Nature and Ignorance in "To Build A Fire" by Jack
Uploaded by spootyhead on Apr 18, 2007
Nature and Ignorance in "To Build A Fire" by Jack London
“It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly”
Anatole France
Nature is full of hidden menaces. It is always dangerous to underestimate the significance of its power. Nature can give people a lot of pleasure, but also many troubles. If people do not respect its laws or do not have special knowledge and experience they can find themselves in a danger. People should know that very often their carelessness and self-assurance could lead to terrible consequences and even to death.
A bright example of such carelessness was showed us by Jack London in his great novel “To build a fire”. This story is about a man who tried to survive in the extreme cold of an Alaskan winter, when the temperature was 75 degrees below zero. The man was going to a camp where his friends waited for him. His only companion in this journey was a dog, “a big native husky, the proper wolf dog” (London 378). At the beginning of the story the writer informed us that this man had no personal experience traveling along the Yukon trail. “He was a newcomer in the land and this was his first winter" (London 377). But the man was very stubborn and had a lack of common sense. He didn’t possess a certain understanding of life and nature. “The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things not in the significances“ (London 377).
The man didn’t think of the infinite number of possible events that could occur during his journey. The man was aware of the extremely cold day, but due to his ignorance he didn’t realize the danger he faced. First, he smiled at the advice he got from the old-timer that “no one must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below” (London 382). But the arrogant main character thought about the old-timer as being “womanish“. He strongly believed that “any man who was a man could travel alone“ (London 382). He didn’t suspect a big price he would have to pay for his nonchalance and contemptuous attitude toward the forces of nature.
At the beginning of the story cold made no impression on the man. He perceived it as something weak that it was...