It does know the cold is dangerous, not to cross the ice for fear of wet, to bite at the ice that forms between its toes, and even knows not to get too close to the fire for fear of singeing itself. The events leading up to the eventual demise of the man, there is a big point in the story that the man fell through the ice and wet himself up to the knee. If he prepared himself in advance, might would have prevented the man’s downfall. The only help he received, was the advice of old man from Sulphur Creek. As the man tried to stop his hands from
"To Build a Fire" By Jack London Part 1: A summary of the novel, including the main characters, setting, plot, and major conflicts. "To Build A Fire" by Jack London is a third-person account of a man's struggle to trek across the Yukon Territory on foot in sub-zero temperatures. The temperatures drop far below what the hiker had anticipated, but he continues on his dangerous journey unaware of how cold it really is. In the beginning of the story, the man makes consistent progress in his journey and has high hopes that he will make it to camp only a little after dark. As he ventures further into his journey, the temperatures drop and the man becomes concerned with his wellbeing.
And, in the end, he is unable to will himself to movement, realizing that his mental powers are no match for what conflicts with him externally. The man in the story also has to fight internal conflicts. So as the Newcomer is constantly fighting his own foolishness for taking so many risks in such extreme cold and not following the advice of people with more experience. So he basically was just too self confident. The man just had to accept death after going through different stages before he can come to terms with it.
In “To Build a Fire” the narrator plans to travel through the dangerous Yukon to a distant mining camp to meet up with some of his companions. It is his first winter there and he is called a “chechaquo”, a newcomer to the extreme subzero temperatures. Although he is warned by the old man from Sulphur Creek not to go out alone in the freezing weather, he does so anyway but brings a dog along with him. London writes of the dog, “Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment” (#). The man is very observant but doesn’t make connections to what he should watch out for so the dog’s actions tell of danger.
“Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty odd degrees of frost. Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all.”(London 519) He is over confident. He has no understanding that weather this cold could be very dangerous to a man. It could cost him his life. He is alert to his surroundings.
This implies the man is improvising, overcoming and adapting to his current situation to get a fire going. He is staying calm, trying to survive and get a fire going. But as luck has it, this cold is too much for his body and he fails at building a fire. Panic is now starting to set in. “This fear quickly became poignant as he realized that is was no longer a mere matter or freezing his fingers and toes...but that it was a matter of life and death with the chances against him” (123).
The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is totally unreliable. We are questioning his sanity from the very beginning of the story. He goes out of his way to make us believe he is not mad while he is telling the story, and tells us about going out of his way to make sure others believe in his sanity. Another thing he does to make us question his sanity and reliability is that he claims to hear things a normal person would not be able to hear. And he kills an old man for no other reason than because his eye makes “his blood run cold”.
London also presented Darwin’s idea of survival of the fittest in his story. Darwin’s idea implies that those best adapted to particular conditions will succeed in the long run. In relation to “To Build A Fire,” London explains how the man wanders through Alaska, where it is 75 degrees below zero, and eventually fails to make it to his destination. The man back at home had warned him of the dangers of Alaska’s winter, but he had simply laughed it off and casually taken on the challenge. Soon after, though, he was aware of the fact that it was extremely cold and life threatening to travel on the trail at that time.
Man against Nature Jack London places a middle-aged logger on a desolate trail in the middle of the Klondike where the temperature is seventy-five degrees below zero. He is on a journey to reach camp and meet up with friends. On this journey, the man is faced with obstacles that could result in life or death, but he struggles with putting his knowledge of the wild over his pride. In Jack London’s To Build a Fire, London illustrates the differences between instincts and intellect by using symbolism, foreshadowing, and characterization to describe not only a man’s struggle with nature, but also a struggle within himself. London uses a husky as symbolism in this story.
After nobody attempted to help him because of his jacket, he realized that he was going to die. He became more aware of the important things in life. He didn’t want to die by the street ramble. Consequently, the title of Royal brought him death and took everything that he could have in life. “I'm Andy, he screamed wordlessly, I'm Andy.” (P. 196) He began to hate his identity as a Royal and he want to die as Andy.