To Build A Fire, By Jack London

Emanuell Wilson
3/14/2023
Ms. Vaughan
Amer. lit
The Heat of Life In the story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, we read about a man who goes hiking to meet “the boys” and he meets his ultimate demise due to poor planning, and lack of survival instincts. The fire is the most prominent symbol in the story, it represents the thin line between life and death. When the fire goes out the clock ticks down until he is able to create another one. The fire also represents the time structure when the man's condition is worsening. This also represents the trials and tribulations of life, when the fire is extinguished, he has to find a way to rekindle the flame. The fire in "To Build a Fire” represents life and death, the time structure, and the struggle

“Bending over the fire, he first melted the ice from his face. With the protection of the fire’s warmth he ate his lunch” (70). It was so cold that he was unable to feed himself, he needed to create the fire in order to satiate his hunger. This demonstrates how in life you need things to survive, an example of this being the fire symbolizing money, money is what is needed to survive. While the man is in no position to use money for anything, this still symbolizes what people have to go through to survive and if they don’t have money, they would not be able to support themselves. “As it flamed he held it with his teeth to the tree bark. But the burning smell went up his nose, causing him to cough. The match fell into the snow and the flame died” (75). The saying “by the skin of your teeth” was used literally in this portion of the story. Winning but by a small margin, he was able to light the match to hopefully create a large fire, but he soon dropped the match due to its fumes. This resembles having an internal fire to do something, but the fumes were able to get in the way and stop the thing you wanted to happen from happening. He wanted to restart his life again, but life just got in the