Lord,

What man or woman can truly understand pride?

Who can truly see the extent that pride has infiltrated his or her life?
How can I ever see the extent that the choices I make have been influenced by pride?
Without receiving your wisdom, I will shove your agenda out of the way.
Without receiving your wisdom, I will be an instrument to wound other people.
Without awareness of what I am allowing, I am doomed to experience regret.
Thank you for your forgiveness, compassion, and mercy.
Thank you for cleansing my sins and for opening my eyes to see.

Amen.
Short Story
Anglo-American Literature
Lesson Content
 Biography of Jack London
 Vocabulary
 Reading one of London’s Short
Stories
 Breaking down the story
 Key Elements
 Sequence of events
 Themes
 Conclusion
 Literary Devices
 Media Adaptations
 Historical Context
Jack London
Jack London was born John Griffith

Chaney on January 12, 1876, in San

Francisco, California. After working in

the Klondike, London returned home

and began publishing stories. His

novels, including The Call of the

Wild, White Fang and Martin Eden,

placed London among the most popular

American authors of his time. London,

who was also a journalist and an

outspoken socialist, died in 1916.

 Early Years
Journalist and author John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was born on January 12,
1876, in San Francisco, California. Jack, as he came to call himself as a boy, was the son of Flora Wellman, an
unwed mother, and William Chaney, an attorney, journalist and pioneering leader in the new field of American
astrology.

His father was never part of his life, and his mother ended up marrying John London, a Civil War
veteran, who moved his new family around the Bay Area before settling in Oakland.

Jack London grew up working-class. He carved out his own hardscrabble life as a teen. He rode trains,
pirated oysters, shoveled coal, worked on a sealing ship on the Pacific and found employment in a cannery. In
his free time he hunkered down at libraries, soaking up novels and travel books.
 THE YOUNG WRITER
His life as a writer essentially began in 1893. That year he had weathered a harrowing sealing voyage,
one in which a typhoon had nearly taken out London and his crew. The 17-year-old adventurer had made it
home and regaled his mother with his tales of what had happened to him. When she saw an announcement in
one of the local papers for a writing contest, she pushed her son to write down and submit his story.

Armed with just an eighth-grade education, London captured the $25 first prize, beating out college
students from Berkeley and Stanford.

For London, the contest was an eye-opening experience, and he decided to dedicate his life to writing
short stories. But he had trouble finding willing publishers. After trying to make a go of it on the East Coast, he
returned to California and briefly enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, before heading north to
Canada to seek at least a small fortune in the gold rush happening in the Yukon.
 THE YOUNG WRITER
By the age of 22, however, London still hadn't put together much of a living. He had once again
returned to California and was still determined to carve out a living as a writer. His experience in the Yukon had
convinced him he had stories he could tell. In addition, his own poverty and that of the struggling men and
women he encountered pushed him to embrace socialism, which he stayed committed to all his life.

In 1899 he began publishing stories in the Overland Monthly. The experience of writing and getting
published greatly disciplined London as a writer. From that time forward, London made it a practice to write at
least a thousand words a day.
 Commercial success
London found fame and some fortune at the age of 27 with his novel The Call of the Wild(1903),
which told the story of a dog that finds its place in the world as a sled dog in the Yukon.

The success did little to soften London's hard-driving lifestyle. A prolific writer, he published more
than 50 books over the last 16 years of his life. The titles included The People of the Abyss (1903), which
offered a scathing critique of capitalism; White Fang (1906), a popular tale about a wild wolf dog becoming
domesticated; and John Barleycorn (1913), a memoir of sorts that detailed his lifelong battle with alcohol.

He charged forth in other ways, too. He covered the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 for Hearst papers,
introduced American readers to Hawaii and the sport of surfing, and frequently lectured about the problems
associated with capitalism.
 final Years
In 1900 London married Bess Maddern. The couple had two daughters together, Joan and Bess. By
some accounts Bess and London's relationship was constructed less around love and more around the idea that
they could have strong, healthy children together. It's not surprising, then, that their marriage lasted just a few
years. In 1905, following his divorce from Bess, London married Charmian Kittredge, whom he would be with
for the rest of his life.

For much of the last decade of his life, London faced a number of health issues. This included kidney
disease, which ended up taking his life. He died at his California ranch, which he shared with Kittredge, on
November 22, 1916.
TEASER!
 Overview of the Story
A man travels to a freezing, isolated place called Yukon. He only has his dog with him for
company. Throughout his journey, he ignores the advice other people had given him and takes his
life for granted. Finally, he realizes the real power of nature and how delicate human life actually
is.
 Words in this story…
1. creek
n. a place where a small amount of water flows
2. glove
n. a covering for the hand that has separate parts for each finger
3. withdraw
v. to take something back, away or out
4. tremendous
adj. very large or great
5. blazing
adj. very hot, fast, or powerful
6. aware
adj. feeling, experiencing, or noticing something
The man walked down the trail on a cold, gray day. Pure white snow and
ice covered the Earth for as far as he could see. This was his first winter
in Alaska. He was wearing heavy clothes and fur boots. But he still felt
cold and uncomfortable.
The man was on his way to a camp near Henderson Creek. His friends
were already there. He expected to reach Henderson Creek by six o'clock
that evening. It would be dark by then. His friends would have a fire and
hot food ready for him.
A dog walked behind the man. It was a big gray animal, half dog and
half wolf. The dog did not like the extreme cold. It knew the weather
was too cold to travel.
The man continued to walk down the trail. He came to a frozen stream
called Indian Creek. He began to walk on the snow-covered ice. It was a
trail that would lead him straight to Henderson Creek and his friends.
As he walked, he looked carefully at the ice in front of him. Once, he
stopped suddenly, and then walked around a part of the frozen stream.
He saw that an underground spring flowed under the ice at that spot. It
made the ice thin. If he stepped there, he might break through the ice into
a pool of water. To get his boots wet in such cold weather might kill him.
His feet would turn to ice quickly. He could freeze to death.
He hit his hand against his leg several times until he felt a sharp pain.
Then he quickly put his glove on his hand. He made a fire, beginning
with small pieces of wood and adding larger ones. He sat on a snow-
covered log and ate his lunch. He enjoyed the warm fire for a few
minutes. Then he stood up and started walking on the frozen stream
again.
A half hour later, it happened. At a place where the snow seemed very
solid, the ice broke. The man's feet sank into the water. It was not deep,
but his legs got wet to the knees. The man was angry. The accident
would delay his arrival at the camp. He would have to build a fire now to
dry his clothes and boots.
He walked over to some small trees. They were covered with snow. In
their branches were pieces of dry grass and wood left by flood waters
earlier in the year. He put several large pieces of wood on the snow,
under one of the trees. On top of the wood, he put some grass and dry
branches. He pulled off his gloves, took out his matches, and lighted the
fire. He fed the young flame with more wood. As the fire grew stronger,
he gave it larger pieces of wood.
He worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a man with
wet feet must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. While he was
walking, his blood had kept all parts of his body warm. Now that he had
stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw deeper into his body.
His wet feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers. His nose was
frozen, too. The skin all over his body felt cold.
Now, however, his fire was beginning to burn more strongly. He was
safe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks. The
old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukon when
the temperature is sixty degrees below zero. Yet here he was. He had had
an accident. He was alone. And he had saved himself. He had built a fire.
Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel alone. If a
man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man's boots were covered
with ice. The strings on his boots were as hard as steel. He would have to
cut them with his knife.
He leaned back against the tree to take out his knife. Suddenly, without
warning, a heavy mass of snow dropped down. His movement had
shaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was enough to cause the
branches of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. He
sat and looked at the place where the fire had been.
The old men had been right, he thought. If he had another man with him,
he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build the fire.
Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, he must not fail.
The man collected more wood. He reached into his pocket for the
matches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold them. He began
to hit his hands with all his force against his legs.
After a while, feeling came back to his fingers. The man reached again
into his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous cold quickly drove
the life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. He tried to
pick one up, but failed.
The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his leg.
Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches.
He gathered them together. Holding them with both hands, he scratched
the matches along his leg. They immediately caught fire.
He held the blazing matches to a piece of wood. After a while, he
became aware that he could smell his hands burning. Then he began to
feel the pain. He opened his hands, and the blazing matches fell on to the
snow. The flame went out in a puff of gray smoke.
The man looked up. The dog was still watching him. The man got an
idea. He would kill the dog and bury his hands inside its warm body.
When the feeling came back to his fingers, he could build another fire.
He called to the dog. The dog heard danger in the man's voice. It backed
away.
The man called again. This time the dog came closer. The man reached
for his knife. But he had forgotten that he could not bend his fingers. He
could not kill the dog, because he could not hold his knife.
The fear of death came over the man. He jumped up and began to run.
The running began to make him feel better. Maybe running would make
his feet warm. If he ran far enough, he would reach his friends at
Henderson Creek. They would take care of him.
It felt strange to run and not feel his feet when they hit the ground. He
fell several times. He decided to rest a while. As he lay in the snow, he
noticed that he was not shaking. He could not feel his nose or fingers or
feet. Yet, he was feeling quite warm and comfortable. He realized he was
going to die.
Well, he decided, he might as well take it like a man. There were worse
ways to die.
The man closed his eyes and floated into the most comfortable sleep he
had ever known.
The dog sat facing him, waiting. Finally, the dog moved closer to the
man and caught the smell of death. The animal threw back its head. It let
out a long, soft cry to the cold stars in the black sky.
And then it tuned and ran toward Henderson Creek… where it knew
there was food and a fire.
End
 To Build A Fire
written by Jack London and adapted by Dona de Sanctis, narrated by
Harry Monroe
 Discussion
Who, What, When, Where, and How?
Guide Questions
What do you want to share about the story/ film?
Compare the two.
Guide Questions
Who is the main character of the story? Who else
are involved in the story?
What doomed him to his untimely demise? Could he
have avoided it? How?
How do you feel about the man’s struggle and fate?
What if you were in his position, what would you do?
Have you had similar experiences?
If you were to change anything, how would things
end differently?
Guide Questions
When and where does the story take place? How
did the author describe the place?
Could it take place anywhere else? If so, where?
Could the story take place in this world? Could it
happen in real life?
What could you see, feel, hear, smell, as you read?
Would you want to visit the place the character
lives?
Guide Questions
Who tells the story? Do you think this is the best
person to tell the story?
Why did the author choose the title “To Build A
Fire,” Would you choose the same? If not, why not?
If yes, why?
How is this story like another you know? How are
the characters, setting, and problems like those in
other stories you know?
What does this story make you wonder about?
THEMES
Primitivity
Questions About Primitivity
1. How does Jack London
In "To Build a Fire," Jack London
distinguish primitive instinct contrasts the main character's civilized sense
from judgment throughout the of "judgment" against the wolf dog's more
story? What argument does he primitive "instinct". While the man's judgment
seem to be making by seems to draw on his personal experience, the
highlighting this distinction?
wolf dog's instinct draws on the experience of
2. In what types of situations does every blood ancestor the animal has ever had,
the narrator tend to talk about which is really saying something. The dog's
the differences between the
man and the wolf dog?
primitive knowledge tells it to remain close to
the fire on such a cold day, but the man's
3. How does the dog's wolf judgment leads him onward to the camp. The
ancestry contribute to its
primitive awareness? Is there a man's judgment therefore seems to fail him,
human version of a wolf dog, or while the dog's instinct and natural adaptation
is following the advice of a more to the Yukon ensures its survival.
experienced old-timer the best
we can hope for?
4. Could having the wolf dog's
instinct have saved the man, or
was he doomed from the
moment he set out in such cold
weather?
Foolishness Right there in the third paragraph of "To
Build a Fire," the narrator tells us all about the
"trouble" with the man, which is that he is
"without imagination". Now out in the cold
and Folly
Questions About Foolishness and
Folly
1. How exactly do the story's events
Yukon, you probably don't think that having an
imagination is going to help you much. But the
timing of the narrator's comment suggests that
support the claim that the man's
"trouble" is that he is "without
this lack of imagination is a significant
imagination"? shortcoming that will lead the man to make
2. Can you think of how having an
foolish decisions. As readers, we must wonder
imagination might have saved the what good it would do the man to think deeply
man? What do you think London about the vast wilderness around him. After all,
means by imagination, anyway?
the guy's not a writer. He just wants to go get
3. When the man leaves his own body some bacon! So why suggest he's foolish for
at the end of the story, does this
not having imagination?
mean that he finds his imagination
at the moment of death? Does he
start thinking more deeply at this
moment?
 For much of the century before Jack
Man and London started writing, Americans often wrote
about how a return to nature would allow us to

the reach some sort of transcendent state or bliss.

London reacted to this tendency through a

Natural
Questions About Man and the Natural
style known today as "literary naturalism,"
World which depicted nature as a brutal force that
1. When Jack London represents nature was completely indifferent to humanity's

World
as something that is cold and
indifferent to human happiness or
survival, does this mean that he
existence or accomplishments. That's not to
say that nature's an evil force in London's eyes.
hates nature? It just doesn't care one way or the other if
2. Does the man have any say in his humans are happy, or self-actualized, or, well
fate, or are all his efforts useless in alive. In "To Build a Fire," London plays this
the face of nature's brute power?
note constantly in his descriptions of the vast,
3. Do you ever get the sense that nature
brutal quality of the Yukon landscape, and the
is actively trying to kill the man?
indifferent survivalism of the dog, who also
4. Does it mean anything that the dog
howls at the man's dying, or is it just couldn't care less if the guy lives or dies, as
an instinctual response to the smell long as he can get his four paws near a fire.
of death?
Perseverance
Questions About Perseverance
1. How does the man's
The man eventually dies because he's
perseverance make this story
more interesting? been foolish. But the reason "To Build a Fire" is
so complex is that despite his foolishness, the
2. How would the story be
man shows great perseverance. In fact, the
different if the man was just
some arctic newbie who had no longer the story goes on, the more incredible it
clue what he was doing at all? is that the man can respond to the potential
3. Do you think you could last in
loss of fingers, toes, or parts of his face with
the Yukon for as long (or longer) calmness. No matter how bad things get, he
than the man does? Why or why never thinks he's going to die. Is it hope or
not? delusion?
4. Is it believable that the man is
so tough, considering that he's
the new guy in the Yukon?
Where would this quality be
coming from?
Pride
Questions About Pride
1. In classical tragedy, the main
character's great flaw is Throughout "To Build a Fire," the man
often hubris, which is a sort of exhibits quite a bit of pride in his abilities, and
egotistical pride that brings about
that character's downfall. In this this sense of pride is connected to his sense of
sense, should we read "To Build a being a Man with a capital M. Ultimately, the
Fire" as a classical tragedy? How
might it be different? man seems to do everything in his power to
make his journey successful, but his fatal
2. If it is pride that causes the man
to ignore the old-timer's advice, mistake has been made before he even began
how does this relate to what the his journey. He didn't heed the old-timer's
narrator says about the man's
"trouble" being a lack of advice, and decided to travel in temperatures
imagination? Do those two ideas lower than fifty degrees below zero without a
contradict each other or can you traveling partner. It's a bad call, to be sure, but
make them jive?
it's also just plain old hubris.
3. Is the man's pride enough to make
us dislike him as a character, or
do his skill and perseverance still
draw our admiration?
 Conclusion
The classic fight between life and death has always fascinated us. Nature is often seen as a
powerful force which should be feared and respected. The man in this story is careless and,
despite having helpful information, makes the silly mistakes. He takes the power of natural
forces too lightly.

The animal is the one who is cautious and sensible in this dangerous situation. By the end,
readers wonder who is really intelligent—the man who could not deal with nature or the dog who
could survive?
 Media Adaptations
of Jack London’s work “To Build A Fire”
To Build a Fire (1969)
Adventure, Drama | 1969 (USA)
Based off of the version of this story Jack London
wanted to write. A man goes traveling alone with his dog
with the temperature -50 and it is getting colder and
colder.
Director: David Cobham
Writers: David Cobham and Anthony Short (script), Jack
London (story)
Stars: Ian Hogg, Orson Welles
To Build a Fire (2017)
8min | Short, Drama | 12 March 2017 (USA)
Adapted from Jack London's seminal tale of survival in
the wilderness.
Director: Emmanuel Vozos
Writers: Jack London (novel), Emmanuel Vozos
(adaptation)
Star: Danny Schoch
Fx Goby’s award-winning short film To Build a Fire, co-
produced by Nexus Studios and Composite Films, has
premiered online as a Vimeo staff pick.
To Build a Fire is widely recognized as Jack London’s
masterpiece and a classic of American literature, with
Goby’s animated film adaptation touring festivals to
great acclaim since 2016, the centenary of London’s
death.
The short film tells the story of a trapper and his dog
attempting to cross the Yukon in the harshness of
midwinter. With striking visuals and a score composed
by Mathieu Alvado and recorded by members the
London Symphony Orchestra, To Build a Fire has won
over animation, film and Jack London enthusiasts alike.
Accolades include winning Animation Grand Prize --
Best Animation at the Rhode Island Film Festival, Best
International Animation at Shorts Mexico and Best
Animation at this year’s London Short Film Festival.
Historical
Context
Klondike
Gold rush The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an
estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of
the Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and
1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on
August 16, 1896, and, when news reached Seattle and San
Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of
prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went
in vain. It has been immortalized in popular culture, e.g.,
in artifacts, films, games, literature, and photographs.
The Golden Staircase leading over Chilkoot Pass from the Scales in 1898National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush
National Historical Park, KLGO Library SS-32-10566
 Stampeders, loaded with gear, wait in line starting up Chilkoot Pass.
National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Candy Waugaman Collection, KLGO Library SS-126-8831
Challenges during the Gold Rush

• There were murders and suicides, disease and malnutrition, and deaths from
hypothermia, avalanche, and possibly even heartbreak.
• Until tramways were built late in 1897 and early 1898, the stampeders had to
carry everything on their backs.
• The White Pass Trail was the animal-killer, as anxious prospectors overloaded
and beat their pack animals and forced them over the rocky terrain until they
dropped. More than 3,000 animals died on this trail; many of their bones still lie at
the bottom on Dead Horse Gulch.
Robert Henderson:
Discoverer Of First
Placer Gold In The
Klondike Basin
“Robert Henderson (1857-
1933), a towering six-footer,
migrated north to the Yukon
District from the Colorado mines.
The 29-year-old rugged, blue-
eyed, likeable Nova Scotian was
broke. Hunting gold had obsessed
him since boyhood in Big Island,
where he had never intended to
follow in his father's career as a
lighthouse keeper.” - Jane Gaffin
The Gold Rush is a 1925 American comedy film written,
produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film also stars
Chaplin in his Little Tramp persona, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain,
Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, and Malcolm Waite.
Chaplin drew inspiration from photos of the Klondike Gold
Rush as well as from the story of the Donner Party who, when
snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, were driven to cannibalism or
eating leather from their shoes.[3] Chaplin, who believed
tragedies and comics were not far from each other, decided to
combine these stories of deprivation and horror in comedy. He
decided that his famous rogue figure should become a gold-
digger who joins a brave optimist determined to face all the
pitfalls associated with the search for gold, such as sickness,
hunger, loneliness, or the possibility that he may at any time be
attacked by a grizzly. In the movie, scenes like Chaplin cooking
and dreaming of his shoe, or how his starving friend Big Jim
sees him as a chicken could be seen.
Assignment
Write your own short story.
You can read the copy of the original text of Jack London’s “To Buid
A Fire” from here (optional):
https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/to-build-a-fire.pdf
References
• https://www.nps.gov/klgo/learn/goldrush.htm
• http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500211h.html
• https://www.biography.com/writer/jack-london