To Build a Fire
The book “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story that embodies the idea of
naturalism. Naturalism utilizes the environment to show how apathetic this world can be.In the book it
reveals that if you are not careful when you are making your decisions you will die and in addition to
that London wrote it to also demonstrate on how humans can sometimes depend on nothing but
themselves to survive. This short story took place in the Arctic. In the book, the newcomer decided to
go to the Yukon Territory and in this journey he will travel through the Yukon Trail with his dog to
meet his friend. He met an old timer back in the Sulpher Creek and he shares that no one should pass
through the klondike alone when the temperature is fifty degrees below zero, but the newcomer
ignored the advice and ventured in his own. After a while he finally realizes that what the old timer
said was right and after he he did it was already too late. The author decided to let the man die because
he had the knowledge but didn’t use the instincts that he was provided with , instead he used
something that is rather useless. Sometimes it may not always be the one who thinks survive.
The mistakes that the man makes in the book always reflects to how just having one accident or
miscalculation can cost you your life.The author is trying to get the message across saying that nature
can be hard to predict and that it is unforgiving. Sometimes you might over think about what you can
do , and it may be an advantage to be the dog following his/her instincts of what you should do next.
For example in the story, the author said that “It is his own fault rather than his mistake”.(page. 85,
London)What he is trying to say is that he is thinking about what he is doing but it is in the wrong
direction.Although he is trying to see what he might be able to do to build a fire , but things doesn’t
always work out what he wanted
naturalism. Naturalism utilizes the environment to show how apathetic this world can be.In the book it
reveals that if you are not careful when you are making your decisions you will die and in addition to
that London wrote it to also demonstrate on how humans can sometimes depend on nothing but
themselves to survive. This short story took place in the Arctic. In the book, the newcomer decided to
go to the Yukon Territory and in this journey he will travel through the Yukon Trail with his dog to
meet his friend. He met an old timer back in the Sulpher Creek and he shares that no one should pass
through the klondike alone when the temperature is fifty degrees below zero, but the newcomer
ignored the advice and ventured in his own. After a while he finally realizes that what the old timer
said was right and after he he did it was already too late. The author decided to let the man die because
he had the knowledge but didn’t use the instincts that he was provided with , instead he used
something that is rather useless. Sometimes it may not always be the one who thinks survive.
The mistakes that the man makes in the book always reflects to how just having one accident or
miscalculation can cost you your life.The author is trying to get the message across saying that nature
can be hard to predict and that it is unforgiving. Sometimes you might over think about what you can
do , and it may be an advantage to be the dog following his/her instincts of what you should do next.
For example in the story, the author said that “It is his own fault rather than his mistake”.(page. 85,
London)What he is trying to say is that he is thinking about what he is doing but it is in the wrong
direction.Although he is trying to see what he might be able to do to build a fire , but things doesn’t
always work out what he wanted