Fire In The Yukon: A Short Story

Improved Essays
A man goes in the Yukon (close to the fringe of current day Alaska) on a to a great degree chilly morning with an imposing wolf-canine. The cool does not fluster the man, a newcomer to the Yukon, who arrangements to meet his companions by six o'clock at an old claim. As it develops colder, he understands his unprotected cheekbones will solidify, yet he doesn't give careful consideration. He strolls along a stream trail, aware of the risky, hid springs; notwithstanding getting wet feet on such a frosty day is to a great degree hazardous. He stops for lunch and constructs a fire. The man proceeds on and, in an apparently safe spot, falls through the snow and wets himself up to his shins. He reviles his luckiness; beginning a fire and drying his foot-apparatus will defer him no less than 60 minutes. …show more content…
He recalls the old-clock from Sulfur Creek who had cautioned him that no man ought to go in the Klondike alone when the temperature was fifty degrees underneath zero. The man unfastens his cold sandals, however before he can cut the solidified strings on them, clusters of snow from the spruce tree above tumble down and snuff out the fire. In spite of the fact that building a fire in the open would have been savvier, it had been less demanding for the man to take twigs from the spruce tree and drop them specifically underneath on to the fire. Each time he pulled a twig, he had marginally upset the tree until, now, a limb high up had overturned its heap of snow. It upset lower limbs thusly until a little torrential slide had rubbed out the fire. The man is terrified, and sets himself to building another fire, mindful that he is as of now going to lose a couple toes from

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Though building a fire in the wide open was the best thing to do, the man found it easier to build under the under tree so he could take sticks from it, which resulted in the tree capsizing its load of snow that put out the fire. He tries to make another fire but it also goes out, so he tries to kill the dog for warmth, but is unable to pull his knife out. The man realizes that frostbite is nothing compared to freezing to death if he can’t find heat. He tries running along the creek, but falls many times and eventually gives up and tries to die in a more dignified manner. The man falls asleep and eventually dies.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We were about to embark on a trip out into the wilderness of Gatlinburg, TN that we had never laid eyes on. The best part? We left at 6:30 in the morning with plenty of snow on its’ way. So, we were prepared. We looked like Odysseus as a beggar with rag-like clothing wrapped around us, hoping to retain warmth through our journey.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He spoke with U.S. Forestry Service officials, firefighters, and fire scientists to assemble the scattered pieces of the Mann Gulch tragedy. Maclean left the manuscript of the book uncompleted at his death, and it was prepared for publication by the editors at the University of Chicago Press. In Maclean’s terse narrative the Mann Gulch fire takes on the dimensions of a Greek tragedy. complete with hubris, nemesis, tragic fate, and purgation the young crew’s inexperience and ignorance of blowups the combination of circumstances favorable to a serious fire at Mann Gulch; the crew’s bad luck in being outflanked and outrun by the fire and the increased knowledge of forestfires that has come about indirectly from the Mann Gulch tragedy. In Part 1 Maclean describes the setting at Mann Gulch, a steep, jagged area in west-central Montana that has been described as “one of the roughest areas east of the Continental Divide.”…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He finally stops to build a fire. It says that “he builds the fire under a spruce tree” but that was his first mistake. The fire goes out when he shakes the branches too hard and snow falls onto the fire. “He gets frustrated but he's bound and determined to get another fire started” He lights all his matches at one time.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lauren Wood American Literature Summer Reading Notes (Selection 1) Biography – Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer 1. It is very hard for biographies to be impartial because the author can never truly know what the person must have felt like at the time. Jon Krakuer though seemed to pull this off because he mainly just stated the facts of Alex/Chris McCandless’ journey and what other people thought of him. 2. Quotes a. “Please return all mail I receive to the sender.…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is an example of how naturalists authors attempted to depict nature as a violent force that was completely unconcerned with humanity’s success. London shares the story of an unnamed man and his battle with nature when journeying through the Yukon Trail. The absence of the sun and the “three feet of ice” all had no effect on the man so, despite better judgment, he ventures on his first winter trip with a dog in 75 degree below zero weather (650). Although had not been mentally or physically prepared for this trip, he “chuckles at his foolishness” and makes several attempts to survive. He finally builds a fire but “the tree which he had [built it] carried a weight of snow on its boughs” and “it grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out” (656).…

    • 1003 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many examples of naturalism are shown in the fictional short story, “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, and in Beck Weathers’ non-fictional memoir, “Left for Dead.” In London’s fictional story, we learn of a man who went adventuring in the Yukon, looking for new trade routes. Unfortunately, the man was stopped short when the weather took a turn for the worst and got so freezing he could not even start a fire and eventually froze to death. In Beck’s story he gets caught up in a huge blizzard on Mount Everest and against all odds ends up surviving somehow. London shows naturalism because he knew he had to start a fire in order to live but not knowing a lot about the outdoors failed to successfully make a fire resulting in his death.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On this island, swamps and trees are surrounded by a tumultuous sea. However, the setting for Hunters in the Snow is cold and bleak. A cold wind and the snow covered trees surround the hunters. “…breasting hard into the drifts, fighting away the snow with his knees and elbows.” (Wolff 82)…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Then you have the sparks from the fire rising up only to die in eternal blackness which contradicts the symbol of the snow in terms that even if the world begins to be revived it will only fall again into eternal blackness which crushes all hope provided from the snow. This duality cuts into the man once again leaving him to ponder upon whether or not it is worth living in the barren post-apocalyptic world. The last quote i would like to use is from page 258 in which a conversation between the man and boy goes “ Stop it/ I cant stop it/ What do you think would have happened to us if we hadnt caugh him? Just stop it/ I’m trying “ This quote has a bit of significance because it is almost like the answer to the question on if it is worth living, to the boy we can see that the whole point of living is to find a purpose in life which is considerably selfish compared to the man’s selfless motive for living which is to prepare his son for this new post-apocalyptic world they now are living in.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During his hike up the trail the narrator faces many obstacles along the way such as his fingers becoming numb and falling into knee deep water and essentially freezing his lower half. Immediately he begins to build a fire but he unwittingly builds it underneath a tree with snow falling off the branches. Realizing his mistake the narrator begins to understand that even with all his brainpower there was no way he would be able to think his way out of this situation. “The man was shocked. It was as though he had just heard his own sentence of death.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He sees men huddled around a fire, and thinks of the fire not to be burning and destroying, but warming and…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Chuck Noland Survival

    • 1997 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Imagine trudging on the bitterly cold Yukon trail with the freezing wind whipping your face. Your face is numb with frost and you cannot feel your toes anymore. Also imagine sitting on an uncomfortably hot beach with your injured leg tied up with a rag. The warm salt water laps at your feet as you try to get out the last of the water from a coconut. This is how life was for the newcomer from Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” and Chuck Noland from Robert Zemeckis’s Cast Away.…

    • 1997 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was 65 degrees below zero in Prudhoe Bay Alaska. I remember the bite of the gale as it swept across the frozen tundra attacking every inch of exposed skin; frostbite takes minutes to set in. An adjustable head lamp allowed us to see where we were walking in the dark Artic environment. The Sun would not be coming up for a couple of months.…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every once in a while, one will say to themselves, I should have stayed in bed! On this weekend, this would become too true! Since our group hiked for years together, we always looked forward to spending the weekend together. You know to tell our stories over and over again! Our destination started at the Seven Pines Trail Head and we were headed to Siberia Creek Campsite.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It’s the calm of the morning, and I’m tired. The smooth and curving edges of the trail entertain my eyes as I hike towards my goal, the summit of Mt. Hyndman. It’s a kind trail, made of a cluster of aromas and a collage of colors. Sagebrush and young saplings add to the sensation of the vista. Sharp crackles occur beneath my feet as insects scamper around, frantically searching for minute fissures to conceal themselves in.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays