The main theme of London 's "To Build a Fire," is man versus nature. The man travels alone with just a native dog hoping to survive, ending up not making it through the harsh winter weather and ending up dying. Through the whole story everything keeps going downhill. For instance, the one good moment in the story, when he gets the fire lit, is soon accompanied by the worst moment when the fire is put out because of the snow falling on the fire from the trees above the fire. If the man would have just placed the fire in a more open spot and not under a canopy of trees this wouldn 't have happened.
The main theme of London 's "To Build a Fire," is man versus nature. The man travels alone with just a native dog hoping to survive, ending up not making it through the harsh winter weather and ending up dying. Through the whole story everything keeps going downhill. For instance, the one good moment in the story, when he gets the fire lit, is soon accompanied by the worst moment when the fire is put out because of the snow falling on the fire from the trees above the fire. If the man would have just placed the fire in a more open spot and not under a canopy of trees this wouldn 't have happened.
The stories had drastically different end results, characters, symbols, and plot; however, no matter the differences between a story, stories can still share the same message. In the story Freezing by Peter Stark, the character finds danger as his car no longer works and he needs to travel the 6 mile distance to his friends. Extreme hypothermia sets in and he battles to make it. His friends find him near death and he manages to become revived. In the story To Build a Fire by Jack London, the main character embarks through the Yukon with his dog to meet “the boys”, but ultimately dies as a result of many setbacks and mistakes including hypothermia and ignorance of instinct.
Out of shock, you find yourself wearing shorts and a tank top in this 5-degree weather. You desperately look around you and struggle to find ways for warmth. You are relieved when you see a friend nearby. You gradually wade your way through the snow to him. He notices the goosebumps on your skin and your lack of preparation for this treacherous weather.
London includes this quote to show how nature was making it a challenge for the man to build a fire in order to survive. Another scenario that he uses was when the snow from the tree fell onto the fire that the man had built. London shows just how challenging it is to survive in the environment when he states, “It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out!” (85). London includes this quote to show
Growing up, we are always told to listen to others, but is this really sage advice? “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, is the tale of an adventure through the wild Yukon Trail of Alaska. A man hikes the trail alongside a dog and has to survive the harsh cold, and the only way to do that is to build a fire. An old man from Sulphur Creek gives him advice, to never travel alone in the area’s extreme cold, but he ignores it. London’s text shows us that you should listen to those who know more than you, or harsh consequences will follow your recklessness.
According to the story, it states, “The snow fell without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was dead...The man was shocked. It was like hearing his own judgment of death.”(73). The snow smothered the man’s last fire which makes the reader very anxious and curious about what he is going to do next and if he is going to potentially die or not as a humble man. The story also clarifies, “...the man broke through. It was not deep.
Without hope, nothing can be accomplished. The nuclear winter will be very cold and harsh, in order to survive, one will need to prepare and plan very carefully for the coming disaster. Winter can be cold, but cold is not even close to what these men were experiencing. They experienced “expansive blizzards [that] paraded for days over the vast opening, swirling and settling and thickening” (Van Tilburg Clark, 1914, p. 178). In the article “How to Survive a Nuclear Winter” it states that they “really have no idea how cold it could get during a nuclear winter” (Roberts, 2007, para.
“To Build a fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling the Yukon Trail, Alaska during a great winter. The traveler intends to walk through the Yukon’s main trail during winter with sub-freezing temperatures to meet his buddies at a mining camp. The traveler doesn 't have experience traveling in extreme cold and is advised against going alone, but ignoring all warnings and without a complete understanding of severe weather, the traveler decides to embark on this journey with just a dog as a companion. London implies that resilient, strong-minded men can get caught up in an illusion of strength which causes them to act prideful and belittle the reality of their circumstances. The traveler is the focus and main character in this story, aside from him only two other characters take part in the story.
They had to survive through harsh blizzards that could’ve hurt them or even killed them. They risked of being attacked by the elephant seals which would’ve created a whole ton of problems and the person would probably end up passing away. There was always smoke in their shelters because of the blubber stoves which could’ve made them suffocate, but they had to stay in there to stay warm from the frosty winds