To Build a Fire by Jack London Book Review

To Build A Fire is a short story written by Jack London. The story is quite interesting using characters, point of view, setting to push the story forward, and a good theme, while still having conflict without having a conflict between characters. The ending of To Build A Fire was surprising due to the main character dying. 

The Characters in the story are the dog, The man, the boys, and the old man. The old man is a warning, and gives foreshadowing for what will happen at the end of the story. The boys are a destination for the man and the dog, although the boys never made an appearance in the story they were talked about as the end destination for the man and the dog. The dog represents the animal instincts we still have from when we were still developing our society from animals to man. The dog wants to be able to survive, while the man wants to make it in a timely manner to the boys. Jim Taylor explains the concept of how we have changed so drastically that survival does not cross our minds until we are in a situation where there is a higher chance of death than survival. Jim Taylor has written that “the increased complexity of life that has evolved as humankind has become more civilized and as technological advancements have changed our individual, social, and work lives. The notion of survival and how best to ensure it has changed dramatically since the earliest days of humankind. It’s no longer about staying alive by fighting or fleeing in the face of an immediate threat.” This is why the characters and what they represent are so important to the story itself.

The point of view is a major part of the story as well. Us as the audience of the story we have been presented would not be able to understand the story quite as well and the message it brings if it was not from the man's point of view. The old man just gave a warning and would not know of the story so how could it be told from him. The boys are said they would probably go find the man dead in the snow but they would not know the panic or struggle he went through before ending up dead in the snow. Lastly this is a semi-realistic story because there is a high chance the story can be real, but the way its written with the main character ending up dead, we would not know the details. Not only are the rest of the rest of the characters not a good option but having it in third person lets the readers see the panic and the actions of both the wolf and the dog. The point of view lets us see the story from an angle that wouldn't be possible if it was told by the man or the wolf, or any of the other characters. Jennie Chapelle says “It is essential for the narrator to be relatable and interesting. Who wants to spend 300 pages in the mind of someone they don’t like?” about first person point of view, although she mentions the strengths as well, it is to be noted that the man in to build a fire is not very likable. Some might like the character but I would not say it is an easy enough character to be able to have most readers enjoy reading in first person.

Unlike the Tell Tale Heart this story would not have the same impact if the story did not have a setting. To build a fire uses the setting to push forward the story, the setting is explained in detail while not being overbearing, so we are able to step into the world of the story.  The setting of a cold winter day with deep snow next to a frozen river, with spots of ice, next to the river, that are thin enough to break through by stepping on it, and those spots are hidden under ice, creates a pretty but deadly atmosphere which is the tone throughout the story. With out the setting the story makes no sense because the whole story is about how its an extremely cold day and it is deadly to go alone, while the man still goes alone.

The tone helps explain the setting as well as the theme. The theme of To build a fire is that, there is always someone or something stronger than you so do not hold onto your ego and listen to those around you that know better than you. If the man would have listened to the old man then he would still be alive, either by staying in town or not leaving the first camp fire once it was set up. If he would have understood that mother nature does not care about you and if she wants to throw a temper tantrum and send tornados, volcanos, earthquakes, or even a snow storm where it is impossible to walk around and you have to stay put next to a fire, she will.

Even though mother nature can be quite brutal, the conflict of mother nature and man is not the only conflict in the short story, there is also the conflict of human nature vs our animal instincts. It has been briefly mentioned in the above paragraph that Mother Nature was giving the man a hard time, to the point of killing him. The struggles he faced after falling into the freezing water, than making his fire under a tree and it went out when snow fell on it, then the wolf refused to die for the man's survival, and then finally when it was so cold that his hands were frozen so badly that he dropped his match sticks and couldn't light his fire again. 

While the  struggle of man vs nature is going on there is the struggle over our animal instincts, and how modern society has shaped us. This is more of a conceptual conflict rather than a physical one, but the only physical one that happened in the story is a few sentences long when the man wanted to kill the dog. This struggle shows throughout the story. The man does not believe he is in any danger because all it is, is a little cold. How could the cold kill us? He is more concerned about making it to dinner at 6, rather than any time later. As mentioned in the paragraphs over the characters the dog represents the animal instincts we as humans have. The dog really wants to stop and lay down next to a warm fire but is unable to because it can not make the fire, only the human can make the fire. Just like how our animal instincts can tell us something but can not physically make something happen to fix the situation. As well as now in modern society, human nature is dominant of our animalistic instincts and commands our natural instincts to behave, just like the relationship between man and dog. Even though the man is dominant over the dog, the dog can rebel if it truly is in danger, just as it did when the man wanted to kill it off. There are many similarities of this conflict with the characters of the man and dog, who are the only characters that are actually present in the story, while characters like the boys and the old man are only concepts and never shown.

In conclusion, the story uses characters, point of view, setting, and a good theme, while still having conflict without having conflict between characters to push the story forward.