The Foolish Travler

The Foolish Traveler

Jack London was one of the few American writers during the early 1900's who embraced Naturalism rather than Realism in writings. London, an author who found inspiration in nature, wrote many stories and novels that involve a person's fight for life against the underestimated and brutal power of nature. "To Build a Fire" is a short story that describes a man's struggle with nature throughout his journey along the Yukon River. He is traveling in the snow to meet "the boys" at Henderson Creek in the bitter winter weather. The main character, whose name is never mentioned, had an attitude that prevented him from noticing internal and external warnings. He did not respect nature's power, and therefore paid with his life.

His attitude was arrogant and careless. The man had no imagination and only understood facts. He knew it was very cold and his body was numb, but he failed to realize the danger. A newcomer with no experience, he thought he was invincible. Neither the "absence of sun from the sky," nor "the tremendous cold" made any effect on him (London 491). For example, the temperature was less than fifty degrees below zero. He did not care how cold it was. To him, it was just a number. He did not think of his "frailty as a creature of temperature" (London 491). When the "old-timer at Sulphur Creek" warned him not to travel alone in such cold, the man laughed at him. The old-timer had experience and knowledge, yet the man called him "womanish." Even when the man knew he was about to die, he thought, "freezing was not so bad as people thought," and "When he got back to the States he could tell folks what real cold was" (London 500) These quotes show that the man did not take his situation seriously. Instead of dying with dignity, he thought about how foolish he looked "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" (London 500). He was ignorant, unimaginative, foolish and doomed. The man learned his lesson the hard way.

The man encountered many internal warnings that it was too cold to be outside, traveling alone. First, his nose and cheeks went numb. His face, feet, and hands followed. His beard and mustache grew icy from his breath. Rubbing his face and beating his hands only temporarily helped his circulation. After he got his feet wet, they froze. His fingers "seemed remote from his body" because he could not move them (London 495). The most obvious clues that the man took in were signals that changed the way he normally functioned. Instead of feeling what temperature his feet were, "He wondered whether his toes were warm or numb" (London 494). It should have worried him.