"To Build a Fire"

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London encompasses the complete idea of naturalism in all aspects. It is an example of both man vs. nature and man vs. himself. Throughout the story the man struggles with nature overpowering his attempt to survive. He is also shown struggling with his thoughts on when, or if he should just give up and let death overtake him. This is a story of a man fighting for survival in an indifferent universe. We see this at the end of the story when the dog takes note of the man’s impending death and run’s to "where were the other food-providers and fire-providers." He cares not about the man’s problems but without hesitation seeks out help for his own.

The dog is not completely indifferent to the man’s suffering but not because he cares about the man’s survival. Rather, he is concerned about his own and the man’s actions directly affect that. Therefore the moment he realizes the man is going to die soon and will not be there to care for him, he takes off in search for someone who will.

The main example of this would be the man’s death. Throughout we see the power of nature and the environment the man is in overtaking his efforts to survive. At the point of his death we finally see that he really had no control of his life at all. He tried many things to stay alive but in reality he had no chance, he was only delaying his impending the inevitable.

The man in the story believes he has free will and a good amount of control in his situation but this is exactly what the author is trying to prove wrong. The fact that the man is not given a name is a perfect example of how his identity and individuality are insufficient. The man also fails to think about the way certain things will directly affect his future and his chance for survival. For example, when he starts out he does not really stop to think that this sub-zero weather could indeed be a threat to his life. London writes that the second accident was his "own fault or, rather, his mistake." He corrects it to say mistake in order to prove the point that the man does not have free will as a mistake is something out of one’s control.

Through learning about London’s life, it is easier to see what the story meant to him and why he wrote it. The parallel to his many hardships are made clear in the story as he writes a tragic story of a man trapped in an indifferent universe and left to die. The majority of authors use their writing to express their own feelings and events going on in their life at the time. I think it would be very difficult for an author's views in real life to keep from crossing over into their writing, even if it is fiction. Jack London had many struggles throughout the course of his life from being abandoned by his mother at birth to attempting suicide multiple times. I believe these events carried over into his stories, particularly "To Build a Fire".

Hari, Johann. “Jack London’s Dark Side.” Slate. 15 Aug 2010. Web. 30 Apr 2012. http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2010/08/jack_londons_dark_side.html