TO BUILD A FIRE

"To Build a Fire" is the quintessential naturalist short story. Naturalism is interested in the
deep conflicts that bring out the brute instincts of man and it was a movement in literature
developed largely by Emile Zola, Theodore Dreiser, Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, and Jack
London in the late 19th-century. Its major themes (which will all be explained and explored in
greater depth here) are determinism over free will; the indifference of the environment;
survival; absence of moral judgment; instinct over intellectualism; a fascination with
processes; the emphasis of the narrative over character; depiction of characters in the lower
classes; and more realistic language befitting such characters and settings.

Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” is the tragic tale of a man who decides to travel
alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freezing temperatures and falls
victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. The heart of the story lies an
existentialist theme. Imagery is an important element that London uses to illustrate and
emphasize his theme. He also uses irony to illustrate and stress his existential theme. 

To preserve the existential theme of man being alone in an uncaring cosmos, the reader must
not be confused by the presence of the dog as a traveling companion to the man; the reader
must instead see the dog for what it is—a further extension of the apathetic and uncaring
environment. The dog is not a sentient being as the man himself is and cannot, therefore, be
looked upon as being a kindred spirit who shares the bitter existence of the lone, lost soul who
is the protagonist. By accenting the essential parts of his story with irony, London directs the
reader’s attention to the heartless indifference of nature and thus the existential theme of
man’s living a solitary existence in a capricious and harmful universe. 

London has not given the protagonist a name but simply refers to him as “the man”
throughout the story. By not naming the character, London has placed him at an even greater
distance from the reader within his deadly setting, thus isolating him even more in a bleak and
hostile universe.

The dog represents pure instinct, a trait necessary for survival in the harsh Yukon. This sense
of instinct preserves the dog as opposed to the man--it even knows instinctively when the man
is attempting to kill it (to warm his hands in its carcass). Although the dog cannot create a fire
for itself, or even hunt down food in the wild so well, its instinct keeps it alive and allows it to
find the nearby camp of men--"the other food-providers and fire-providers.

While the main conflict is man versus nature, it would be inaccurate to say that nature actively
assaults man. Throughout the story, the motif of cold is used to build the theme of man versus
nature as well as the theme of instinct.  Fire symbolizes survival, it also reoccurs throughout
the story in the thoughts of the dog and the man and helps support the themes of pride and
instinct. 

Nature does not go out of its way to hurt the man; it would be just as cold without the man's
presence, as well. Rather, the environment is indifferent to man, as it frequently is in naturalist
literature. The bitter environment does not aid him in any way, and it will not notice if he
perishes. In the same way, the dog does not care about the man, only about itself. 
THEMES
1- Determinism
2-Amorality and Responsibility
3-Causal links and Processes
4-Instinct over Intellectualism
5-Indifferent Environment and Survival
6-The Objective Power of Number and Facts
7-Naturalistic Subject Matter and Language

SYMBOLS

1-FIRE
The story frequently alludes to fire as a symbol of survival, of human technology in harmony
with nature, and of life itself. It represents a break in his journey for lunch or the comforting
end of his journey when he arrives at camp. 

On the other hand, the dog immediately yearns for fire, recognizing its ability to keep them
safe from the cold and help them survive the deadly temperatures. Instinctively, the dog "had
learned fire, and it wanted fire."
As illustrated by the dog's thought process, fire is not a regular part of the natural world but is
something humans create at will. In this way, the ability to create fire is an important survival
tool for human beings, but one that benefits animals as well. The fire could have helped the
man survive the deadly cold had he developed the instinct to hunker down near one and not
attempt to travel.

2- The Old-Timer on Sulphur Creek

The old-timer on Sulphur Creek is a symbol of the side of humanity that has kept touch with
nature and instinct. The old-timer symbolizes temperance, wisdom, and knowledge.

3- THE DOG

The dog in "To Build a Fire" represents animal instinct and acts as a bridge between humans
and the natural world.