Jack London To Build A Fire Analysis

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

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