The Ups and Downs of London’s “To Build a Fire”

Jack London is one of the most famous American novelists, journalists, and
social activists who has done a lot of amazing works such as The Law of Life, The
Mexican, and The White Silence. Among all of his works, there is this one specific short
story that became really popular, and it’s called To Build a Fire. It is a tragic story that
depicts the struggle of a man against nature, which is one of the greatest dilemmas in
the life of a human being. It shows how the young miner believed that he was larger
than nature itself and underestimates the power of it. He thought that he could conquer
the 50 degrees below zero temperature and the unfriendly environment of the Yukon
Territory, which is the setting of the story. As the tale goes on, it also displays the
necessity of instincts, knowledge, and abilities of a person in his/her everyday life which
I think falls onto the main theme of the story that is existentialism. However, did the plot
really give justice in showcasing the true meaning of existentialism? Has the story
become an effective way of illustrating its main theme? Or did the unfamiliar plot and
new strange words ruined the story and confused the many?

Theme is one of the most significant elements in a short story as it talks about
the central idea or the main point of a narrative. In this short story, it is very evident that
the theme is all about existentialism since most of the part shows how the man is trying
to reach his goal, and that is to find meaning in his existence. Based on my research, it
is said that existentialism highlights the existence of an individual as someone who is
free and is responsible in determining his/her own development through acts of the will.
There are tons of events and elements in the story that showed the connection of the
theme to the storyline itself. The first one is the setting. It was mentioned in the story
that it takes place in the wilderness of the Yukon during the season of winter. The line
“there was no sun or promise of sun, although there was not a cloud in the sky” added
to the harmful and horrifying atmosphere of the setting. London also added that Yukon
was an isolated place where no humans are found, except for the protagonist. For me,
this is a perfect description for the setting to emphasize more the existentialist idea that
the character is alone in his world, trying to defeat the power of nature on his own.
However, I think that the setting would’ve been more effective if he added more wild
animals like tigers or lions in the background to make it more realistic, especially since
he was in the forest. I think with these wild animals, he will be able to interpret more the
meaning of existentialism as they would either become another threat or as something
beneficial to the lonely character.

The next one is the character itself. It’s quite observable that the main character
has no name. Instead, the author just simply refers to him as “the man” which I think is a
really good idea to give more impact and have a greater feeling of distance from the
reader to the character, isolating him in his own universe more, justifying the
existentialist idea. Besides that, it was also said a while ago that the tale has a man
versus nature type of plot. With that being said, London decided to make the character
an arrogant one, thinking he could defeat the power of nature. It was mentioned several
times in the story that he had the chance to go back and reach the camp and call for a
companion, but he never did. Alternatively, the line just said that “keenly observant as
he moves through the treacherous terrain of the Yukon ''. This means that rather than
calling someone for help, he just observed and looked for signs that will make him
aware of all the hidden dangers that he needs to avoid. This trait of him is actually
suitable for the theme as it is connected to the idea of existentialism since it shows how
he is trying his best to cope up, be familiar, and develop his knowledge and abilities with
the strange environment that he is in, without depending on anyone or anything.

Aside from the protagonist, there is another character which is the dog. There
was this scene where the man thought of killing the dog for his own benefit. So, he
called the dog in an odd tone. However, the dog noticed it and relied on his instincts.
For that reason, he didn’t approach the man and he just became anxious and scared. It
also somewhat connects to the idea of existentialism as the dog is slowly getting used
to the presence and acts of the man that he immediately knew that something was not
right by the way the man called him. The only negative thing that I want to point out is
the main character’s attitude. I just don’t like the fact that he is too arrogant to even think
of going back to the other boys. He even thought that he could defeat the power of
nature. He didn’t think that the others might be worried for him and just did what he
wanted to do. As for me, I think that if the character wasn’t so full of himself, there would
still be a chance that the ending will fall into a happy one. But at the same time, I
understand that the author needs to make him like that in order to be consistent in
explaining the main theme.

Besides the setting and characters, there are also some scenes in the plot that I
like. Some of the scenes that I admire are the scenes that showed how he endured all
the dangers and hardships that he experienced. A few examples are when his facial
hair is slowly becoming frozen, his fingers slowly feeling numb, and how he can’t move
his feet anymore. What I like about this is that he endured all of these downfalls just to
learn new skills and explore new things. Apart from its connection to the theme, these
scenes also gave us important lessons in life, like how we shouldn’t stop trying until we
succeed. The protagonist also encountered countless failures in trying to survive but he
never thought of giving up, not even once. And that’s another thing that I appreciate
about the story because it taught us that rather than treating failures as a threat, we
should treat them as a stepping stone to start and try something new. Now, for the last
but definitely not the least scene that I liked is the ending part. After several disgraceful
attempts, he finally stopped his act of “running around like a chicken with its head cut
off” and finally decided to be calm and accept his faith, which is death. I know it sounds
tragic but to me, I don’t have any problem with it. It’s because his death somewhat
became a symbolism of his success in finding meaning to his existence and for his
character growth. How did it become a symbolism of success? Well simply because
even though he died, he still managed to learn new skills, explore new things, acquire
new abilities, and he also fought well with his own dilemma. Besides that, he also finally
realized that it is better to sleep his way to death than to die in any other worse ways.
It’s also very visible that his character grew up as he finally realized that a human alone
can never beat the power and strength of nature.

If there are positive things, of course there will also be negative things. No
worries, because the negative things that I’ve noticed are only minor and don't really
affect the story that much. The first thing that I want to mention is the unfamiliar words
and descriptions. I know that it is necessary for stories to have some strange words
since they improve and beautify the narrative. However, in this story, I think the author
kind of used unfamiliar words too much. I won’t lie and it took me some time to fully
understand the story because some of the descriptions are too confusing and some
words are too deep. That’s why I think it would be better if he minimized the use of
uncommon words as it can cause confusion to other readers. The next and last thing
that I think is quite negative is the last part. I know I said earlier that I don’t mind if the
character died at the end, but I know that some people would prefer it to be a happy
ending. That is why I think that a good alternative ending is when he gave up trying but
at the same time he didn’t die. He just goes back to his friends and tells them his story
so that he can share the lessons that he learned. With that, the ending will be less
painful yet more fictional.

To sum up everything, it may be concluded that the story To Build a Fire is a

really great story to interpret the real meaning of existentialism. We can really say that
Jack London took his precious time to create this masterpiece. Every element, from the
setting, character, up until the plot has their own distinct connection with each other that
helps in building and justifying its main theme. There are numerous positive things that I
really admired and there are also some minor negative things that I wish I could change.
However, these negative things made me realize that there is no perfect story. There
will always be imperfections but these flaws will help in making the tale more natural
and realistic. Lastly, I would like to mention that the different elements of the story
played a big role in providing us the message or lesson that the author wanted to give
us. That lesson is all about knowing your limitations and not being afraid of failures. We
should always keep in mind that no matter how big or strong we are, we are still just
humans. We have our own strengths and weaknesses and we can never defeat nature.
Also, we shouldn’t be afraid to try new things for this will be the key in nurturing and
broadening our knowledge, skills, and capabilities in doing the things that are significant
for our everyday life.