Importance Of Beliefs In Jack London's To Build A Fire

Jack London’s back ground and personal beliefs are reflected in his short story To Build a Fire. In this short story, the narrator is traveling through the harsh environment of the Yukon but due to his lack of imagination and experience he finds himself in a life threating situation. As the man navigates a frozen river, he is in high alert of streams flowing beneath the snow that could cause the ice to give way beneath him. After avoiding patches of the streams, he sits down to eat his lunch but forgets to build a fire. When they start back down the trail, the dog has to be forcefully called to the man’s heals because the instincts in the animal are telling it to burrow down in the snow. Unfortunately for the man, nature takes its toll and he finds himself in a very deadly situation. Soon the man became jealous of his

The dog had no idea how cold the actual temperature was yet it knew what needed to be done to survive. This shows that it is not facts alone that create knowledge, but the understanding of the situation and the imagination to create a better one. The combination of the need for imagination, natures indifference of humans’ survival and Jack London’s upbringing and beliefs lead to the death of the narrator. Jack London was born into a life of poverty but by the time he became an adult he found himself bellow where he started (Williamson). This is similar to that of the life of the nameless man in the story “To Build A Fire.” The man remains nameless because he represents working class people try to survive in a harsh environment that is capitalism. Like London, he starts his journey in the frigid cold with his only possessions being those he can carry. He is new to this environment and lacks the experience needed in order to maneuver his way through the