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Jack London To Build A Fire Analysis

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Did you know that when it is 75 below 0, it takes about 15 to 45 minutes for you to lose consciousness? In the short story “To Build a Fire”, by Jack London, this case is otherwise. In this book, hours went on before his death, but many things happened during these long, cold days. The three unfortunate ways that the man killed himself were ignoring advice from others, building a fire under a tree, and falling into an ice trap. As stated above, one way the man killed himself was by not listening to other people 's advice.”The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below.” He not only ignored this advice but compared his advice to be like a woman 's advice - useless. With ignoring the old-timer 's advice, an experienced man 's advice, the man was done for, and to the readers, a foreshadowing …show more content…

Another way the man killed himself was by building a fire under a tree. Without a fire, the man was struggling to survive. His hands were frozen and he needed warmth. He thought to build a fire under a tree, but the snow-covered tree released its snow and put out the fire. With frozen hands, he tried again but couldn’t pick up a match and therefore he wouldn’t be able to start a spark. Being able to build a fire in this cold weather was key to the man’s survival and this was a costly mistake. Likewise, he also fell into ice traps. At first, his intentions were to let his dog walk ahead of his path and if the dog fell through, then there was a danger. That worked for a little bit, but then all of the sudden one was unexpected and the man fell through. Getting his feet wet with cold water and with the cold temperature around him, his feet were now frozen and soon to be unuseful. Since his feet are frozen, it is very hard to travel and get to a place that would keep him safe. Altogether, he had a long death by ignoring the advice from others, building a fire under a tree, and falling into an ice

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The internal surface of the walls was covered with a thick frost…the only bed was wet, and the outside covering was completely saturated with drippings from walls and stiffly frozen. (American Nation Biography quoted Dix’s Report) (Describing the mentally ill man [Simmons]) “In utter darkness, encased on every side by walls of frost, his garments [were] constantly more or less wet, with only wet straws to lie upon, and a sheet of ice for his covering, has the most dreadfully abused man existed through the past inclement winter…his teeth must have been worn out by constant and violent chattering for such length of time, night and day.” (American National Biography quoted

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In Yukon during the gold rush, a miner named Clay Dilham goes on a search for firewood while leaving his partner doing supper. During his journey, he had spotted a dead tree in the side of a a icy hill. He must climb “up the slide” to reach the tree, although he did not realize how treacherous the way down could be. He had experienced so many obstacles that he had decided that the best way down is going up the hill, which is still not that easy. After many hours, he had finally reached the top which had used much of his energy.

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At the end of the story though the main characters instincts are not strong enough and that is what ends up killing him. In reality he is unaware of the many things waiting ahead for him in that freezing forest. An elder man tried to tell him that it is dangerous to go alone

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Our minds numb with indifference. Here or elsewhere, what did it matter? Die today or tomorrow, or later? The night was growing longer, never-ending. This shows how much effort they are putting in to stay alive and how cold it is.

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They had no protection from the cold and snow. They were slowly dying from the cold and tiredness. The journey was long. “The idea of dying, ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist.

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The ice in this case represented the colder they were, the closer to death the person became. The snow that represented hatred did not only surround him, it became a part of him. But after he felt that coldness, it was described as “a small red flame” and coupled with the poem, “Fire and Ice”, where fire represents desire. The flame in this case represented the want to die. With death quite literally getting closer by the second.

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The Dumbest Man Ever What would you do to stay warm in the klondike’s? In the book “To Build A Fire” by Jack London, the main character is unable to survive in the Klondike’s alone. The characters include the old man, the main character, and the main character’s dog 1.His first mistake was that he ignored others advice. 2. His second mistake is that he went in the coldest time of the year.

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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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The narrator describes the Yukon Territory as 75-degrees below freezing and being a highly treacherous for anyone to travel alone (2). By introducing this hostile environment, London creates tension in the reader as they begin to question the man’s safety in the freezing cold temperatures, After the man falls into the river and starts to freeze to death, he builds a fire in order to survive. As the fire grows and the warmth spreads, the snow on a tree falls, knocking out his fire. Through struggles such as this one, suspense is created due to the severity of the danger the man faces and the risks involved in the

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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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