essay on `To Build a Fire` short story by Jack London

To Build a Fire by Jack London

Jack London 's short story , To Build a Fire (1908 , like most of literary works , deals with the raw power of nature . Hailed as his best short story , it is also the most anthologized story by this author . The story is spun around a man 's struggle for survival in the Yukon on a day when the temperature has fallen about seventy degrees below zero . The unnamed protagonist travels alone except for a wolf-dog and gets his feet wet in a river . To escape the cold

, he builds a fire but the snow collected on a tree falls down and blots it out . Hands numbed by freezing cold the man becomes incapable of lighting a match to build another fire , and after a suspenseful fight for survival , finally resigns himself to his fate and succumbs to nature 's treachery . The story has won critical acclaims such as , Valid as it is , however , an interpretation which halts at the careful contrivance of suspense , a strong theme - by which is meant , I suppose , the primitive struggle for survival - and precise realistic details cannot explain the appeal of the story , which , like all serious fiction , hints at a depth and richness of meaning below the level of literal narration (Nurenberg , 1995 . Thus , intertwined between what is presented before the readers with the aid of exquisite prose are several concepts that the author subtly points to . Among them however , what becomes most conspicuous is the interplay of natural instincts in helping life to survive against the treacheries of nature as opposed to faulty human judgments

London refers to the fault of human judgments and the relevance of instinct right from the beginning of the story when he states , He was quick and alert in the things of life , but only in the things , and not in the significances (London , 1908 . The author is perhaps hinting that imagination derives from instincts and lack of it deprives the protagonist from realizing the significance of important things . While he does understand that the climatic conditions are too extreme , he doesn 't appreciate its significance in any realistic terms , nor does he foresee the potential severity of the cold conditions as capable of extinguishing his life . He seems to be motivated by his judgment of less important factors that he thinks would help him survive the climate of the region . The man in To Build a Fire believes that a man who is a man ' travels alone . He reads no message in the vast Alaskan landscape nor does he understand , in human , moral terms , the significance of sixty five degrees below zero . When he breaks through the ice and wets himself to his knees his limbs begin to freeze before he can get a fire started to dry himself out (Hedrick , 1982 . On the other hand , the dog equipped with the faculty of its instincts , recognizes the dangers that the cold conditions hold in store . It also appreciates that , it was...