Having empathy in one’s self and displaying it when necessary is vital to success and survival. Empathy is forgiveness and respect and then having the ability relate that to others; a difficult trait to maintain as it is considered an easier task to not show this trait and rather move on with lack of pity. Empathy is a significantly important trait to possess in the theme of survival of the fittest, a common theme in the To Build a Fire and other short stories, written by Jack London. Two stories in particular, Love of Life and The Chinago, show the importance of empathy when in the wilderness and foreign situations. Without empathy, characters in each story could not have been more successful in their own ordeals nor been more satisfied with themselves and their own actions. Empathy is a valuable …show more content…
The story begins with Bill and the main character trekking over a stream in the forest. The main character then sprains his ankle and “Bill staggered on through the milky water. He did not look around” (21) demonstrating the lack of empathy in Bill. Bill sees this situation from his eyes only, seeing that the main character will be only a burden from then on. Bill makes the decision to leave the main character without thinking about if he was in the main character’s position, despite the cries of “‘Bill!’ he whispered, once and twice; ‘Bill!’” (22), Bill does not come back to help his companion showing his lack of empathy as a weakness, because not staying together would later cost him his life. After Bill’s departure, the main character continues to make his way to the boat that will take him home and on the way stumbles upon a cluster of bones that belonged to Bill. At first the main character shows sympathy for Bill by thinking “How could he have the laugh on Bill if that were Bill;if those bones, pinkly-white and clean, were Bill?” (38) and trying to laugh the matter off but the main character’s sorrow for Bill is still evident. Before walking away and continuing