To Build a Fire

I will be doing a reflection over a story called "To Build Fire" by Jack London. The story was actually written twice by the same author. Each story was basically the same when it came to the plot and general moral. The difference was that the second one was written with nameless characters versus the first one which had names for the main characters. (D'Ammassa). The story is about a man and his dog who are traveling together. The man is inexperienced and not very in touch with nature which is why he himself is faced with so many people. The protagonist of the story made mistake after mistake which got him into situations he was no where near able to get out of. For example in the twelfth paragraph it says "That was why he had shied in such panic. He had felt the give under his feet and heard the crackle of a snow-hidden ice-skin. And to get his feet wet in such a temperature meant trouble and danger." (London) Here London shows how the protagonist isn't very smart about his surrounding and got himself into huge trouble. The idea that there was ice under the snow is something only known to people who are knowledgeable about nature. This is London's way of showing the importance of knowing nature. Thoreau had the same idea because he also wanted the world to know the importance of nature when he wrote "Nature". In the story he shows the beauty of the wild, which I believe is what London is trying to portray through his story as well. He says, "At twelve o'clock the day was at its brightest. Yet the sun was too far south on its winter journey to clear the horizon. The bulge of the earth intervened between it and Henderson Creek, where the man walked under a clear sky at noon and cast no shadow. At half-past twelve, to the minute, he arrived at the forks of the creek. He was pleased at the speed he had made." (London) which shows some of the beauties of nature as well as the struggles of the young man.


London, Jack. "To Build a Fire, by Jack London." The World of Jack London 2012®. The World of Jack London. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. .



D'Ammassa, Don. "'To Build a Fire'." Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAdvF140&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 8, 2012)