Naturalism in to build a fire by jack london
When Jack London wrote "To Build a Fire" he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. Naturalism showed how humans had to be wary at every corner because at anytime death could be there, waiting for them to make a mistake and forfeit their lives. He used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is and how no matter what you do nature will always be there. London also presented the basic idea of Darwinism and the survival of the fittest, basically if you are dumb you will die. Collectively, London used naturalism to show how in life, humans can depend on nothing but themselves to survive. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that embodies the idea of naturalism and how, if one is not careful, nature will gain the upper hand and they will perish. When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man
Naturalism in "To Build a Fire" used the darwinistic idea of survival of the fittest to reveal that no matter what the environment is, if you are not careful about the decisions you make you will die. When the man decided to brave the perils of the Yukon he was not smart enough to take a partner with him in case something happened to him. His only thoughts were of getting back to camp before it became dark outside. He did not follow his instinct when he was crossing the frozen wasteland, but plowed ahead recklessly with abandon. The man was destined to die from the start of the story. He did not pay attention to the weather, or to the advice of a man familiar with the territory and therefore sealed his fate. The man also failed his survival test when he began to panic as the second fire extinguished. He seemed as though he had lost all knowledge of his survival skills. He thought about killing the dog and wallowing in its steaming insides for refuge from the cold. "The sight of the dog put a wild idea into his head. He remembered the tale of a man, caught in a blizzard, who killed a steer and crawled inside the carcass, and so was saved."(1752). When the man realized that the dog would not let him come near he was forced to concoct another plan. His idea was that if he ran all the way to the camp, he would be able to survive. Unfortunately, that plan failed as well and the man perished in the cold, numbing snow of the Yukon. Naturalism utilized the environment to show how fierce and apathetic the world can be. In the opening scene of "To Build a Fire" London used a bleak description of the Yukon to show how barren the wild is. "The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice. On top of this ice were as many feet of snow." The idea that the Yukon is a desolate waste land full of little more than ice and snow is the perfect example of how
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Approximate Word count = 1263
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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