Blog #16

To Build A Fire is a short story written by Jack London. This story is about a man who travels in extremely cold temperatures with no one to help him out besides his dog (London). The temperatures are so cold that frostbite is a constant threat, and only becomes more real when he falls into a creek and gets his legs wet (London). The man decides that he needs to stop and build a fire so that he can dry off his gear, so he stops near some trees so that he can use their branches to help get the fire going (London). Unfortunately, as the man is breaking off twigs from the surrounding trees he is also weakening the branches that hold a lot of snow and just when he gets his fire going, snow falls down and puts the fire out (London). Now the man is fully understanding of the seriousness of his situation, the man quickly tries to start a second fire, but once again is unsuccessful (London). The man considers killing his dog and using its body heat to help him survive, but his is not able to do it so he thinks of another way to get circulation throughout his body (London). The man decided to run around, but he rapidly becomes too weak to run and falls in the snow (London). As the night went on the dog sensed that the man had died so it went back to where there were more people that could provide for it (London). This story can be related to Emerson and Thoreau because it has a great deal of nature in it I think. The whole story takes place in the Yukon and for much of this story we are reading about this harsh environment. Emerson and Thoreau both wrote about nature quite a bit so I think that is the biggest way in which this story is similar to the writings of Emerson and Thoreau.

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire, by Jack London." The World of Jack London 2012®. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.