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Comparison Of Jack London's To Build A Fire

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Jack London has written numerous stories, many of which take place in the Yukon of Canada. The location of these stories plays a crucial part in the outcome of it all. He uses this location mainly due to his work he did there. After working in the Klondike of Alaska, London returned to his home and started to publish books. His characters were most often males with a sense of adventure. It is sometimes said that his characters embodied everything he wanted to be (biography.com). His many famous novels include: The Call of the Wild, White Fang and Martin Eden. It was from his use of writing techniques like the use of setting, characters and theme that propelled London to become of the most famous writers of all time. In addition to being written by the same author, the settings of both stories are quite similar in terms of area and even climate. In the story “To Build a Fire”, a man and a dog make their way through an immensely frigid part of …show more content…

In “To Build A Fire”, the man, as he is called, is trying to make his way back to camp in freezing temperatures (London 65-66). He never really seems worried and it’s easy to see why. The man is far from helpless when it comes to life and death situations, even if he is a bit big-headed. It seems almost as if he has been trained on what to do in that specific situation. The reader later finds that it doesn’t matter in the end how resourceful he is as he ends up succumbing to the elements. This proves that even the strongest characters have their own fatal flaws. Compared to Koskoosh, the character from “The Law of Life”, the man is an absolute god. Koskoosh is about as weak as they come because of his failing eyesight, hearing, and, well, everything. He is even described in the book as forlorn and helpless (London 2). In the end, it seems to not really matter for either of these two. They both meet the same fate in an icy

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Part 1 Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451’s protagonist, Guy Montag, is what can be best described as a reverse-fireman. In his reality, Montag starts fires rather than preventing them. It’s all he knows, in fact, he takes great personal pleasure in starting the fires, and describes those pleasures in depth.

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"(page. 50) and continue to talk to Mildred “There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.” (page. 51) without consciously noticing his different perspective towards fire from the first encounter with Faber before the novel. These quotes represent that he rejected the idea of being a fireman by questioning himself and the cause of the incidents occurred on that day.

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To Build a Fire” and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. The settings in these stories, the Yukon in “To Build a Fire” and an island in the south Atlantic in “The Most Dangerous Game”, take a toll on the main characters in a very different fashion. Both of these short stories provide excellent demonstrations of this topic but the most obvious are the environment The Man is in, the, application of nature in Rainsford’s survival, Connells animal-like description of Rainsford, and the symbol of fire. We see in “To Build a Fire” that The Man is constantly plagued by the icy tundra he finds himself in.

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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.

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The author believes that determination was the key to surviving in tough times. For example, Elie Wiesel is with his father at a concentration camp called Buna. Wiesel walked in on something at the wrong time. The SS officer is furious and punishes him. On page 38 the book states, “I came forward.

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He wrote this story during the Klondike gold rush. This is why this story has the setting and the plot line it has. In this time thieves were a problem for miners. London probably focused more on the human vs. nature due to the fact that this shows the resolve of the miner over the land and not over the thief. This is a more difficult battle due to the fact that it takes more resolve and determination to overcome nature.

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The discovery of fire revolutionized human history. It allowed for vision in the night, a method to cook foods, and a way for protection for the human ancestors. Its became indispensable for the development of human societies, and continues to be of great importance today. It continued to hold its importance in writings and visual works, becoming a universal symbol for various meanings such as power and wrath. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, fire is a prominent and reoccurring symbol for life, death, and passion.

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He takes a risk that could either pay off mightily or possibly send him to his death. The Man is lead to a yukon territory that is extremely cold. He is isolated from all people and only has a dog making the journey with him. It is clear that the temperature becomes the man's enemy, “Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that was all.

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The short story of a man wandering across the Yukon Territory in midwinter creates a multitude of feelings in the reader. However, no feeling is stronger than the suspense about the survival of the main character. The man sets out alone to cross the Yukon Territory alone, despite warnings about the dangers of doing so. These dangers as told to us through through the eyes of a narrator develop the anticipation that keeps the story entertaining. Jack London’s effective use of basic literary techniques such as narration and conflict in the short story “To Build a Fire” is successful in keeping the reader involved throughout the story.

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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?

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In the story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and the short film “To Build a Fire” Directed by David Cobham a man and dog were traveling through the Yukon trail because of the gold rush. While they were travling through the Yukon trail they ran into problems along the way. During the problems the man and dog thought differently and similarly. The man and dog think differently in some situations like when the man or chechaquo(New comer) was trying to kill the dog. The man and dog also think similarly in other situations like, they both have the same idea of survival.

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Jack London 's writing is harsh poetry. He describes scenes in such detail. Reading his work makes you picture how the scenes look in your head. He shows a deeper meaning in the events of his stories(Napierkowski). The point of view of the story is third person limited omniscient.

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A proud and mighty man is traveling through the harsh, cold trails of the Yukon Territory towards a mining camp accompanied by his native husky dog. In the land of extreme cold, the man experiences the consequences of his daring journey in the Yukon. He is staunch and independent traveler in the cold, but with unimaginable circumstances he discovers himself in a lot of trouble. He is a chechaquo, or "newcomer" to the Yukon. Being a large and strong man, not appreciative of the Yukon, he ignores the obvious significance of the freezing temperatures of his journey.

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884 Words | 4 Pages

To Build A Fire is a short tragic tale by Jack London that narrates about a man’s last days on the earth. The story’s protagonist is passing through the sub-freezing land of the Yukon when he becomes the victims of an unforgiving and harsh force of nature. Before embarking on the journey, the man is warned against walking alone on such severe weather conditions and even if his instincts also warn him, he decides to ignore all the signs and his conscience and to follow his ego. He makes several attempts to light a fire but does not make it. It is after several attempts that the man finally gives in to the forces of nature and awaits his now evident death.

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999 Words | 4 Pages

The author continuously repeats how cold the temperature is, painting a picture of a kind of loneliness and cruel (surrounding conditions). He also relates the man 's state of being along the mood of the story. "He was not much given to thinking. " He had only mind to reaching his goal and not much thought about the temperature. "

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