Jack London's To Build A Fire

I personally believe that London was very good at writing about treacherous journeys, especially in cold and depressing climates. Did you know that over 100,000 gold prospectors left their home and moved to the Yukon territory or Alaska? All of those people moved for the famous Klondike Gold Rush. Many of those people lost their lives during their dangerous journey.
London’s famous short story “The Love of Life” depicts a journey looking for gold with 2 men who are looking for it. One of the men remains unnamed throughout the story and is injured and can only limp. Bill ignores his cries for help in effort to save himself. Unfortunately for Bill he gets eaten by wolves. Bill held on to his gold even while he was eaten. The unnamed man survives
his journey. So London was showing karma. Another very famous short story by London is “To Build a Fire”. This story also takes place in the Yukon territory. The story is about a man in search of gold who is adventuring with companion which is a dog. As they journey through the cold the entire time the dog was trying to lead the man to safety. Near the end of the story the man builds a fire directly below a willow tree with a large heap of snow. The tree shakes putting out the fire. The man’s fingers are too numb to start a new fire. So eventually he freezes to death, and the dog survived and went to the camp. London’s stories helped explain the Klondike Gold Rush to a fuller extent which has changed the way we see the gold rush today. London has a very vivid writing style.
He shows this in many of his works. London usually makes all of the situations in his works very “to the point” and clear. He also uses depressing and dark tones. Like in his work “The Love of Life” the unnamed man states, “There were no trees, no shrubs, no grasses,-naught but a tremendous and terrible desolation that sent fear swiftly dawning into his eyes.” This makes the reader really endower the situation the men are dealing with. Also in “To Build a Fire” London adds, “It certainly was cold, he concluded, as he rubbed his numb nose and cheekbones.” This makes the reader really feel what the man is going through and realise the harshness of nature. From what I and many other readers have discovered is how London always tries to grab the reader and make them really feel how the character is reacting. London is also known for his quite dismal tone. For example: In “Love of Life” a very repetitious word is “desolation” and in “To Build a Fire” “dismal” is used often as well to have the reader comprehend exactly what is taking place and what the situation is like. Without tone these stories would be rather bland and would be more difficult to get the full feeling of what he is trying to
explain. In “The love of Life” Realism is portrayed due to the fact an actual event like the unnamed man spraining his ankle causing him to be left behind as Bill goes ahead. Realism is portrayed in “To Build a Fire” as the man doesn’t use his smarts to the best of his ability he builds a fire directly beneath a willow tree with a large mound of snow. The snow puts out the fire logically and inevitably kills the man. Realism is important in his stories to keep things real especially within events and not lead us to too much imaginary ideas. Determinism is important in London’s work especially in “To Build a Fire.” The powerful force of nature is so cold that the man is literally freezing alive which he has no control over. In “The Love of Life” Bill’s reaction to the man spraining his ankle is any human reaction, and that is “save yourself.” London showed how man is inferior and don’t have a lot of control.
Regionalism plays a key role in both “To Build a Fire” and “The Love of Life” mainly because they both take place in northwestern Canada.
The characters in both stories face some of the same issues as the others. London describes the weather to be pretty much identical. London uses many words in both stories to describe the climate such as “gloomy” and “dark”. London focuses on the weather and climate and that can really impact his stories.
Naturalism is by far the biggest movement London focuses on. In “The Love of Life” and “To Build a Fire” the characters are in the hands of nature. In “The Love of Life” Bill is slowed down and eventually eaten by wolves. In “To Build a Fire” the bitter cold freezes the man’s face and extremities making them numb causing the man to be unable to start a new fire after his original one was put out by snow. There is nothing these men could have done to save themselves from the uncontrollable forces of
nature.
Thematic Meaning was very important in London’s work. During the time period London writes about life was very difficult especially within the workforce. So many left their homes to try to strike rich. The characters London created really represented the time period well in the fact the characters don’t have the resources like pre-packaged meals. The characters have to use very traditional techniques in the effort to survive. London also demonstrates an emotional aspect of the human condition. For example in “To Build a Fire” the man let his emotions take over and not kill his dog for warmth and for food which would have literally been a life-saver and he would have made it to camp. He also uses a human condition like aspiration. In “The Love of Life” the unnamed man still tries to go on even after Bill leaves him with a hurt ankle. The purpose of thematic meaning is to really endower the characters feelings throughout a story within a certain time period.
London is very good at writing about treacherous journeys which really captivate his readers. As you have learned London has a very distinct writing style in which you could tell he wrote it without looking at the author’s name. London also shows his use of literary movements throughout his stories to help improve his stories and make the reader comprehend the situation easier. Overall London uses many movements, styles, and meanings to help engage his readers and and make his works stand out.