Introduction
Literary works provide different perspectives on various aspects of life. For instance, Jack London’s short story To Build a Fire illustrates an individual’s fateful relationship with nature by describing how the main personage perceives the surroundings of his journey. London’s story is unique due to the use of literary devices that explore such features of the story as the choice of characters, the author’s style, themes, and symbols.
Setting
The primary focus of To Build a Fire is on the literary work’s setting. The narrative unravels on a freezing day in the wilderness “aside from the main Yukon trail” (London 254). The location is meaningful because the author has traversed Yukon and “wintered” in the area (Kim 220). Similarly, the unnamed man travels through the region and experiences difficulties witnessed by the author (Kim 221). As London is known for being interested in depicting the natural environment, the story’s time and place show that no one can conquer wildlife. For example, the main character, despite being “quick and alert,” is portrayed to lack respect for his surroundings but is eventually overpowered by the place of his journey (London 255; Kim 225). Nonetheless, London’s usage of the setting demonstrates that however careful and observant people are, they cannot oppose nature.
Style
In To Build a Fire, London employs a specific style that can be assessed based on the writer’s diction, tone, and sentence structure. First, London’s language is based on quite descriptive words and portrays distinct emotions. For instance, by using such phrases as “exceedingly cold and gray” to describe the main character’s surroundings, the author depicts the “harsh” qualities of the story’s environment (London 254; Kim 219). Second, the narrative’s tone is reflected through its focus on the setting. In particular, because London emphasizes the essence of nature, which can be illustrated by the phrase “tremendous cold,” the text represents “apathy and omnipotence” (London 255; Schenck 130). Moreover, through his literary work, the writer shares his attitude toward human beings’ inability to control the natural world (Schenck 130). Third, sentence structure in the story utilizes both long and short sets of words. London combines some elaborate syntax with such small sentences as the three-word “He spat again,” which, considering concentration on the environment, suggests that humans are powerless “creatures of little interest” (London 255; Schenck 130). The narrative’s style seems to demonstrate the difficulties of surviving in the wilderness.
Character
The main character represents a certain group of people in an unfavorable way. The man is described as “a newcomer in the land,” witnessing his “first winter” but unimpressed by the cold (London 255). The author depicts the protagonist as “quick and alert” but with no imagination or comprehension of the significance of life (London 255). Kim proposes that the main character is “rather reckless” and has a mind that lacks materialistic and empirical perception (224). Nonetheless, Kim also suggests that the man has positive qualities, such as endurance, and that readers may associate themselves with and admire the unnamed character (231). In contrast, Farooq et al. state that the protagonist has “Eurocentric and Androcentric mindsets,” which may not resonate with the audience from other cultures (21). The nameless man appears irrational, overconfident, and disrespectful to both nature and the native people of the area (Farooq et al. 21). The protagonist challenges the environment but, when harshly treated by his surroundings, decides that he is allowed to be “amoral” towards others (Farooq et al. 20). The man does not possess praising features and indicates that the foreigners are bad.
Point of View
In addition to the perspective of the unnamed traveler, To Build a Fire provides two other points of view. The text is told in the third person, and nature embraces the role of the antagonist and is reflected through the main character’s dog and a man from Sulphur Creek (Kim 226). Despite following the explorer, the human and the animal do not have a good relationship due to a lack of “keen intimacy” (London 262; Kim 226). The dog, “a big native husky,” represents natural insight and understanding that no one should travel in the area in winter (London 256; Kim 226). Similarly, the aboriginal person from Sulphur Creek, associated with experience and wisdom, has warned the traveler about the dangers of the region (Kim 227). However, the protagonist often recalls the advice of the old man but thinks of the Indigenous individual as an “old-timer” who is “rather womanish” (London 264). Consequently, the narrative has two points of view from three separate personages, with the main character thinking that he can overpower the environment and the dog and the native man regarding nature as dangerous.
Theme
The story pursues the distinct themes of naturalism and death. London is considered a prominent writer of American literary naturalism, and it seems that the protagonist remains unnamed due to the author’s desire to demonstrate the power of the environment over the human (Kim 228). Farooq et al. argue that a person’s surroundings determine their behavior and give individuals an excuse to harm nature “in the name of self-defence” (20). Accordingly, Farooq et al. propose that To Build a Fire suggests that people threaten the environment because the latter endangers the former (20). The theme of death in the narrative can be assessed from two perspectives. First, Kim claims that the main character passes away due to human hubris that causes negligence, surpassing other positive qualities (224). Second, Wander argues that the protagonist’s demise is connected to his “civilized and refined” features that are allegedly not common among minority subjects of “the US settler and imperial” government (6). The story focuses on a person’s relations with nature that result in the death of the human.
Symbol
Particular elements of To Build a Fire serve as symbols, and the narrative has a special meaning. For example, as mentioned above, the dog reflects natural insight, whereas the native older man portrays “proverbial wisdom” associated with respect for nature (Kim 226). Moreover, it seems that the explorer remains unidentified to represent all man, all human beings, and the animal also serves as a figure of “indigenous belonging” (Kim 228; Wander 13). Furthermore, the main character’s demise symbolizes his corruption by civilization and incapacity to follow his instincts (Wander 13). The protagonist’s inability to build a fire after the first time signifies that the literary work is “a drama of failed settler subjectivity” due to a loss of mastery over self and land (Wander 14). London uses the personages and their actions and thoughts as symbols of nature, knowledge, and certain groups of people.
Conclusion
To summarize, To Build a Fire seems to have adequate elements of such literary terms as setting, point of view, and style. Nonetheless, the primary criticism of the narrative is based on different interpretations of its character, symbols, and themes. For instance, while the protagonist appears to represent Eurocentric and Androcentric mindsets and can be seen as arrogant and disrespectful, some individuals argue that he exemplifies all people. Moreover, while many readers think of the story as predominantly demonstrating the relations between a person and the environment, others view it as a reflection of colonial settlers. To Build a Fire and its meaning may be misleading to a certain audience, but the story illustrates that literary devices are interconnected and must be assessed together to understand a text better.
Works Cited
Farooq, Amna, et al. “Oiko-Poetics versus Andro-Poetics: An Account of the Deep-Ecological Perspective of Ice Age in Contrast to the Naturalistic Perspective of Exploration Age.” Global Regional Review, vol. 7, no, 1, 2022, pp. 18-24. Web.
Kim, Yeonman. “Human Hubris against Nature in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”.” Modern Studies in English Language and Literature, vol. 66, no. 1, 2022, pp. 219-233. Web.
London, Jack. To Build a Fire and Other Stories. Global Language Resources, 2003.
Schenck, Andrew. “”Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death! Or At Least a Way to Cope?”: Examining Different Perspectives in 18th Century Literature about Slavery.” Studies in British and American Language and Literature, vol. 128, 2018, pp. 129-144. Web.
Wander, Ryan. “The End(s) of Regeneration: Naturalist Frontier Chronotopes and the Time of US Settler Colonial Biopolitics.” Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1-27. Web.