A Lack of Respect
"To Build a Fire" by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling along the Yukon River in the bitter winter weather. While warned against traveling alone in the frigid cold, he ventures out to meet his companions at a remote camp many miles away, with only his dog. Overcome by nature's power, he eventually perishes along the way, leaving his four-legged partner to complete the journey alone. The story displays how the forces of nature can surprisingly overwhelm even the most confident of men. The traveler, or also referred to as a chechaquo, is the main character of London's tale. He is a quick and alert man, yet lacks imagination to see things in the big picture. We know that he knows the ways of the arctic environment, but it becomes obvious that he has never experienced a situation like this. The man is observant and quite resourceful, exemplified when he coaxes the dog to walk ahead of him across the ice, in case of soft spots. A combination of arrogance and confidence are apparent with almost every thought he has. Even when faced with his own immortality, the man fights to contain himself and remain calm. London uses the dog traveling with the man to support some of the less obvious p
oints in the story. We know from the dog's thoughts that the climate is not simply cold, but closer to unbearable. London writes, "To Build a Fire" from the complete omniscient point of view. We are aware of what the Traveler is seeing, hearing, doing and thinking. We know things that happened before and what will probably happen after his death. This view allows us to gather facts, such as the seriousness of the temperature when the dog is depressed about traveling and knows that they should not be doing so. "Never in the dogs experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and make no fire." shows the dog observing the man dying in the snow, in which it reflects on its past experiences and judges that something is wrong with the man. After catching the scent of death from the man it trots away in the direction of the camp. The reader normally would just see the dog walking away, yet the narration allows us to know what the dog was thinking. The setting of the story is the Klondike along the Yukon River in the cold of winter. London gives the reader an extremely detailed picture of the place in which this all is happening. "Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey" is
Some common words found in the essay are:
Yukon River, Build Fire, Jack London, build fire, lack respect, , yukon river, cold grey, snow fire, story traveler, forces nature,
Approximate Word count = 822
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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