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Significance Of Words Dying And Death In

“To Build A Fire” Essay, Research Paper


The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack London’s 1910


novel, "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man’s dwindling warmth


and bad luck in his journey along the Yukon trail to meet "the boys" at


camp. London associates dying with the man’s diminishing ability to stay


warm in the frigid Alaskan climate. The main characters predicament slowly


worsens one level at a time finally resulting in death.


The narrator informs the reader "the man" lacks personal experience


travelling in the Yukon terrain. The old-timer warned the man about the


harsh realities of the Klondike. The confident main character thinks of


the old-timer at Sulphur Creek as "womanish." Along the trail, "the man"


falls into a hidden spring and attempts to build a fire to dry his socks


and warm himself. With his wet feet quickly growing numb, he realizes he


has only one chance to successfully build a fire or face the harsh


realities of the Yukon at one-hundred nine degrees below freezing. Falling


snow from a tree blots out the fire and the character realizes "he had just


heard his own sentence of death." Jack London introduces death to the


reader in this scene. The man realizes "a second fire must be built


without fail." The man’s mind begins to run wild with thoughts of


insecurity and death when the second fire fails. He recollects the story


of a man who kills a steer to stay warm and envisions himself killing his


dog and crawling into the carcass to warm up so he can build a fire to save


himself.


London writes, "a certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him."


As the man slowly freezes, he reali

zes he is in serious trouble and can no


longer make excuses for himself. Acknowledging he "would never get to the


camp and would soon be stiff and dead," he tries to clear this morbid


thought from his mind by running down the trail in a last ditch effort to


pump blood through his extremities.


The climax of the story describes "the man" picturing "his body completely


frozen on the trail." He falls into the snow thinking, "he is bound to


freeze anyway and freezing was not as bad as people thought. There were a


lot worse ways to die." The man drowsed off into "the most comfortable and


satisfying sleep he had ever known." The dog looked on creeping closer,


filling his nostrils with the "scent of death."


London’s portrayal of the man does not initially give the reader the theme


of dying, but slowly develops the theme as the story develops. The story


doesn’t mention death until the last several pages. The main character


changes from an enthusiastic pioneer to a sad and desperate man. The


conclusion of the story portrays the man accepting his fate and understands


the old-timer at Sulphur Creek had been right; "no man must travel alone in


the Klondike after fifty below." Typically, short stories written in the


early 1900’s often conclude the story with a death or tragedy. London’s


story is no exception. This story follows the pattern by illustrating


events leading up to and including death.


Thesis Statement- The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack


London’s 1910 novel, "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man’s


dwindling warmth and bad luck in his journey along the Yukon trail to meet


"the boys" at camp.

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