The story To Build a Fire was first written in 1902 by Jack London although there is an almost identical version published in 1908. The later version is thought-provoking and more known for its protagonist’s death. To start with, the journey begins in Klondike featuring a man and a dog. The travel takes place on a very cold winter. The man is ignorant of the extremely cold conditions. He feels very confident about traveling at seventy-five degrees below zero and alone. However, as he walks over a lump of ice, he unexpectedly breaks the ice wetting himself all the way to his knees. To dry his feet and warm himself, the man decides to build a fire. Unfortunately, the fire he builds is extinguished when a pile of ice trapped on a tree falls on it. As he had done the first time, the man decides to build another fire, but despite all his efforts, he is unable to light it. Panicked, the man tries to warm his almost frozen body by running. His efforts prove futile, and the man ultimately dies of hypothermia (London, 2008). Jack London effectively supports the integral conflict of man against nature while giving a hint about the man’s imminent and ultimate death by the use of an appropriate title, a descriptive setting as well as a large amount of foreshadowing.
As any other naturalistic fiction writer, Jack London in To Build a Fire focused his writing on the narration and not the character. The story is a nonstop narrative drive, and we only occasionally read the mind of the man, who is not even named throughout the story. As expected of naturalistic stories, To Build a Fire deals with the often ignored lower cadre individuals. The man described in the story is a lower class individual who is out to strike riches because, logically, wealthy individuals would not risk their lives in such brutal conditions. The broad literary naturalism in the story is what this paper discusses.
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First, as the narrator introduces the main character of the story, the man, he paints the picture of an individual who is in a precarious situation involving the natural elements. To begin with, the man is faced with freezing weather, at 75 degrees below zero and clearly, the man was neither mentally nor physically prepared to survive in such conditions. The writer explains to us that the cold, “did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold (London, 2008, p. 79). This is a typical example of express naturalism where man is indifferent to the natural elements. That nature will neither hinder nor encourage individuals in a given direction. That it lets a man decide his/her fate, but still nature has its way, because it is what it is, nature.
The second naturalistic literary style in the story is that the chief protagonist is not named. He is referred to as “the man.” This helps the writer’s audience to identify with the man. He is a representative of humankind who should depend less on mental powers and more on natural instincts because natural instincts serve man better. Additionally, by referring to the protagonist as merely ‘the man,' the writer significantly mitigates the importance of the antagonist in the story.
Thirdly, the story depicts how indifferent nature is to the man’s plight when frostbite begins to cripple him (London, 2008). The crippling shows that man has no control over nature and hence can only be a beneficiary of their decisions. In this case, the man made a poor decision to try to venture into freezing conditions only to become a victim of the indifference. London notes “the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun in the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and wilderness of it all-made no impression on the man….He was a newcomer in the land…” (London, 2008, p. 151)
The fourth example of literary naturalism from To Build a Fire is depicted in the part of the man’s dog. The dog, using naturalistic instincts understands that it could be dangerous to step on the ice where there is water beneath. As the man nears the water, the dog runs away from the man, an indicator that the dog realized that it was dangerous. Astonishing, to the man the dog was the only company he chose to go with. The only thing we see the dog as being good for to the man was that he used it as an outlet for his jealousy after realizing all the mistakes he had made. Later in the story when the dog catches the scent of the dead man, it abandons the man and returns to the camp (London, 2008).
The fifth element of naturalism in the story is how the man fell victim to lack of experience of the old man who had warned him. He commits a fatal mistake by the casual attitude he exemplifies concerning his initial frostbite (London, 2008). Since he cannot shape his destiny, he is vulnerable to the harshness of Yukon and natural elements in a deterministic way which typifies naturalism. Finally, naturalism employs symbols and details to convey the narration. In this case, London uses the severe cold conditions and ice to signify the implacable Arctic. At the same time, the writer gives great attention to realistic details the story. The description of the man is thorough as well as factual.
Reference
London, J. (2008). To Build a Fire . Mankato, Minnesota: Creative Education.
