Nature- to Build a Fire
Nature: The Double Edged Sword
From the bitter, cold winters in Antarctica to the blazing, hot summers in Africa and from the ugly, thick swamplands of Louisiana to the beautiful, clean coasts of Hawaii, nature plays a pivotal role in life on this wonderful planet. Nature is extremely dangerous but it is also a beautiful component of the earth. People view nature in unique ways that are displayed through actions and words. Jack London, author of “To Build a Fire”, and Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, both value nature and view it in a unique way that is translated to their works of literature. These two authors apply a unique perspective of how nature can apply to everyday life. The aspects of interacting with nature and human emotions analyzed and examined in the works of Jack London and Henry David Thoreau.
Nature can be a dreaded enemy and can drain life out of humans and animals that are not aware and cautious. In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, nature sets and controls the tone throughout and interacts with the man and his dog. In the story, a man and his dog are traveling through the Yukon, in Alaska, to meet the man’s friends in a cabin miles away. They encounter an enormous amount of adversity and pain while trying to reach his friends. The Yukon is one of the coldest places on Earth and the man and his dog have to travel for hours in the bitter cold. They discover the power and ruthlessness of nature head on in their journey. The man had an estimation of how cold it really is while he and his dog were walking, the temperature is, “Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man 's frailty in general, able to live within certain narrow limits of cold” (London). This quote shows that the man believes that he is stronger and more powerful than the cold.
From the bitter, cold winters in Antarctica to the blazing, hot summers in Africa and from the ugly, thick swamplands of Louisiana to the beautiful, clean coasts of Hawaii, nature plays a pivotal role in life on this wonderful planet. Nature is extremely dangerous but it is also a beautiful component of the earth. People view nature in unique ways that are displayed through actions and words. Jack London, author of “To Build a Fire”, and Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, both value nature and view it in a unique way that is translated to their works of literature. These two authors apply a unique perspective of how nature can apply to everyday life. The aspects of interacting with nature and human emotions analyzed and examined in the works of Jack London and Henry David Thoreau.
Nature can be a dreaded enemy and can drain life out of humans and animals that are not aware and cautious. In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, nature sets and controls the tone throughout and interacts with the man and his dog. In the story, a man and his dog are traveling through the Yukon, in Alaska, to meet the man’s friends in a cabin miles away. They encounter an enormous amount of adversity and pain while trying to reach his friends. The Yukon is one of the coldest places on Earth and the man and his dog have to travel for hours in the bitter cold. They discover the power and ruthlessness of nature head on in their journey. The man had an estimation of how cold it really is while he and his dog were walking, the temperature is, “Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man 's frailty in general, able to live within certain narrow limits of cold” (London). This quote shows that the man believes that he is stronger and more powerful than the cold.
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