TO BUILD A FIRE ANALYSIS
Written by John London, the short story To Build a Fire is set in Yukon, a snowy region. The protagonist in the story sets out for an adventure with the intent of crossing over ten miles of the snowy wilderness. The individual sets out on the journey accompanied by his wolf-dog. The journey begins at 9 O’ Clock in the morning with the temperatures at -59 Celsius with the intent of reaching a mining claim to meet friends by evening (London, 1902). The story encompasses a number of themes and symbols to convey the message within the short narrative. The story prominently covers the theme of man versus wildlife conflict. This posits the need for coexistence between the two, man and wildlife in the quest to establish the much-needed balance in the ecosystem.
Before the start of the chilly journey, the protagonist has to put up with three feet of snow coupled with a sunless sky. Despite all instincts pointing out the dangers of the journey, the man still decides to continue with the travel. Initially, he underestimates the poor weather and snowy train (London, 1902). Consequently, his face, as well as his fingers, turns numb. This would signal grave consequences which he later grapples much further in the story. He remembers the advice he had received from an elder conversant with the Yukon trail. The elder was from Sulphur Creeks and thus was right in cautioning him from making the journey when the temperatures were below negative fifty degrees Celsius.
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As he continues to hike, the tobacco in his mouth freezes due to saliva and water vapor associated with the exhaled breath. He is cautious along his journey not to step on unfrozen water found within the thin ice layers in his trail (London, 1902). He decides to set up a fire which he uses to thaw and warm his lunch but after that, he continues to hike. However, on the way, he accidentally breaks the thin ice and has his legs soaked in the cold water.
This fall makes the protagonist angry making him throw all caution to the wind. He decides to build a fire so as to dry himself and his wet clothes. The fire, however, is put off by snow from nearby trees that tumble down on the fire. This frightens the protagonist whose hands, and fingers become very numb due to the low temperatures. The situation turns dire with the numb hands and clumsily extinguished fire. In the process, the cold forces him to think about killing his wolf-dog (London, 1902). He mused that the carcass of the dog would provide the much-needed warmth.
Therefore, he gets hold of the dog but due to the frozen hands, he is not able to draw the knife. He tries to strangle the dog with his bare hands, but this also turns out to be futile. As a result, he tries to warm up his body by running in the camp’s direction (London, 1902). The camp, however, being many hours away makes his attempts futile and soon enough he runs out of steam. Consequently, he loathes himself for acting so shameless and ultimately decides to face death dignified. In the final stages, he imagines himself perched beside his associates as they discover his body. He continues to imagine his body being transported into a warm enclosure by the Sulphur Creek elder who had warned him about the dangerous journey (London, 1902). His faithful dog waits for him to rise from the snow. However, on sensing that the protagonist had passed on, it runs away howling away in the night. Ultimately, the dog runs along the creek headed for the camp’s direction, in pursuit of food and warm shelter.
References
London, J. (1902). To build a fire.
