Commentary on To Build a Fire Essay

To Build a Fire Cause/ Effect Essay

Jack Londons To Build a Fire (rpt. In Michael Meyer, The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 9th ed. [Boston: Bedford, 2011] 712) is a story about a man travelling alone on the Yukon Trail in extremely cold and dangerous weather. The man is ignorant of the dangers of the trail and of nature itself. He ignores advice given to him to not travel alone in that extreme temperature. Therefore, the mans death is caused by the extreme coldness of the weather, travelling alone, and stepping into water.

First of all, the mans death is caused by the extreme coldness of the weather. The narrator says, Fifty below zero stood for a bite of frost that hurt and that must be guarded by the use of mittens, ear flaps, warm moccasins, and thick socks (713). He is a newcomer to the Yukon Trail and underestimates the severity of the weather. The man believes that he can handle it at the beginning, but realizes later that it is too cold: Once in a while the thought reiterated itself that it was very cold and that he had never experienced such cold (714). The old timer from Sulphur Creek tried to warn him about the weather, but instead of heeding the warning, he laughs at the old man: That man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country. And he had laughed at him at the time (716). If he had listened to the old timer and stayed until the weather warmed a little he would have made it through the trail. His pride of being a man refuses to listen to such warnings. This shows his arrogance and one of the causes for his death.

Another cause of the mans death is that he is travelling alone. The man believes that he is invincible. He fails to be cautious and think of what could happen; instead he thinks about what wont happen. Even when he has the accident, falls into the water, and successfully builds a fire. He arrogantly thinks, Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself (718). He goes onto think that the old timer was rather womanish for having to need a trail mate. Unfortunate for him; he builds the fire under a snow covered tree. The snow falls onto his newly built fire and extinguishes it. Now he wishes that he had listened to the old timer: If he had only had a trail mate he would have been in no danger now (718). The mans fate now lies in his own hands.

The main cause of the mans death is that he fell into some water. Leading back to the weather; we know that this is extremely dangerous. The narrator says: He wet himself half-way to the knees before he floundered out to the firm crust (717). He underestimates the number of springs there was on the path he was taking. And without warning it happens: At a place where there were no signs, where the soft, unbroken snow seemed to advertise solidity beneath, the man broke through (717). He only worries about delay, but for him it would be more than delay.

These are the causes of the death of the man travelling on the Yukon Trail. The causes play an important role on his pending death and let us learn to heed warnings unlike our unlucky man in the story. The old timer of Sulphur Creek is a very wise man with wise advice that shouldnt be taken for granted. We learn not to feel pity for the man, for it is his own ignorance that leads up to his fateful death. Mother Nature is not one to be played with; she bites hard. She doesnt care how manly you believe you are, for she will win either way.