Naturalism in “To Build a Fire”
“To Build a Fire,” the short story by Jack London, tells the story of a single man, accompanied by his dog, who, in the Canadian wilderness in winter, attempts to build a fire so he can stay alive. The man makes multiple mistakes, the biggest one being that he builds his first fire under a tree that has snow on it that falls onto the fire. The man makes more mistakes like this that prevent him from building the fire and, due to these mistakes, he ends up perishing. This story is an example of literary naturalism because it shows that no matter how much the man wants to live nature is still against him. That he cannot win against temperatures that are unbearably cold, and his will …show more content…
The first mistake is that he builds his fire under a tree. London writes, “It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out” (647)! The man did not take the time to build his fire in a better spot and because of this nature went against him and caused all of his work to be for nothing. If the man built his fire in an open area this would not occur. This is not the only mistake the man makes, but this is the big one. The man does not use his common sense and, in the end, nature is too much for …show more content…
When the animal realizes that the man is dead, he takes no time in heading on to camp in order to find the shelter, warmth, and food that he knows is there. The dog is smarter than the man as he uses his instincts to get where he needs to. He knows he will die if he does not find shelter. In this case, the dog is smarter than the man. While the man did not listen to his senses and take into consideration the hindrance of not paying attention to nature, the dog uses his senses and avoids dying. This seems to say that mankind thinks too highly of themselves to survive against nature at its worse. The man gets so caught up in trying to survive, he forgets to do the small tasks that will keep him alive. While the dog knew what he needed to do in order to survive, the man got too caught up in his belief that nothing could touch him. The dog was smart, the man was
“To Build a Fire,” the short story by Jack London, tells the story of a single man, accompanied by his dog, who, in the Canadian wilderness in winter, attempts to build a fire so he can stay alive. The man makes multiple mistakes, the biggest one being that he builds his first fire under a tree that has snow on it that falls onto the fire. The man makes more mistakes like this that prevent him from building the fire and, due to these mistakes, he ends up perishing. This story is an example of literary naturalism because it shows that no matter how much the man wants to live nature is still against him. That he cannot win against temperatures that are unbearably cold, and his will …show more content…
The first mistake is that he builds his fire under a tree. London writes, “It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out” (647)! The man did not take the time to build his fire in a better spot and because of this nature went against him and caused all of his work to be for nothing. If the man built his fire in an open area this would not occur. This is not the only mistake the man makes, but this is the big one. The man does not use his common sense and, in the end, nature is too much for …show more content…
When the animal realizes that the man is dead, he takes no time in heading on to camp in order to find the shelter, warmth, and food that he knows is there. The dog is smarter than the man as he uses his instincts to get where he needs to. He knows he will die if he does not find shelter. In this case, the dog is smarter than the man. While the man did not listen to his senses and take into consideration the hindrance of not paying attention to nature, the dog uses his senses and avoids dying. This seems to say that mankind thinks too highly of themselves to survive against nature at its worse. The man gets so caught up in trying to survive, he forgets to do the small tasks that will keep him alive. While the dog knew what he needed to do in order to survive, the man got too caught up in his belief that nothing could touch him. The dog was smart, the man was