“To Build a Fire” by Jack London
The man "was a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter."
Jack London's startling, and even cold, observation of a man's foolish confidence in the face
of nature's power forms the plot of "To Build a Fire." As the man and his animal companion
take a less-traveled path to their Yukon camp, they step into a tale of wilderness survival and
dire circumstances. London's stark, distanced portrayal is an excellent example of American
literary naturalism. Readers will be able to appreciate the use of narrative point of view and
consider the role of and distinction between knowledge and instinct.

Review the highlights of Jack London’s biography.
Turn your focus to the specifics of the environment as London describes the setting.
Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside
from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and littletravelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland. It was a steep bank, and
he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It
was nine o'clock. There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in
the sky. It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of
things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun.
This fact did not worry the man. He was used to the lack of sun. It had been days since
he had seen the sun, and he knew that a few more days must pass before that cheerful
orb, due south, would just peep above the sky-line and dip immediately from view.




How would you describe the setting in this opening paragraph?
What is the mood of this opening paragraph?
How does this opening make you feel as a reader?
What is the man's reaction to the landscape?
But all this--the mysterious, far-reaching hairline trail, the absence of sun from the
sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all--made no
impression on the man. It was not because he was long used to it. He was a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter. The trouble with him
was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but
only in the things, and not in the significances. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty
odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and
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 only to live within certain narrow
limits of heat and cold; and from there on it did not lead him to the conjectural field of
immortality and man's place in the universe. Fifty degrees below zero stood for a bite
of frost that hurt and that must be guarded against by the use of mittens, ear-flaps,
warm moccasins, and thick socks. Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely
fifty degrees below zero. That there should be anything more to it than that was a
thought that never entered his head.




How would you describe the man in London's story?
How experienced is the man? Is he a novice? Prepared?
What does the man seem to think of his own abilities?
How does the man behave in relation to his environment?





What type of narrator tells this story?
How would you describe the tone of the narrator?
Does the narration foreshadow subsequent events? How?
How does the narrator feel about the character(s) at this point in the story?
How would this passage be different if it were narrated via first person point of view?
Would the story change?
Consider what it means "to build a fire." The concept involves, literally, the facts of survival,
but symbolically, it involves the legend of Prometheus, suggesting the relationship of fire to
knowledge.
"Empty as the man's mind was of thoughts, he was keenly observant, and he noticed
the changes in the creek…"
This suggests a certain assumed knowledge that does not prevent the man from surviving his
fall into the ice. Make note of the dog's instincts and his reactions to the commands by the
man. Compare the main character to the Sulphur Creek old-timer who gave advice.

What are some key differences in their attitudes toward and their knowledge of
nature?
Compare the man and the dog:
"On the other hand, there was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man… so the
dog made no effort to communicate its apprehension to the man."



How is the relationship between the man and the dog discussed at first?
What did the dog instinctively understand that the man did not?
How does the man and dog's relationship symbolize the man's relationship to his
environment?
The dog, in many respects, symbolizes the natural landscape in the story. Just as the man
does not respect the dog, so too does the man fail to respect the world around him. Consider
the struggle between the man and the dog. The man, freezing, attempts to kill the dog in
order to steal its warmth, a futile struggle that is a fitting symbol for the life and death struggle
he is experiencing in the wilderness.
At the close of the story, consider the following questions:





What does the man's failure to "build a fire" symbolize?
Does the man have knowledge or instinct? Both? Neither?
Does the man finally gain knowledge at the end of the story? How does the reader
know, based on the final scene of the film?
What is the significance of the dog's final movement toward civilization at the end of
the story? What does this suggest about the dog's relationship to nature? Is instinct
driving this movement?
How does this story fit the characteristics of Naturalism?