Determinism In Jack London's To Build A Fire

Naturalistic writers’ use their style of writing in order to look at the character of their story from a subjective point of view. To do this most of these stories have characteristics in order to really get the full effect of naturalistic writing. While there are many, the few that really stand out is determinism, detachment from the story, and most importantly the theme. By using these three characteristics writers can look at and study how human life is governed. One of the characteristics that allow the authors of naturalistic writing to study how human life is governed is determinism. This is when the authors show that the characters or people in their scenarios are just victims to the environment with no free will, and are ruled by instinct.

Without a theme, there cannot be characters, and without characters, there can be no show of determinism. Both London and Crane combine two themes in their stories. The theme of man versus nature and man versus himself. In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” the man in the story is constantly in a battle against the cold winter in temperatures “fifty degrees below” (“To Build a Fire” 810). The man also faces an even greater challenge of fighting against himself and to keep on going though ultimately failing when he “drowsed off…. to sleep” (“To Build a Fire” 819). Crane sets up a slightly similar scenario in “The Open Boat,” where the men were “at the mercy of five oceans,” after their shipwreck (“The Open Boat” 751). The other challenge the men faced was each other, and whether or not they would be able to do it together. Though it is shown to be tough from the start when the cook and the correspondent start arguing about whether or not “a house of refuge” has a crew (The Open Boat” 749). The “brotherhood” that is mentioned shows that the men were able to get through their differences and come together to survive (“The Open Boat” 751). Though each scenario has its own outcome with one the men surviving and the other story the man not surviving, both London’s and Crane’s theme shows just how human life is