Build a Fire, by Jack

¶ … Build a Fire, by Jack London. Specifically, it will review/evaluate this work of literature for a contemporary American audience. Why or why not would a contemporary audience be interested in this work? "To Build a Fire" is classic Jack London writing, with an Alaska setting, a dog, an unnamed man, and the elements as his biggest challenge. Jack London's work is often celebrated for its natural elements and understanding of the "frozen North" of Alaska and the Yukon. This story combines all those elements in chilling detail to make a story of grit and determination, and a hero out of the least expected.

TO BUILD a FIRE

To Build a Fire," by Jack London, is the story of a man and his dog, traveling through the deep forest of Alaska on his way to meet some friends in a remote cabin. The twist to the story is the unrelenting cold, and the fact the man is new to the area, a "chechaquo," and truly does not understand the danger of the cold he travels in. The thermometer reads seventy-five degrees below zero, and it is easy to see from the first, the man is doomed to succumb to the elements, which is why London introduces the man is a newcomer so early in the story. As the story progresses, the man falls deeper and deeper into trouble, while the dog manages to survive because of cunning. The dog is the real hero of the story, while the man just serves a purpose, to introduce the surroundings and the strength of the animal.

One of London's strongest points in his fiction is his use of place and setting. "To Build a Fire" contains a definite sense of place, "where a dim and little-traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland" (London 341). Part of London's appeal as an author is the places in his writing become part of the people, helping to fashion (and even destroy) their character. "There was no mistake about it, it was cold" (London 347).

In much of London's work, the character is one-dimensional and flat, and often the animal or the setting takes center stage. The men in London's fiction are rugged outdoorsmen who understand and love the wild elements of nature that populate his stories. They gladly pit themselves against nature because they are courageous, or in the case of this unnamed man, stupid. The unnamed man in "Fire" is quite aware of his surroundings, but his thoughts, when he has them, are as basic as dinner waiting for him, and a hot fire. "He was not much given to thinking, and just then particularly he had nothing to think about save that he would eat lunch at the forks and that at six o'clock he would be in camp with the boys" (London 344). Already, he has become less interesting to the reader than the dog, who has coherent thoughts, and seems to be much smarter than the man he travels with. "But the dog knew; an its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold. It was the time to he snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across the face of outer space whence this cold came" (London 347).

This man has no name because London does not want the reader to become too attached to him. The reader actually becomes more attached to the dog, who is clearly frightened of the man and his indifferent cruelty. "On the other hand, there was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man. The one was the toil slave of the other, and the only caresses it had ever received were the caresses of the whip lash..." (London 347). The implication is the dog could have saved the man if there had been some trust between the two, which again carries out London's appreciation of the animals and the elements. This man could have learned from both, but he chose not to, and paid the ultimate price, which leads to the irony of the story, and the arrogance of the man. Each character's irony is important to the development of the story and the character. The irony with the man in the Yukon is his dog, who "knew" it was too cold to travel, and would have warned him, had the man been kinder to the dog. "So the dog made no effort to communicate its apprehension to the man" (London 347). The man had the tool for his survival with him, and was too arrogant to recognize or use it. He sealed his own fate the moment he set out on his journey, and London is ultimately commenting on this arrogance of man, who believes he can tame nature.

The man understands he should not be alone on the trail, but he is testing his skill and luck by traveling in such cold weather. "If he had only had a trail mate, he would have been in no danger now" (London 350). The dogs in many of London's fiction play the title role, and this dog is no different. Built to survive in the wilderness, he seems more like a person than the man does. London tried to put himself inside the dog's head throughout the story to de-emphasize the man's importance, which is how it really is in the natural world - man is very small and unimportant when it comes right down to it.