“To Build a Fire”
Directions: Read the questions provided EFORE you read the story by Jack London.
Allow the questions to guide your understanding of the piece and to go deeper into what
the author is attempting to convey.
1. Why do you think the protagonist is referred to as “the man” as opposed to being
given a name? What does this tell us about one of the literary themes we
discussed in class (Naturalism, Individualism, and Transcendentalism)?
2. What is the weather like at day break when the story begins? What do you think
this foreshadows for the rest of the story?
3. London writes, “He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the
things, and not in the significances.” What does this tell us about the man? What
is his character like?
4. How are the man and the dog similar? How are they different? What are their
desires?
5. Why doesn’t the man worry more about the cold? What is alarming/absurd about
his reaction to the frostbite?
6. Why do you think London continues to emphasize the coldness, and how the man
had never felt such cold before?
7. Why does the man “shy like a horse” from certain parts of the road? What does
this phrase mean?
8. Do you agree or disagree with the man when he sends the dog ahead of himself to
aid in his own safety? Why?
9. Why does London point out that the dog acts from instinct? What is the man’s
motivation?
10. While eating, what startles the man? Why is this important? What happens?
11. After deciding not to eat his lunch, how does the man’s outlook of his situation
drastically, albeit briefly, change?
12. Why does the man not simply return to camp?
13. What do you think London means when he says, “This man did not know cold”?
14. Can the setting and the cold be considered a character? Explain.
15. When he falls in the river, the man curses his bad luck. Do you agree with where
he places his blame? Why or why not?
16. In the paragraph where the man reflects on “old-timers” and “men who are men”
what do you think of his mentality and beliefs?
17. What happens to the man’s fire and why?
18. What difficulty occurs when the man finally lights all of his matches at once?
19. When the man contemplates “using” his dog for survival, how does London
emphasize the qualities of naturalism?
20. What is the flaw in the man’s plan when he begins to run to camp?
21. Why does the man start to berate the dog?
22. How does the dog know to leave and head to the camp?