threatens his life. The nature is indifferent to the man as he starts to suffer from frostbite as it continues to be cold anyway. The dog that accompanies the man is also indifferent to the man even though it seems to be have more aware of the danger posed by travelling in that kind of weather than the man who underestimates the danger.
The emphasis of naturalism is narrative rather than the individual (An Introduction to Realism and Naturalism, n.d.). The author does not bother to tell us the name of the man. He remains nameless and the author concentrates on telling the story about the struggle with nature. Moreover, just as the characteristic of naturalism is writing about the middle class the man obviously belongs to the middle class because he venture sets to get gold just as the boys. He is an ordinary person and not a hero who triumphs against the odds he faces.
The other characteristic of naturalism is determinism (An Introduction to Realism and Naturalism, n.d.). A man does not have a free will when it comes to nature, which shapes their behaviour. The behaviour of man is determined by nature. All the actions of man have results and the man’s actions such as building a fire under a tree leads to the destruction of the fire he had made and eventually he freezes to death, as he is unable to make another one successfully.
On the other hand, realism is evident in the story. Realism attempts to portray life as it is (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2008; An Introduction to Realism and Naturalism, n.d.). The story tells the fate of the man honestly. For instance, the man faces his death, which maybe could have been avoided because he lacked imagination. He failed to know or make judgments about the consequences of temperatures below 50 degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, when he began to think critically it was already too late for him to overturn his fate. The author describes the environment and the actions of the man such that one can actually form a mental picture of the man trying to save himself desperately from the cold as he tries frantically to light a match but his frozen hands cannot help him.
Realism deals with ethical choices made by man rather than the emotions (An Introduction to Realism and Naturalism, n.d.). In the story, we see the choices that the man makes. For instance, he decided to go out despite the obvious looming danger.
He ignores the cold that bites his nose and instead of turning back or finding a shelter to keep warm, he continues with his journey. The choices he makes have consequences and one of them is death. Moreover, the story talks realistically about an ordinary man making an effort to improve the condition of his life by going the gold rich Yuken.
Forming a pattern is intrinsic to the art of writing and this fact will become evident in the comparison of any two pieces of writing by a particular author. In order to analyze how patterns in writing occurs, I take the example of Jack London and the following paragraph will analyze the two short stories written by the author, ‘To Build a Fire’ and ‘White Snow,’ and illustrate the instances where one comes across such patterns in terms of the subject discussed in both the stories.
Both the stories deal with the subject of the savageness of nature, manifested in the form of extreme cold conditions, where humans fight for their survival. In both stories Jack London is seen as following similar patterns to convey the severity of the climate to his audience. Right from the choice of titles, both stories can be perceived as sharing a common pattern, in terms of their allusion to snow or cold. Quite obviously, people build a fire to ward off cold which results from snow.
Similarly, ‘White Silence’ is a subtle hint at the ambience existing in a snowbound terrain. While ‘To Build a Fire’ begins with the narration, “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray…” (London) the author introduces the reader to the extremity of the weather in ‘White Silence’ with an opening scene where one of the characters “bites out the ice which clustered cruelly between the toes” (London) of a dog. Thus, a reader can decipher that the writing pattern used in both the cases is similar, albeit the latter, without being a statement like the former, sounds more effective in terms of ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’. Another writing pattern readers may identify as a common thread in these stories is that they mention a trial through snowbound, frost laden terrain where the characters succumb to disasters.
The prose in these stories contain similar phrase like ‘below sixty degrees’ wherein, again, a pattern of mentioning the exact measurement of temperature, intended to evoke a sense of the bitterness of the cold conditions in the readers’ mind, is evident. Yet another writing pattern that exists in these stories is the manner in which the author depicts the cruelty that man shows to animals, through which London implies that man, unlike other animals, can become savage for achieving his personal objectives. The character in ‘To Build a Fire’ contemplates the idea of killing the dog and tearing its belly so he could warm his hands.
On the same vein, the character in ‘White Silence’ lashes the dog mercilessly but regrets this before he dies. Besides, in both stories one comes across the instances of the writer showing the fierceness of nature through several narrative techniques. The description of the spittle freezing and breaking on the ground, in the first story, and the postulation in the latter that “Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity, — the ceaseless flow of the tides, the fury of the storm, the shock of the earthquake, the long roll of heaven’s artillery, — but the most tremendous, the most stupefying of all, is the passive phase of the White Silence” (London) are the best examples.
One major difference in the writing pattern in these stories is that ‘To Build a Fire’ resorts entirely to narrative and description to unfold the story. ‘White Silence’, on the other hand, includes a lot of dialogues. The reason is that the former contains only one human character while the latter has three. Another major contrast is the fact that as opposed to ‘Build the Fire,’ in the other story, London mentions race to signify the role of nature in human life. However, despite these dissimilarities, the pattern of writing in these stories is so conspicuous that even a cursive reading will reveal them.
Works Cited
London, Jack. To Build a Fire. The World of Jack London. 2008. Web.
London, Jack. The White Silence. The World of Jack London. 2008. Web.