To Build a Fire
Jack London’s To Build a Fire is a testament to respecting Mother Nature as a force to be reckoned with. In other works like Call of the Wild and White Fang, London paints nature as a very real and animated character. In fact, his description of nature is more detailed than that of the young newcomer in the Yukon with lines like “Placing it on the foundation, he fed the young flame with wisps of dry grass and with the tiniest dry twigs.” He gives very little description of “the man” other than “he was a warm whiskered man, but the hair on his face did not protect the high cheek-bones and the eager nose…” London, who was a member of the Socialist Party of America, injects his respect for nature in this short story. Other socialists like Thoreau and Emerson had the same regard for the sanctity and power that nature holds. London definitely shares this connection with nature, and it is apparent in his works. By adding lines like “The cold of space smote the unprotected tip of the planet, and he, being on that unprotected tip, received the full force of the blow.”, describes the vastness of space compared with our tiny planet. Perhaps London is in awe of how big the universe is. In the first few pages he states how “the man” does not think about anything other than basic survival. He writes, “He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, not in the significances. I also gathered that London has a respect for the elderly. The young protagonist of the story uses sulphur matches to stay warm. Irony is used by London when he refers to the old man from Sulphur Creek. This is symbolic of how life is sacred and needs to be taken seriously. Overall, the story is riddled with blurred symbols that seem to represent elements of life and give us a look into London’s psychology, but I was unclear as to their meaning as I read
The stories main character, however does not share the same respect for nature as London does. In the first...