To Build a Fire

Traveling Alone?

In Jack London's story, To Build a Fire, he uses symbols to show what is going on in the rest of the country at that time. The man who is never given a name represents most men at the time. His ignorance and greed ended up costing him his life in the end. Rather than relying on instincts and intuition that he was given, he chose to put them aside and travel without them. Unfortunately at the time, he wasn't the only one doing this.

The man in the story was warned before his journey by an old timer but still the man left and ignored the warning. The weather was terribly cold outside yet he chose to continue. Not only was the weather bad, but also he was traveling alone which is not a safe practice to do in such weather conditions. His only companion was a dog he brought along. The dog unlike the man was relying on instincts alone. The dog was everything the man should have been on his journey. At one point in the mans journey he has to cross a creek that is frozen over and he wants to test the ice so he shoves the dog ahead of him to test it and the dog falls through and instinctively starts licking and biting the ice off of his paws and legs so they would not freeze off. This shows his instincts kicking in. We don't see much of that in the man's actions.

During the journey the man stops to build a fire to warm up and thaw out his biscuits so he could eat them. He remembers what the man said before he left about how cold it was and how he laughed at him them and now he realizes that it is really cold out. At this point the man is thinking logically by building a fire and warming up so he doesn't get frostbite and he warms up his arms and legs and the rest of his body. The dog lies by the fire also to warm up. When the man is finished smoking his pipe he gets up and starts down the path again. The dog knowing the security of the fires warmth doesn't want to get up and follow the man but when the man threatens to whip him, the dog follows. Once again the dogs instincts were to stay with the warmth of the fire.

Later in the journey the man starts to lose concentration on surviving and starts thinking about the money he thinks he is going to get. During his lapse of concentration he falls through some soft snow and soaked his boots and halfway up to his knees. Knowing he can't go on without drying his boots out first