To Build a Fire

This story by Jack London is about a man on an extraordinary journy through the Yukon, which is a river that streams in parts of Alaska and Canada. Needless to say the wheather was extremely cold. He slowly made his way through the bitter cold in the dark because he was going through days without sunlight. This would have made it even colder. The wheather kept dropping, from negative fifty and kept a steady trail downwards making the conditions colder and colder. The wheather was pretty extreme and throught out the story London made the reader wish the traveler would just stop and turn back around. You feared for the traveler but he had his mind set to continue on his journey and get back with the other men. He had a strong mindset and was a strong man all together for trying something like this. This can be compared to Emerson's self reliance. According to Emerson, "By tapping into his or her inner strength, the individual becomes powerful." (Brugman) I believe this is exactly what the man in the story is. He believed in himself and never once doubted the wheather. He never thought of what bad might come, " Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed
him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all." (London) I think with this attitude it made the man a strong indiviual just like Emerson. When Emerson had a challenge he would not back down from it and he set his whole self into the idea. Of course, this writing can also be compared to Thoreau's Walden. Both stories take place in nature and speak of nature. Nature is something that cannot be controlled and is stronger than all man kind. Nobody can change the natural things that happens in this world, not even the strongest of the people. I think Thoreau believes with this idea because nature is such a strong part of life and affects so many people and how they act that is basically controls all. You may not realize it but nature does have a big impact in everyone's life.


London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." The World of Jack London. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.
Brugman, Patricia. "Individual and Society in 'Self-Reliance'." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed.
Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts
On File, Inc.