Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire" tells the tale of a man and his dog, who attempt to survive in the Yukon. The harsh weather soon leaves them stranded, leaving them to take different methods to keep themselves alive. The attempt to build a fire takes up the majority of the story, as the man attempts to keep himself warm. The conflict between instinct and logic is told through symbolism and metaphor; the protagonist learns all too well that relying on logic is foolhardy, and that instinct must also be a component to his survival. Nature is shown to be an incredibly heartless and unfeeling entity – something to survive rather than work with. In this way, “To Build a Fire” is about the relationship between man and the natural world, and how his own acclimation to civilization has prevented him from learning how to survive.
The protagonist is a man of logic, experiencing his first winter in the Yukon; he does not have any practical experience in the rough terrain of that area, and so he is operating by his own deductive reasoning, and not through memory. The man is incredibly stubborn; he refuses the old man's advice to not go alone throughout the Klondike, as he feels he can make it on his own. The man is also irresponsible, risking the fire that he creates several times for the sake of small details or his own quirks. The first time, he shortsightedly pulls at branches and leaves in order to keep a fire going under a pine tree, but that brings snow down upon it. Next, he risks all of his matches to create the fire, but then picks at a piece of moss and puts out the fire. All of these actions are borne of desperation, and eventually lead to his untimely demise.
With this main character, London explores the relationship between man and nature – the omniscient narrator in the work allows us to understand the mistakes the man makes (such as going out in the cold in the first place), as well as see the consequences of these mistakes. Here, nature is shown to be a cold, unfeeling creature, as it gives him no quarter for his errors – every mistake he makes sets him back further and lessens his chances for survival. What is perhaps most significant is the man’s inability to fully recognize the danger he is in; it is not until his fire is extinguished that he starts to truly become worried: "It was as though he had just heard his own sentence of death” (London, 1902). The man is representative of London’s treatment of human hubris; he believes he can easily navigate nature, but the short story and the storm itself prove him quite wrong.
The dog, on the other hand, was a creature of instinct, as he simply relied on what he felt to be true about surviving in the Yukon. Here, the man’s wolf dog is the other half of the equation; he is a "big native husky, the proper wolf dog, gray-coated and without any visible or temperamental difference from its brother the wild wolf" (London, 1902). The dog itself is almost a spiritual creature, as it is much more in tune with nature, and its successes highlight the man’s failures. The dog is patient and loyal, always sticking with the man no matter what foolish decisions he makes. The dog's own preparedness for the environment makes it much more likely to survive; it has a wonderful sense of smell, and can naturally stand colder weather much better than the man can. As loyal as the dog is, it knows exactly when to give up; right when it knows the man is going to die, it heads "in the direction of the camp it knew, where were the other food-providers and fire-providers" (London, 1902). The dog is part of nature still, and as such it is just as indifferent to the man as the elements are.
All through the story, the dog seems to know instinctually what it needs to do to survive, as it will "merely obey the mysterious prompting that [arises] from the deep crypts of its being" (London, 1902). The implication given by London is that the man lacks the preternatural instincts for survival that the wild dog has, as man has domesticated himself with his focus on civilization and escaping the necessities of survival. To that end, the dog is much more well-equipped to survive in the wilderness than man.
Nature, as a force, is almost the third character in this story; the man and the dog attempt to defeat it, both using different methods. It does not intend to maliciously destroy the man and the dog; but its benign hostility is something that needs to be addressed. At every turn, nature seeks to disempower the man and make him responsible for his mistakes. By being so relentless, London shows the reader that nature does not have the power of sympathy, and is infinitely more powerful than man is. The power of nature is clearly beyond the two characters; they will certainly not make the environment warmer. All they can do is alter their reactions to nature, which the man refuses to do. This is the true lesson; nature is an immovable object, and one can either adapt to survive (as the dog does), avoid the situation altogether (as the old man implores the traveler to do), or die foolilshly (as the man himself eventually does).
In conclusion, "To Build a Fire" is a tale of the battle between logic and instinct. Man does battle with nature here and loses, mostly due to his own stubbornness and pride – the main character does not pay enough credence to nature’s command of his surroundings, which leads to his death. The man, reasoning the usefulness of a fire, or even killing the dog to keep warm, still makes stubborn mistakes when these actions do not work out. The dog, on the other hand, simply knows more about nature in its veins than the man does, leaving it with the ability to survive. Nature tests both characters to see how they will attempt to survive, and the dog wins out through its use of instinct. The dog, being a much more primal creature and more in tune with nature, manages to survive while the inexperienced man freezes to death. Jack London, in his short story, seeks to illustrate the lack of control and power we have over nature, and the mistake in thinking we have it.
Works Cited
Gair, Christopher. Complicity and resistance in Jack London's novels: From naturalism to
nature. Vol. 22. Edwin Mellen Press, 1997.
Hendricks, King. "Jack London: Master Craftsman of the Short Story." 1966.
London, Jack. “To Build a Fire.” 1902.
