The harsh environment of the Yukon is what “the man” must contend with in Jack London’s 1910 short story “To Build a Fire.” Through his struggle to stay alive, it is clear that the man’s own nature, human nature, will likely be his downfall.
Arrogance and Mistakes
The man should never have been in the situation in which he finds himself at the beginning of the story. He is out in the wilderness of the Yukon, the temperature is 75 degrees below zero, and he is alone. Despite the warnings of more experienced woodsmen, those who had spent a significant amount of time in the Yukon, the man broke away from his group, thus making himself susceptible to much more danger.
So, why would he do this? The answer is inexperience and arrogance: “He was a newcomer in the land […] and this was his first winter” (London 120). He thought that he would be able to take care of himself, regardless of the bitter cold conditions, and he was too arrogant to heed the warnings of those who tried to talk some sense into him.
Human Nature v. Animal Instincts
Of all of the numerous mistakes the man makes throughout the course of this story, the most costly among them is likely his mistreatment of his only companion on this journey, his wolf dog. Unlike the man, who is not equipped to survive in such conditions, the dog has strong instincts that would have been an asset to the man:
"This man did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold" (London 123).
Instead of paying attention to the dog’s reactions to the cold, the man treats the dog as nothing more than a servant. As a result, the dog makes no effort to communicate to the man that it knows the way to the camp, where they would find safety and warmth.
The Man
Fittingly, the human character in this story is not given a name; instead, he is simply called “the man.” This seems to be London’s way of making him an everyman character. In other words, any human can identify with this man and the flaws he has as a result of human nature.
London, Jack. “To Build a Fire.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 10th ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, eds. New York: Pearson, 2007. 119-29.
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