Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Jack London's To Build A Fire: Theme - College Term Paper

Jack London's To Build A Fire: Theme

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 that "the man"
lacks personal experience traveling 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 ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

second 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 ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

Jack London's To Build A Fire: Theme. (2005, August 8). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jack-Londons-To-Build-Fire-Theme/31335

"Jack London's To Build A Fire: Theme." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 8 Aug. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jack-Londons-To-Build-Fire-Theme/31335>

"Jack London's To Build A Fire: Theme." Essayworld.com. August 8, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jack-Londons-To-Build-Fire-Theme/31335.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 8/8/2005 04:49:11 AM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 577
Pages: 3

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier