An Analysis of Jack Londons To Build a Fire :: London To Build a Fire Essays

An Analysis of Jack capital of the United Kingdoms To Build a Fire In her cultural criticism of Jack Londons To Build a Fire, Jill Widdicombe explores the question of whether the storys protagonist might have perished from the extreme tatty of the Klondike winter even if with a traveling companion. She describes the brutality of the winter wear and, alluding to the mans confidence in his ability to survive the weather, describes it as behavior just about of us can understand - especially if we are accustomed to lukewarm surroundings. She states the extreme cold of frosty landscapes--or The White Silence, as London describes it--is so quiet and abstract that it does not immediately appear to be lethal.As the plot unfolds, I feel the storys protagonist travel victim to several factors brought into play at once his inexperience with the causticity of the Klondike winters, his inability to envision the possible consequences of his decision to travel al iodin in such weather, a seri es of unfortunate events during his trip, and the misjudgment exercised in his attempts to survive those incidents. though quick and alert, the mans lack of imagination renders him unable to visualize what might go on to a man traveling without a companion should adverse serving arise in such severe weather in an derelict landscape. When he indeed finds himself in dire straits as a result of getting wet in the brutal freezing weather, he once again fails to imagine how quickly the cold will menace his life and consequently misjudges the severity of his situation. His poor judgment causes him to make one mistake after another until he finds himself incapable of extricating himself from his situation. It seems obvious that had he made himself more familiar with the culture of the land and paid perplexity to the warnings of the old-timer on Sulpher Creek, he might have chosen to correspond his trip and live to travel another day. Had he understood the enormousness of fostering a relationship with the dog, a native Husky with inhering instincts regarding the native climate, the dog would have interacted differently with him, maybe warning him of the danger of the weather through its actions or perhaps providing help, either by manduction its body heat or by going for help. However, instead he held little regard for the dog and the dog reciprocated there was no dainty intimacy between the dog and the man.