Throughout history man has had countless deadly interactions with nature, but man will never be able to defeat nature. In the literature by Jack London, the article, by University of Washington and Robert Service we can learn about some of the few times that man has lost against nature. In all of these stories the Man vs. Nature conflict is apparent to anyone reading these stories. In “To Build a Fire,” Klondike Gold Rush, and “The Cremation of Sam McGee” these writings have many similarities in its treatment of conflict as well as the differences. In all of these readings the weather is harsh and very cold. The weather is complete torture and extremely deadly. In the poem Sam McGee dies from being exposed to the cold for so long. As Sam McGee …show more content…
Out in the Yukon with sled dogs and his buddy , the narrator's friend is beginning to die due to the snow and extreme weather conditions. When the narrator is asked by Sam McGee to cremate him when he dies, the narrator is very hesitant to do so because that’s his friend and nobody wants to have to cremate their friend. Sam’s reasoning for this is because he has been cold and sick for so long that the thought of lying in a frozen-icy grave is too awful for him to think about. Sam would rather be in a warm hot place where his body can be in eternal warmth. Eventually Sam McGee dies and the narrator has to fulfil his friends dying wish, which is to cremate him. The narrator find a boat that has a furnace in it which he places Sam McGee’s body in. As he lights up the furnace and places coal into it, he feels so bad about burning his friend, but then again, it is his last dying wish. After Sam McGee is placed in the furnace and the narrator leaves he begins to feel a little lightheaded and feels sad about Sam, so he goes to check on him in the furnace. He can see the black smoke arising from the boat where the furnace is burning Sam’s body. By this point the cold has gotten to him to and is most likely going a little crazy. When he opens the furnace he sees Sam McGee sit up and ask him to close the door because it is nice and cold in there and he doesn’t want any cold getting in. By the end of the story the narrator sets off on his own but he starts feeling really tired and sweaty, which is unlikely to do in such
Throughout the novel “Into the Wild” the character Mccandless had planned to leave off on his own to explore the forest of Alaska. Mccandless was the son of a wealthy parents, he left them with the intention to show or prove something to himself and his family, after he left without telling them. He had donated all his money he had earned and gave it all to charity and practically gave up all his possessions. This young man was not prepared to be out in the wild since he did not have the right equipment and food supplies to survive out in the wild. He was later found dead inside of a school bus that had been sitting in the wild for years.
Jack London’s To Build a Fire teaches how the wilderness is stubborn and unforgiving through the actions of the man, the struggle between the individual versus nature, and the symbolic structure of fire. Being prideful, unimaginative, and close minded can eventually lead to one’s downfall. The battle between the individual versus nature teaches that is it necessary to have respect for the earth in order to survive. The main image of fire, which is seen as a variety of objects, symbolizes life, death, hope, knowledge, and lack thereof. Too much self-confidence in a person has the ability to block them from thinking rationally.
In the non-fiction book Into the wild by Jon Krakauer and the short story “to build a fire” by Jack London, two authors describe “similar” lives “in the wild” with the worst ending. However,same process could lead to various answers, through comparing and contrasting the Into the Wild and To build a fire, readers could comprehend the homologous but different views for the nature lives from two authors. First of all, Chris McCandless in Into the wild and The man in “to build a fire” have similar but different motives for being out “in the wild”. McCandless is a talented young man who born in a relatively wealthy family, he never need to worries about money and life. But because of his desires for nature and some conflicts with his parents,McCandless
He discovers that it is less then fifty degrees out, because when he spits his saliva freezes before it drops to the ground. His main goal is to reach a camp on Henderson Creek where he will meet a few of his friends. He is traveling with a Husky, who is not pleased to be traveling under such chilly weather. Even though the husky does not want to journey,
Compare and Contrast There are so many great works of literature out there, but the two greatest have to be The Call Of The Wild and To Build A Fire. They are so similar and so different at the same time. They both have intricate details and symbols in both of the stories. They have different worldviews in each story, but both portray the protagonist as good.
In this essay, we will explore the comparisons and contrasts of “To Build a Fire”, and “The Interlopers.” In “The Interlopers”, two men in a feud over land, fighting it out in nature, who will win? What will happen? Just like that “The Interlopers”, “To Build a Fire” is a story in which a man and his dog companion are out in nature, battling the cold, soon to have conflict just trying to get back home. These short stories both have characters who are outside and nature is against the characters.
In the book “Into the Wild” written by John Krakauer, and the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, both represent and differ similarities within these stories. These two stories represent a selfish man thinking they can tackle an adventure in the wild. The two main characters live and experience identical deaths. The similarities between these two characters are nothing more than that both men travelled in similar harsh winter weather conditions, despite the fact both men were informed before their travels it would not be a simple journey to survive. Why would people face harsh weather conditions with little to no aid for them to survive?
In the beginning of the story, part of the setting was described as “Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.” This appeals to your senses of hearing and touch, to help you understand the setting of the story, which would be in the winter. The fireplace roars because it is explaining that it is not a weak fire, but is in fact a large and
As shown by the text, this was what Stanley H. Pearce himself had said, conveying the idea that he had lived through the hard time and was able to make it out alive and successful. The historical fiction poem’s emphasis on Sam McGee’s death makes it seem more engaging for the
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 plot is about an unnamed man who travels on the Yukon Trial to meet his friends, but ends up dying because of the cold weather. London incorporates suspense in the plot when the man builds the fire under a pine tree that is covered in snow. The suspense in the story adds tension and excitement, which is why the plot is considered an essential element. The story’s climax occurs when the trees twigs collapse on fire and the man starts to give up because his body is worn out so he is no longer capable of accomplishing anything to survive.
Jack London’s back ground and personal beliefs are reflected in his short story To Build a Fire. In this short story, the narrator is traveling through the harsh environment of the Yukon but due to his lack of imagination and experience he finds himself in a life threating situation. As the man navigates a frozen river, he is in high alert of streams flowing beneath the snow that could cause the ice to give way beneath him. After avoiding patches of the streams, he sits down to eat his lunch but forgets to build a fire. When they start back down the trail, the dog has to be forcefully called to the man’s heals because the instincts in the animal are telling it to burrow down in the snow.
While the dog "yearn[s] back toward the fire," the man foolishly decides to keep moving, as he is "ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing point" (16). The fire symbolizes a comfort the man hopes to find when he makes it to "the boys" at camp, where "a fire [will] be going, and a hot supper [will] be ready" (4). The dog also yearns for this comfort, but does not think it is necessary to travel to the camp to get it. When the man’s second fire is put out by a shelf of snow from a spruce tree, he has a deep understanding that he is in extreme danger. His failure to build a new fire is completely dependent on the stiffening of his fingers: "When he touched a twig, he had to look and see whether or not he had hold of it.
Jack London 's "To Build a Fire" is a short story that uses the literally element of naturalism to describe how an individual 's choices he or she makes ultimately will decide their fate in the future. In the short story the main character 's ego and lack of experience overcomes him, as he tries to travel through Yukon Trail in the middle of winter unprepared and ill-equipped. He made the poor choice of ignoring all the warning signs, leading up to, and during his journey. The man 's selfishness and arrogance lead to his unfortunate outcome. The story is set in the Yukon during the great Klondike Gold Rush, when over 100,000 people moved to the Yukon Territory in search of gold.
People hold Jack London’s short stories in high regard to this day, because of the vivid picture drawn by the true harshness of mother nature and the ignorance of man. London himself knows all too well the unforgiving vexation of the Klondike Gold Rush, having developed scurvy and an injury that permanently affected the use of his leg. His stories, influenced by the literary movement of naturalism, focus on extreme conditions that shape human mentality and spirit. London’s usual writing style consists of very long, drawn out descriptions of the characters or the scene around these characters. A large sum of his stories focus on the instincts of animals and the questionable survival of man in extreme conditions and situations.