“To Build a Fire” “Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up every possibility of love, contentment, or even common sense” –C.S. Lewis. In the story, “To Build a Fire,” a man displays a lot of pride in his abilities to survive the severe cold climate across the Yukon wilderness. With this sense of arrogance, the man seems to do everything in his will throughout the journey to successfully master the inclement weather in which ultimately was a fatal mistake before the man even began the travel. Pride goes before destruction. Jack London’s “To build a Fire” is an unforgettable classic short story of a man’s pride and haughty spirit that leads to a downfall. Throughout this classic tragedy, there are so many examples of the man’s egotistical pride
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He exhibits too much self-confidence in his abilities. In addition, he is very inexperienced when it comes to traveling in cold weather. With his dominance of pride and lack of knowledge to survive the Yukon, he ends up facing his demise. In the story, the man knows that he is not experienced enough to travel the Yukon because he says he has never known cold like this. He lets his pride get the better of him. He often feels like he has something to prove. “Because the sun was absent from the sky, this fact did not worry the man. He was not alarmed by the lack of sun” (London 1). Without the sun in the sky, it should be an alarming fact because that means the weather will get worse. In addition, the fourth paragraph says, “The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in life… Nor did he think about man’s general weakness, able to only live within limits of heat and cold” (London 2). The man should have used common sense. He should have known that it is physically impossible for anyone to travel in temperatures of fifty or eighty degrees below zero. He was too prideful and wanted to accept the impossible challenge. He was too blind to face the facts. Throughout the classic tragedy, London states: “He was not much of a thinker” (4), “Empty as the man’s mind of thoughts” (5), and “This man did not know cold. Possibly none of his ancestors had known” (7). What Jack …show more content…
Having too much pride and arrogance can lead to a downfall. According to David Haddon of Touchstone Journal he states, “The narrative itself reveals that the chechaquo [the man] died, not from a lack of imagination, but from his defects of character.” (4). The man’s virtue deficiency was his overabundance of pride. Instead of the man using common sense and advice from a more experienced person, he chose his own pride and found out in the end he was wrong. “In his visionary apostrophe to the old-timer, the dying man admits that he was wrong. “This is the moral crux of the story, where right and wrong are established by the chechaquo’s “deathbed” confession.” (Haddon 6). Another analysist suggests, “Because of his death, the narrative has a moral edge that demonstrates how arrogance and individualism are destructive forces. These two qualities depict as being interrelated as the man’s decision to travel alone is in keeping with both his arrogance and the individualistic way of life (Novelguide 1). Denise Despling suggests that there is a lesson people can learn from in Jack London’s story “The character in this story allows us to identify with him immediately, but also to hopefully learn from him—that it is better to admit to being wrong than to end up dead, hoping to be right”
He exhibits too much self-confidence in his abilities. In addition, he is very inexperienced when it comes to traveling in cold weather. With his dominance of pride and lack of knowledge to survive the Yukon, he ends up facing his demise. In the story, the man knows that he is not experienced enough to travel the Yukon because he says he has never known cold like this. He lets his pride get the better of him. He often feels like he has something to prove. “Because the sun was absent from the sky, this fact did not worry the man. He was not alarmed by the lack of sun” (London 1). Without the sun in the sky, it should be an alarming fact because that means the weather will get worse. In addition, the fourth paragraph says, “The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in life… Nor did he think about man’s general weakness, able to only live within limits of heat and cold” (London 2). The man should have used common sense. He should have known that it is physically impossible for anyone to travel in temperatures of fifty or eighty degrees below zero. He was too prideful and wanted to accept the impossible challenge. He was too blind to face the facts. Throughout the classic tragedy, London states: “He was not much of a thinker” (4), “Empty as the man’s mind of thoughts” (5), and “This man did not know cold. Possibly none of his ancestors had known” (7). What Jack …show more content…
Having too much pride and arrogance can lead to a downfall. According to David Haddon of Touchstone Journal he states, “The narrative itself reveals that the chechaquo [the man] died, not from a lack of imagination, but from his defects of character.” (4). The man’s virtue deficiency was his overabundance of pride. Instead of the man using common sense and advice from a more experienced person, he chose his own pride and found out in the end he was wrong. “In his visionary apostrophe to the old-timer, the dying man admits that he was wrong. “This is the moral crux of the story, where right and wrong are established by the chechaquo’s “deathbed” confession.” (Haddon 6). Another analysist suggests, “Because of his death, the narrative has a moral edge that demonstrates how arrogance and individualism are destructive forces. These two qualities depict as being interrelated as the man’s decision to travel alone is in keeping with both his arrogance and the individualistic way of life (Novelguide 1). Denise Despling suggests that there is a lesson people can learn from in Jack London’s story “The character in this story allows us to identify with him immediately, but also to hopefully learn from him—that it is better to admit to being wrong than to end up dead, hoping to be right”