To Build a Fire

In the story "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, there is one principal theme; respecting nature and having a powerful understanding of the warning signs it gives a person. This theme is shown through the character and his actions. The main character in the story had an attitude that prevented him from heeding internal and external warnings that Mother Nature had been sending him from the beginning. He did not respect nature's power, and most definitely paid the ultimate price for it.

His attitude was arrogant and careless. The man had no real experience in the harsh realms of the deadly cold Yukon. He only understood facts and never had had any “hands on” encounters with what “being cold” really meant. He knew it was very cold and his body was numb, but he failed to realize the danger that this posed to his extremities. He was just a newcomer with no experience, who thought that what he had heard from the old man in Sulphur Creek was just an exaggeration of the truth.

But there were plenty of warning signs that what he was about to encounter was very perilous to the human body, yet neither the "absence of sun from the sky," (101) nor "the tremendous cold"

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Mother Nature, Mother Natures, Sulphur Creek, Jack London, mother nature, Build Fire, warning signs, build fire, warnings mother nature, below zero, sulphur creek, trail mate, tremendous cold, external warnings, cold travelling, warnings mother,
Approximate Word count = 897
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)