In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” he exposes how a man goes through a bitter winter in the forest while facing many obstacles throughout the journey. The calculated, brutal arrangement of London’s short story presents a life lesson to those who choose to venture out against the undiscovered. The author uses many devices throughout “To Build a Fire” to emulate natures generally formidable qualities, which the man’s actions and thoughts are in constant dispute with. In London's "To Build a Fire," the author uses symbols and themes to portray how the man failed his mission from being overly confident, disregarding the power nature has, and having the inability to maintain his composure.
Jack London uses the unsuccessful fires throughout "To Build a Fire" to
…show more content…
The short story is set in the Yukon because it is uninhabited and the temperatures can drop to extreme lows. This was a strategic choice made by London in order to form the thematic role nature plays throughout the story. The man thought he could beat the Yukon weather despite the fact he was new to the area and didn't know how low the temperatures dropped. For example, "Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to consider his weaknesses as a creature affected by temperature. Nor did he think about man's general weakness, able to live only within narrow limits of heat and cold" (London, 65). The man is unprepared and foolish for thinking he can face nature by himself. By failing to observe the dangers from the cold, the man has fallen prey to nature's power. It wasn't until the end of the story that the man saw the beauty in what has once caused fear, and respected nature in death when it was too late. Early on in the story, the man's most fatal flaw is revealed, his obliviousness of nature's true