To Build a Fire

In “To Build a Fire” the man doesn’t listen to what the old man tells him about not traveling when it’s too cold. The man continues traveling despite knowing he should wait till it gets a bit warmer. One of the feelings I got was that the man got what he deserved. He knew it was too cold to continue and yet he still went. London creates this feeling by constantly saying the old man said not to travel below a certain degree throughout the entire story, basically emphasizing to the readers that the man knew not to travel and still did it anyway. The story also made me feel bad for the dog. The dog knew the entire time it wasn’t a smart idea to travel in such weather. London mentions every time the dog was hesitant to continue on the journey. This is to show how the dog was using its animal instincts to know when to proceed. I also enjoyed how London didn’t really create a relationship between the dog and the man. The dog was just trying to stay safe and knew in order to survive he would have to rely on the man who knew how to create fire. This emphasize shows the survival aspect of the story.