Rhetorical Analysis: "To Build a Fire" (Thesis and One Paragraph Revision)

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Thesis:
In "To Build a Fire", Jack London utilizes the two main character's unique survival intuition and
the harsh Yukon setting in order to establish a direct comparison between human and animal
instinct.
Paragraph:
Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, once stated, When your own life is threatened, your sense
of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival,". The idea Martel is trying to
convey is that, in the worst situations, human action is controlled by survival instinct. Situations
that would trigger this instinct are circumstances that require one to fight for their own life.
London's setting of the Yukon tundra traps the protagonist in such a situation that keeps both
characters in a state of never ending struggle. The reason he uses this setting is to exemplify the
fact that both the man and the dog are constantly working off their survival instinct. For example,
in the story, the man forces the dog to test the stability of the ice on a frozen river, resulting in
the dog breaking through the ice and falling into the water. "Almost immediately the water on
them turned to ice. The dog made quick efforts to get the ice off its legs. Then it lay down in the
snow and began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes. The animal knew enough to
do this... It merely obeyed the commands that arose from the deepest part of its being," (London,
68-69). In this passage, the man made a judgment, based on his experience, to send the dog out
first before he stepped out onto the ice. After the dog falls into the water, he quickly recovers

from the situation by performing actions "that arose from the deepest part of its being". The idea
that London tries to convey here is that animal instinct allowed for the dog to recover from such
a situation that man would quickly die from. However, the man avoided the situation in entirety
due to his past knowledge. Numerous other hazards of the tundra appear throughout the story and
put the two characters into danger, forcing them to maintain their own personal survival instincts.
London's use of this setting makes the reader constantly question the durability of man and
animal within such a harsh environment.