FREE ESSAY ON THE WINTER WONDERLAND IN JACK LONDON'S TO BUILD A FIRE

THE WINTER WONDERLAND IN JACK LONDON'S TO BUILD A FIRE

No matter what type of story you are reading, setting always plays a key element in
producing the desired effect. Jack London's short story To Build A Fire provides an
excellent example of this. In this story, a man hikes across a snow and ice covered plane
towards the encampment where he is supposed to meet up with more travelers like himself.
The setting of this story is one of the northernmost most areas of the earth, the Yukon.
The man must hike across this area for approximately thirty-six miles before he reaches
the camp at which he is expected. The constantly dropping temperature further complicates
the man's hike. When he begins his journey at nine o'clock in the morning it is at the
day's high of fifty degrees, below. At the man's time of death the temperature had made a
sharp drop to seventy-five below. This setting brings a sense of harsh reality and an
idea of how fragile the human body is to the piece.
In this story, the setting carries more than one function. It could be said that the
setting acts like a double-edged sword. On one side, it provided for the man. As London
put it "tangled in the underbrush about the trunks of several spruce trees, was a
high-water deposit of dry firewood-sticks and twigs, principally, but also larger
portions of seasoned branches and fine, dry, last year's grasses"(London 123). These
types of tinder were perfect for constructing a fire, which was necessary for the man 's
survival. On the other side, "man's frailty" and his ability "only to live within certain
narrow limits of heat and cold" were both put to the test as nature tormented the man as
he made his journey across the Yukon (London 118). It is this kind of action, which makes
the setting an adversary and a companion for the protagonist of the story.
As far as plot is concerned the setting plays as large a role as the wandering man does.
The plot of the story is a simple one: a man who should have heeded the warnings of
others must struggle to survive treacherous terrain and reach his friends at their camp.
However London's attention to detail creates a desolate wasteland that in the end
destroys the unlucky hiker. London's words create a chill as they describe the
"far-reaching hairline trail" of which the man must follow (London 118). He also
describes the temperature as "a bite of frost that hurt and that must be guarded against"
which is presumably appropriate for seventy-five degrees below zero (London 118-119). The
plot becomes void if the man has not the enemy and companionship of the setting therefore
producing a heavy reliance on that setting.
Jack London's tale of a hiker's fate in the treacherous Yukon is one that relies heavily
on detail and reader's perception of the setting. His attention to detail creates an
overwhelming sense of reality that lasts after the story is over. To Build A Fire is a
story in which the setting, nature's frozen timberland, plays more than one role. It not
only helps the hiker by being a provider of wood and tinder, but it also plays an
oppressor to the weary hiker, an oppressor so harsh that in the end seals the trekker's
fate. This short story provides an excellent example of how important setting is to the
entire reading experience. 
Bibliography
London, Jack. "To Build A Fire." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and
Drama 
Sixth edition. Edited by X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York City: Harper Collins
College Publishers Inc. 1995. Pg 118-128.