Naturalism In Jack London's To Build A Fire

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a short story about a man trailing off the Yukon trail. This short story has elements of naturalism. Naturalism, in literature, determines and governs human character (Naturalism). The protagonist in the story continuously disregards the cold until he faces a life-or-death situation. He disregards the freezing temperature as he believes his friends will provide his needs. Despite, the advice and warnings from the older-timer, the man travels lightly, with his dog as his only companion. The dog seems to be smarter than the man himself. It knows that it is not a time to be traveling but it must follow commands. The dog also knows the importance of fire and questions why the man doesn’t build one. Fire would be the difference between life and
Humans are unfit for nature. They no longer have instincts that help them survive. Nature is able to overpower if man is stripped of civilization and disrespects the powers of nature. The unnamed man was given little importance despite being the protagonist in “To Build a Fire.” London has no sympathy for the character he created. However, the dog is more likable since it has better characteristics. It wants to survive and its actions are not idiotic, compared to the man. It understands what the cold is able to do. It doesn’t underestimate nature. The theme of man versus nature can be found in different naturalistic tales too. To further reinforce the theme of man versus nature, the story “The Open Boat” should be compared with London’s story. In “The Open Boat”, the strongest person, Billie, dies, however, in London’s story, the unnamed man dies. There doesn’t seem to be any good qualities about the unnamed man. When these two stories are combined, it points out that nature doesn’t care if one dies or not. Nature is much more powerful than what people assume. It has the ability to make humans feels inferior in a life or death