To Build A Fire Beginner Essay

A beginner is “one that begins something; especially an inexperienced person” (Merriam-Webster). A beginner has yet to experience many things and would be less knowledgeable about a subject than one who is experienced. Someone who is arrogant can be described as someone who “can’t risk the fragile persona, crumbling in the face of defeat, and run from criticism. They tend to go to extremes of either deflecting blame onto others or condemning themselves for being only human” (Whitney, Derek). The man in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London was a beginner in the Wilderness of the frigid Yukon. Being a beginner meant that the man did not know all there was to know about survival in the Yukon. The man showed that he was arrogant when he dismissed the old man’s warning, when he thought that he was greater than nature, and when he was overconfident in his own abilities. …show more content…
The man had been given advice about his trip by an elder wise man; however, the man chose to ignore this advice. The man thought to himself, “The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself” (London, Jack). The old man had warned that he should not travel alone when it was fifty below, but there was the man alone with no companion except a dog and it was seventy- five below zero. The man had fallen through the ice and he had gotten wet. He then tried to build a fire to help him dry off and stay warm, but he was unsuccessful. The man was convinced he had the skills to do something that even the most experienced would not attempt although he was only a beginner. The man even went as far as to think, “Those old- timers were rather womanish” and “Any man who was a man could travel alone” (London, Jack). These thoughts exemplified that the man was an arrogant