To Build A Fire Theme Essay

There was nothing more isolating then traveling alone in the Yukon in temperatures under 75 degrees bellow zero, with no cell phone, no nose guard to keep his nose and face warm, and simply not enough warmth. The story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London has several themes that was covered throughout the story about a man that decided to travel the Yukon trail followed by a wolf dog. The traveler was given advice and warnings from an old man from Sulphur Creek but simply didn’t take it into consideration. The traveler overcomes numerous emotions throughout his adventure such as the five stages of grief, which is, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance that centers his survival. He goes through a combination of emotions as he faces near death situations, therefore resulting the main themes of the story which is firstly, ego and pride, secondly, denial and anger, and lastly, bargaining and acceptance.

The most important advice given to the traveler was to not
His feet, face, and hands practically frozen, the man is unfortunate in his last attempt of fire. He states, “The old man on Sulphur Creek was right…After 50 below zero, a man should travel with a companion.” Coming to his senses of regret of not acknowledging what the old man warned him about, he becomes bargaining due to the desperateness. He thought about killing the wolf dog and sheltering himself inside the dead body. To do so he would need to use his hands, which unfortunately was not operational. At this point of his condition, the man accepts his danger and foolishness. He feels fear and death as he tries to run to camp, even though the old man warned him about running with frozen feet. His desperateness overcame his ego, pride, denial, and anger. He was hopeless and accepted his death. Before his last breath he said to himself, “You were right, old fellow. You were