In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, naturalism seems to be a theme. This story does not sugarcoat any event or action, which is pretty straightforward which is the reason I chose it. The man has decided that he is going to meet his friends but he must travel through the snow and freezing weather to get there, on foot.
Lessons
- Older men are usually Wiser men- The old man in the beging of the story warns this young man about the Yukon and how cold it can get. The older man attempts to have the younger man wait or possibly get better prepared before he starts his voyage, he does not and in turn dies.
- Use common sense- Common sense would first of all tell your dumb ass not to go out in -50 degree weather on a nature walk of sorts while completely unprepared. It would also tell you not to make a fire under a tree drenched in snow.
- Eat when you can- Yes I understand he brought a biscuit but for gods sake, that biscuit isn't gonna do you any good when you freeze to death or starve. In the situation where you are freezing and Fluffy has a warm body, fur, and meat on his bones.... Fluffy is gonna go to sleep for a long time.
As much as we might look to sympathize with the man dying, it's hard not to look at it as blatant stupidity that the man used absolutely no common sense and intuition to survive. He did make a fire a couple of times which was good, but like you said Sweeton, the guy made one under a tree dumped with snow on it. Any person with at least four brain cells would know that's a recipe for disaster. The man died off of his continued bad decisions with the lack of learning and acting on his faults with haste.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Sweeton and Fhlug. If the man was from around that area he should have known he was nowhere near prepared and that it was a very dumb idea to go out there alone. Even if he would not have been familiar with the area he should have listened to the older, wiser man. The man most certainly lacked common sense. The story was also somewhat humorous because the man was given advice and he chose not to take it so he got what he asked for. Also, he treated the dog so badly, wanting to kill him, and the dog ends up being the one to survive and leaves him lying there after he died.
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