To Build A Fire, By Jack London

In 1908, Jack London wrote the short story; To Build A Fire. The story takes place in Yukon, Alaska as a man travels to camp with a dog as he struggles to survive against the cold. Jack London’s To Build a Fire is one of the greatest examples of Naturalistic Theory as it includes an attempt to analyze human behavior objectively, demonstrates that human behavior is caused by heredity and the environment, and it portrays life as a losing battle against an uncaring universe.

Jack London's attempt to analyze human behavior objectively is demonstrated in the way he uses a detached narration style, an objective tone, and the attention to the setting. In the beginning of To Build a Fire, the human that is introduced is not given a name. Throughout

Then, there is the character known as “The Old Man''. The Old Man originally warns The Man to not go outside without a partner if the environment is more than 50 degrees below freezing. The man in the beginning speaks derogatorily of The Old Man, but does not mention a name. Even as The Man lays in the snow dying, The Old Man is not given a name. The narrator also treats the people in this story objectively. The narration is done in 3rd person POV (Point Of View), which gives an air of being impartial towards The Man. Throughout the narration of the story, the narrator does not delve into the intricacies of The Man. The Man’s feelings towards the dog and his boys, what kind of chewing tobacco he liked, or what his life was like back in the states was never explored or exposed by the narrator. This gives the effect of making The Man a more objective character while not giving a way for the narrator to attach to The Man. Even as The Man sets his hands on fire in an attempt to not freeze to death, there is no sympathy or comment from the narrator. The Man was not the only thing that was dictated objectively in To Build A Fire. The setting was described in detail, but not emotionally. The narrator

It is evident in the way Jack never feels sympathy for the man. Even as the man is dying, the world moves on. As I’ve previously said, the narrator never expresses sympathy for the man’s situation. The man is not pitted, complemented or even insulted. He is merely a subject of a story and nothing more. The wilderness is a better example of the uncaring universe. Throughout the story, conditions of the path never improve. The sun is only out for a few minutes before plunging everything into a long night once again, it never gets any warmer, and the man never starts a successful fire. The Man first falls into a pool of water under the snow. He attempts to light a fire to dry his clothing before going to his camp up the creek. After falling, the man tries again but finds that his hands have stopped responding and he can no longer close them. He does get what looks to be a potential fire going and feeds logs from underneath a snow covered tree. Unfortunately, him removing these branches leads to the snow coming down a small avalanche and smothering his potential fire alone with the rest of his matches. When this happens the narrator does not give him putty and nature does not give him a break. He does not get the ability to ever so slightly move his hands and is lucky to have an extra in his pockets. During The Man’s attempt at running to camp it was portrayed that he would make it. It was written not