To Build a Fire by Jack London Term Paper

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Man vs. Nature in "To Build a Fire"

While man would like to believe in his strength and wisdom, there are times when he must comes to terms with the harsh reality of his weakness. In Jack London's short story, "To Build a Fire," we see mankind in perspective to nature. Mankind would like to believe that he controls the world and the events in it but the opposite is true. When he is left alone with his own devices, he actually does not stand a chance against the forces of nature. London's message in the story is that human beings are temporary and insignificant in the grand scheme of nature; while people may think they are lords over their environment, nature is a more powerful force that must be understood and respected if humans are to survive and prosper.

The vast artic wilderness demonstrates London's point perfectly. Robert Spiller claims that London is a "storyteller extraordinary to William Randolph Hearst" (Spiller 1037). Spiller also notes that London is from the camp of naturalistic writers that "demand of science that human life be reconsidered as the manifestation of natural laws" (1037). London proves this with "To Build a Fire" because the character in this story comes face-to-face with natural laws that kill him. Sam Baskett claims that London makes a comment on life, which is "horror" (Baskett 227). This horror is played out in great detail in the story. London emphasizes the insignificance of man in light of nature by placing the character in a situation where he is small in comparison to the Artic expanse in which he finds himself. The fact that the man realizes the severity of his situation only reinforces his plight. We read:

The trouble with him was that he was without imagination . . .

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Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable . . . from there on it did not lead him to the conjectural field of immortality and man's place in the universe . . . That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head. (London 728)

This passage explores the brutal force of nature. The extreme circumstances force us to come to terms with the hopelessness of this situation. The circumstance becomes more compelling when we realize the hopelessness before the man does. We feel for him because we know what awaits him. As he comes to terms with the truth of the situation, he loses his will to fight what appears to be a lost battle. He decides to "take it decently. With this newfound peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness. A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death. It was like

While mankind would like to think that he has control over his domain, it is quite the opposite. Survival is a significant facet of "To build a Fire" because it demonstrates how difficult survival actually is. Survival is literally a fight to live in this story. The man has no one to rescue him and he knows that if he does not make it by his wits alone, he will not make it at all. Here we see survival in its very fundamental form. Abraham Rothberg asserts that London often treated "human beings like animals" (Rothberg 9) and equated the "harshness of the trails with the harshness of society" (9). "To Build a Fire" is such a story where the harshness of reality is a gruesome reality. The man in the.....

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