Drew Poffenberger Mr. KMoore CP English 10 30 August 2024 Mistakes Made in “To Build a Fire” In To Build a Fire, a short story by Jack London, the main character is trying to survive a trek on foot in bitterly cold weather. Along the way, character flaws bring about mistakes, which ultimately cause the man’s death. The personal flaw that contributed most to the man's death was his recklessness. One way that the man’s recklessness killed him was when he decided to travel in very cold weather alone. This is very reckless because he is alone and in freezing weather this is very dangerous. If something happens, he will have no one to save him and in the freezing weather he has to be very careful. He also isn't trained; he is a rookie. Then he headed out in this harsh weather to …show more content…
In the story it shows us the extreme circumstances he is going to travel in just to see his boys: “He was a newcomer to the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter. The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. . . . Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost” (London 462-463). Now that we know the man is doing this with just the thought it will be easy, it is very reckless and dangerous and he takes this risk for no reason. Another way that the man's recklessness led to his death in the short story is when he decided to build it under a tree. This is very reckless because if you were to make it under a tree it would be easier, but many things could go wrong. He should not have been built under a tree because he ended up dying. He knew that if he didn't get the fire up he would die, so he built it under the tree to make it faster, even with the risk. He was willing to take the risk for the fire to be built faster, as London writes, “It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should have not built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the