English 11 Literature #18

Mr. Rinka

“To Build a Fire”By Jack London

Jack Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London

Jack Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London

John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, 1876 –1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction

and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the author of Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories

"To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life“. He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf. London was a strong advocate

of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers and wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics such as his dystopian novel, The Iron Heel and his non-fiction exposé, The People of the Abyss.

Jack Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London

“To Build a Fire”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Build_a_Fire

"To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. The famous version of this story was published in 1908. London published an earlier and radically different version in 1902 with a different ending, and a comparison of the

two provides a dramatic illustration of the growth of his literary ability. This story is considered a prime example of the naturalist movement and of a Man vs. Nature conflict. It is also considered to be a reflection of London's own life after his experiences in the Northwestern Yukon territory.

“To Build a Fire”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Build_a_Fire

TO BUILD A FIRE

Discussion “To Build a Fire”

How does the first paragraph set up the story?The reader immediately learns that it is very cold, and a man is travelling alone on a path that is rarely used in very rugged country during the winter.

Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland…. It was nine o’clock. There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky.

What are this man’s failings?He was a new-comer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter. The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty odd degrees of

frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man’s frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold; and from there on it did not lead him to the conjectural

field of immortality and man’s place in the universe.

What is the importance of this quote?As he turned to go on, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled. He knew that at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow,

but this spittle had crackled in the air.

These conditions are colder than he had ever experienced. The physical evidence did not have an impact on him other than curiosity. He should have heeded this warning.

Contrast the dog and the man.

The dog is better suited for the cold than the man. The dog relies on ancient instincts for his survival while the man has only his rational thoughts to aid in survival. The dog looks to the man for leadershipbecause he can build a fire. The

man’s inability to build a fire renders him useless to the dog and the dog leaves. The man dies and the dog lives.

Cite the point in the story when death became the more predictable outcome than survival.

High up in the tree one bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It

grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was a mantle of fresh and disordered snow.

How does London depict this man’s death?Peaceful and comfortable.

Then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known.

What lessons run through this story?

Man’s place in nature.Man’s arrogance.The dangers of inexperience.A respect for those with experience.Danger and death are always closer than we assume.

Discussion

In a Socratic Seminar explore this topic:In what other natural circumstances could this story have been told?

Additional Assignment #1

Read about Paul Laurence DunbarThen read two of his poems.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Additional Assignment #2

Eng 11 Literature Unit 4 Test

Take the Unit Test. You must get at least 12 correct answers to be proficient in this portion of the course.

English 11 Literature #18

Mr. Rinka

“To Build a Fire”By Jack London