VOICE – The voice of this story is omniscient.
SETTING – The setting took place in the Yukon; it was the winter of 1910. The Temp. Was 55 below.
CHARACTERS – The Man- He was very arrogant, and stubborn, but very knowledgeable and observant.
PLOT – “TO BUILD A FIRE” by Jack London is a tragic story about one mans ignorant battle with nature, which becomes his demise. The Newcomer is an inexperienced young man who comes to this frozen land in search of gold. He has been warned about the dangers of the cold, but goes out on a trip anyway. He is hoping to find a way to send logs down the Yukon River once spring arrives and the ice melts.
He has also been warned not to travel alone in such cold, but he goes anyway, with only his dog for a companion. As the story begins, they are hurrying to get back to their camp and rejoin the man’s friends. After the dog falls through some ice, the Newcomer begins to worry about the dangers of the cold and frostbite. . He stops to build a fire and eat some lunch. Soon, however, he decides to continue on his way back to camp and follows a creek to check for any open water and his future plan for the logs.
Suddenly, the man falls through the ice. He knows he will need to build another fire or Die. He is wet and cold but succeeds in starting a second fire. Foolishly, however, he builds the fire under a pine tree covered in snow. The heat from the fire melts some of the snow in the tree and sends a huge fall of snow from the tree right on the fire. It is so cold, however, that he has a lot of trouble trying to light the fire.
His hands are so cold they have no feeling. He cannot even feel his matches. Finally, holding the matches with his teeth, he gets another fire started, but his hands are so cold that he cannot control them and the fire goes out. He even tries to kill his dog to use the warm body to keep him from freezing. But it is to late. Finally, the dog watches him die.
