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Use Of Satire In Jack London's To Build A Fire

1260 Words6 Pages

Jack London is one of the most profound writers of all the time, with his precious fiction pieces being popular even today. One such of his stories is To Build A Fire (1908), a fictional story that is set in the Yukon, Canada that deals with an unnamed man carrying his life through the freezing-cold trail. The story explains how the man survives his journey on the trail and builds up tension on whether he lives or not. Even with a simplistic plot and not too many elements to play with, John London makes a strong point that it is common for humans to be subjected to illusory superiority, i.e. it is common for people to think themselves as more experienced and overestimate their abilities in a particular area. He also indirectly conveys the …show more content…

He then successfully builds a fire and warms himself, and the dog helps itself, but unfortunately, karma isn’t done with him. The accumulated snow above the tree under which the man sets his fire falls down on him, drowning him and shutting off the fire. London uses repetition about the fact that if the man listened to the advice of the old man, he could have reached his camp or at least been in a comfortable place at that time. Moving on, after few unsuccessful attempts to reignite the fire, the man decides to save himself by killing the dog and using its body to warm himself. He tries to get control of the dog by using his harsh tone, and when he has the chance to end the dog’s life, karma strikes again and completed freezes his hand, making him unable to choke the dog. This supports the fact that man cannot control or conquer nature and bend it to his will; he tried to light up drowned matches, forces the dog to go against its instincts, and makes his move to kill the humble creature, all of which ultimately fail. London uses pathos to appeal to the readers’ emotion and support his decision to kill the unnamed man for unruly behavior, where he utilizes oxymoron with the line, “with this new-found peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness” (London), meaning that the man achieved peace when he accepted his own death, to put the man to

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