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To Build A Fire: Significance Of Words "Dying" And "Death" - Online Term Paper

To Build A Fire: Significance Of Words "Dying" And "Death"

The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack London's 1910 novel, "To
Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man's dwindling warmth and bad luck in
his journey along the Yukon trail to meet "the boys" at camp. London
associates dying with the man's diminishing ability to stay warm in the frigid
Alaskan climate. The main characters predicament slowly worsens one level at a
time finally resulting in death.

The narrator informs the reader "the man" lacks personal experience travelling
in the Yukon terrain. The old-timer warned the man about the harsh realities of
the Klondike. The confident main character thinks of the old-timer at Sulphur
Creek as "womanish." Along the ...

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fire must be
built without fail." The man's mind begins to run wild with thoughts of
insecurity and death when the second fire fails. He recollects the story of a
man who kills a steer to stay warm and envisions himself killing his dog and
crawling into the carcass to warm up so he can build a fire to save himself.
London writes, "a certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him."

As the man slowly freezes, he realizes he is in serious trouble and can no
longer make excuses for himself. Acknowledging he "would never get to the camp
and would soon be stiff and dead," he tries to clear this morbid thought from
his mind by running down the trail in a last ditch effort to pump blood through
his extremities.

The climax of the story describes "the man" picturing "his body completely
frozen on the trail." He falls into the snow thinking, "he is bound to freeze
anyway and freezing was not as bad as people thought. There were a lot worse
ways to die." The man drowsed off ...

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To Build A Fire: Significance Of Words "Dying" And "Death". (2008, July 10). Retrieved March 13, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Build-Fire-Significance-Words-Dying-Death/86559

"To Build A Fire: Significance Of Words "Dying" And "Death"." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 10 Jul. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Build-Fire-Significance-Words-Dying-Death/86559>

"To Build A Fire: Significance Of Words "Dying" And "Death"." Essayworld.com. July 10, 2008. Accessed March 13, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Build-Fire-Significance-Words-Dying-Death/86559.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/10/2008 07:54:05 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 576
Pages: 3

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