To Build a Fire

To Build A Fire

There are several distinct conflicts in the story "To Build A Fire" by Jack London. One struggle is the extremely raw, bitter climate the man is in. For example, his spit cracks in the air instead of on the snow. The man knows that it will crack on the snow at fifty or fifty-five degrees below zero, but the fact that the excretion cracked in the air seemed to worry him somewhat. The author also keeps mentioning the cold; he wants us definitely to understand how rough this climate is. Another battle the man has to face is his trouble starting another fire when he depends on it to get his feet warm. His fingers are already so numb that he cannot grasp his matches to light the fire with them. This causes him to panic and light all the matches at once, and when his fire fails he now has no chance to build another one. Finally, his last combat is with death. The man will not accept the fact that he will die, and he tries in one last attempt of standing warmth to kill his dog and bury his hand in the tepid body. The dog senses the danger, however, and runs away from him before any harm is committed. The man is just then realizing that he will die, so he tries to run all the way to camp. He does not get very far before stumbling. He then drops down to the ground and embraces his death, ultimately accepting the truth. In ending, the three main oppositions in the story are the temperature; the man's trouble in building his needed fire; and his demise.