I enjoyed reading “To Build a Fire”. The story is about a man who endures an excruciating journey in freezing temperatures. The man travels through the mountain with a wolf he encounters and travels 10 miles more towards the river in hopes of reaching the camp. The forest they travel through is filled with a lot of snow. The man from Sulphur Creek has advised The man about several adversities he may face such as traveling without a companion and building a fire under a tree. Both the man and the wolf has cross the creek but the man suffered harshly from this because he fell and got wet. This delayed him from continuing his journey and it made him weaker against the temperature. He made a horrible mistake by building a fire under a tree and that made things worse. He was colder and barely able to make another fire. He tried to kill the wolf for its fur but failed. He could barely grasp anything at this point. His purpose for this journey is to make it back to his kids in camp. At the end, he ends up embracing death and accepting it as a good way to die. He assumes he will be found soon. The story portrays the man as confident, adaptable and somewhat resilient. He never depended on the wolf as a companion and it seem like the wolf wasn’t against the man. The wolf would always follow the man and watch him. Even after the man attempting to kill the wolf, the wolf lingered around but from a distance. It’s revealed in the end that the wolf knew where the camp was located all along; making the wolf a viable companion.
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While reading “ To build a Fire ” by Jack London, I felt upset and disappointed but also surprised on how the story ended. The main character was unable to make it back to his children at the campsite due to the harsh weather conditions and his misjudgment on how dangerous it was to travel by himself. Instead of looking for shelter during these unfavorable conditions, the man proceeded to go on a long journey back to his campsite in company with a wolf who was curious about where he was headed to during these horrible weather conditions. The journey starts off serene, but then quickly becomes frightening. The man was confident about making it back to his residence on time all while undermining the weather despite the warning this old man once mentioned to him concerning the dangers of traveling alone in below 50-degree weather. The plot thickens as the storyline goes on, where he was met with numerous of different troubles while on his way home; despite the man’s consciousness on how dangerous the weather was and surviving the obstacles that were in his way, we end up witnessing a horror case of events begin to unfold where the man falls into freezing water and quickly begins to feel the permanent numbness of his fingers, toes, and face worsening all because he was unable to start a successful fire pit. Only after the man has tried countless times to start the fire does it become too late to save some parts of himself and so he proceeds to give up and regrets not listening to what the old man once informed him on the hazards of traveling alone in below freezing weather. While reading this story, it kept me on edge– I had hopes on the man surviving these dangers but sadly that was not the case, which honestly, is what made the reading all the more intriguing; the thrill of wanting to keep reading to find out what happens to the protagonist is what made this storyline very alluring.
After reading “To Build A Fire” I felt quite saddened. It is a story of a man perishing due to their ignorance and not heeding the advice of the old man. Who is much more experienced and knowledgeable on surviving the harsh weather. As the story progresses his situation just gets worse and worse by the minute. Additionally, the story says that our protagonist is a simple man and often doesn’t think deeply or imagine how things affect him. So he often downplays the intense weather. This aspect of his character leads to his downfall. If he was more sensible he would have had a companion with him. Or even better have not gone outside at all when the weather is this severe. The story beautifully connects to this through its use of imagery and how descriptive it can be. Some strong examples are how his lips freeze, how chillingly numb his hands and toes are. Or how his spit shattered like glass when it came into contact with the floor due to the immense cold. As I read these lines I felt cold as well, like I was in his shoes. This is what good imagery does to readers.
There are a lot of things that caught my attention about this tale. “To Build a Fire” is a story that can portrait and illustrate many different emotions and feelings. At the beginning of the story, I was a little bit confused, and my emotions were all over the place. But as I kept reading, I started feeling tense, and cold. As the story went on. I started seeing the mixed emotions that were being portrayed by the main character. When he started walking deeper into the trail, I started feeling the fear that he was going through. I always kept in mind when Sulphur Creek said, “no man should travel alone if it’s colder than 50 degrees below zero.” Throughout the whole story I always wondered why he didn’t listen to the old man’s wisdom. Was it because he didn’t believe the man? Or because he thought he could handle the cold? I also asked myself why he didn’t have a companion? And why did he choose that specific day to get to the boys? In addition, as the story went on all those questions and mixed emotions crossed my mind. I’m assuming that is because as a reader you put yourself in the shoes of the main character. You analyze the story and its characters’ behaviors. I think these effects are created because of how connected we get to the story and because of how detailed the story is.
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