A Lack Of Respect

Part I of Essay
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man traveling along the Yukon River in the bitter winter weather. While warned against traveling alone in the frigid cold, he ventures out to meet his companions at a remote camp many miles away, with on ....

Part II of Essay
.... he has. Even when faced with his own immortality, the man fights to contain himself and remain calm. London uses the dog traveling with the man to support some of the less obvious points in the story. We know from the dog’s thoughts that the climate is not simply cold, but closer to unbearable. The central conflict in the story is the Traveler vs. Nature. He displays a total lack of respect for the environment in which he has chosen to travel. From the beginning, the reader understands that the man is undertaking a task where mo ....