The Existential Theme of London’s To Build A Fire Essay

The Existential Theme of London’s â€Å"To Build A Fire Jack London’s short story, â€Å"To Build a Fire,† is the tragic tale of a man who decides to travel alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freeing temperatures and falls victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. During his journey, the man gets his feet wet as he falls through the ice into the water of a hot spring (London 122). Because of the severity of the cold, some â€Å"one hundred and seven degrees below [the] freezing point,† the man’s life depends upon his ability to promptly light a fire to keep his feet from freezing (122-23). After one, half-successful fire-starting endeavor, and several other pitiful attempts, the hopelessness of†¦show more content†¦At the conclusion of the story we finally see the man come to the realization, in a round about way, that it was best to meet his fate with dignity, thus giving meaning to an otherwise meaningless and cruel death. This existential theme in â€Å"To Bu ild a Fire† is not likely to be a mere coincidence, but instead appears to be part of London’s intentional design. According to Charles Child Walcutt, Jack London was greatly influenced by the ideas of such men as Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and Friedrich Nietzsche, all prominent thinkers of London’s time (5). So it is no accident that at the heart of the story lies an existentialist theme. London emphasizes the existential theme in â€Å"To Build a Fire† in several ways, the most important of which is his selection of the setting in which the story takes place. The story is set in the wilderness of the frozen Yukon during the harsh winter months when â€Å"there was no sun nor hint of sun† in the sky (118). London places his solitary human character in the perilous setting of the wilderness of the Yukon, which is enough to begin to illustrate his theme, but when London combines this unforgiving environment with the deadly cold of the Yukon winter, he creates aShow MoreRelatedA Comparison of Jack London and Stephen Crane.1481 Words   |  6 Pagesconsidered naturalist authors who presented elements of naturalism in many of their literary works, but most predominantly in their two short stories, â€Å"To Build a Fire† and â€Å"The Open Boat† When London wrote To Build a Fire he embraced the idea of naturalism because it mirrored the events of daily life. In James Feast’s criticism of â€Å"To Build a Fire†, he portrays nature as the antagonist, the foe against which the man is pitted for survival. He believed that London used naturalism, the most realistic