Abstract

This essay is a literary analysis of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” Jack London has set before us a story of survival and pride. Although the main theme of man against nature is very clear to the reader, it is through the eyes of the traveler and the thoughts of the dog traveling that with him that we begin to see just how frail humans are. The newcomer to the Yukon is ill prepared for what lays before him.
Never Travel Alone Jack London “To Build a Fire”
There is a thin line between life and death. Our own fate truly lies in our own hands. We can choose to close our eyes and blindly push forward or open our eyes and see the dangers that lie ahead. Our traveler in this story blindly pushed forward.
A newcomer to the Yukon, he was headed to a camp about ten hours away by foot to meet the “boys”. “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray” (p. 518). This was the first warning our traveler ignored. A foreshadowing of what is to come. In the deep of the winter where the days are extremely cold, an old-timer to the Yukon warned the man, never travel alone and to never travel when the temperature was fifty degrees below zero. The man thinking he knew more than the old-timer chose to ignore the danger, his mind empty of all but one thought - reaching the camp by 6pm. Spitting into the air his spittle froze and cracked before hitting the ground, a clear sign that the temperature was much colder than fifty degrees below zero.
The husky like dog traveling with him on the other hand was reluctant to do as the man said, going purely on instinct it knew this was not a day to travel. It only wanted to turn back or to have the man seek shelter somewhere and build a fire. The man begins to feel the effects of the cold on his cheeks and nose. The moisture from his breath begins to form ice on his beard and the spittle from the tobacco covered his beard, turning it a long frozen brown icicle. The man was sure his nose and cheeks were frostbitten, regretting he had not covered them he continued on his journey. For a moment when he stopped to eat his lunch he felt the intense cold, he failed again to heed the warning of the old-timer. London wrote, “He pulled the mitten on hurriedly and stood up. He was a bit frightened. He stamped up and down until the stinging returned into the feet. It certainly was cold, was his thought.” (p. 522)
Lacking any concern for the cold the man takes great pride in the small fire he builds. Taking time to relax and enjoy his pipe. Setting off once again for the camp the dog knew it was not a time to travel but had no concern for the welfare of the man. It only yearned to return to the safety of the fire however, the man’s whistle and harsh voice commanded the dog to follow. The irony that man’s best friend in this story has no concern for the man cannot be overlooked. London’s use of foreshadowing in this story leads the reader down several paths, the survival of the man or the victory of death. He prepares us for the worst by giving us glimpses into the danger the man faces yet dangles the thread of hope in front of us by allowing the man to travel safely through the frozen tundra. Will the man triumph over nature or will nature prevail over man? London writes,
And then it happened. At a place where there were no signs, where the soft, unbroken snow seemed to advertise solidity beneath, the man broke through. It was not deep. He wet himself halfway to the knees before he floundered out to the firm crust. (p. 523)
The thread of hope of survival for the reader seems gone, and for the man in the story freezing to death was now a reality until we move into the next scene. Once again the old-timers words come back to haunt the man, never travel alone and never travel when the temperature is below fifty degrees below zero, but the man also remembers one more thing the old-timer told him, a fire can save your life, without a fire you will freeze to death. The man was very pleased with himself, he did not need anyone to travel with him to help keep him safe, he was alone; he had fallen into a spring, and had been able to build a fire, which means he would survive.
The old-timers were “womanish”. At this point of the story the man was right he had beaten nature and has so far survived the severe cold, he had managed to build a fire. The reader again has hope that the man will make it to his camp. It appears in the battle of man vs. nature, man is winning. Or is he!
Nature on the other hand does not care, it merely is. Building his fire under a large spruce tree, the man is only thinking of getting dried off and getting to the camp. Pulling the low-lying branches off of the tree to use as fuel for the fire, causes a cascade of snow that had accumulated on the high branches above to tumbled down, smothering out the fire ( his last chance of survival). For the first, time the man feels a true sense of panic. After several unsuccessful attempts at staring a new fire, the man finally realizes the danger he is in. His fingers and hands are frozen making it impossible for him to hold on anything much less start a new fire. Seeing the dog the man remembers being told a man once survived by killing a steer and crawling inside the carcass. Thinking perhaps he could at least warm his hands in the dog’s body perhaps he would then be able to start a fire he calls for the dog. Unfortunate for the man but thankfully for the reader this plan failed.
Reality is setting in; the reader now knows the man’s fate. However, the man’s determination keeps him from accepting his fate at least for a short time longer. Although his body is shivering, no longer feeling his feet, legs, arms and hands, he manages to stand and begins to run around wildly hoping he can make it to the camp before he freezes to death, the dog running with him at his heels. The camp is too far away but the hope of survival drives the man to try several more times each time falling back to the snow-covered ground. Tired, cold and exhausted, unable to go any farther, he accepts his death. Smiling to himself, he realized how foolish he must have looked. Whispering to the old-timer that he had been right he admits his foolishness, makes his peace with nature and drifts off to sleep. Despite the man’s ignorance, London allows him to have a gentle death. “There were lots worse ways to die” (p. 528). The dog finally realizing the man is dead, headed to the camp where he knew there was food and shelter. Nature won, man lost, pride was foolish. I suppose one could say the moral of this story is, listen to your elders. If only he had heeded the words of the old-timer …..

References

London, J (1908). To build a fire. In M. Meyer (Ed.), The compact Bedford introduction to literature (9th ed.), (pp. 518-528). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.