To Build a Campfire
12/16/2018
Literary Analysis
“Shadows were too black, and when a breeze stirred the trees, the shadows changed in a disquieting way.” ―
Arrogance and foolishness will always be outsmarted by Mother Nature. The short story, To Build a Campfire, by Jack London is a classic tale of man versus nature. The protagonist is not the brightest man, and one of much arrogance. The story portrays his slow descent into defeat by the harsh Yukon wilderness. The person in question is a man out looking for firewood. At first, the man is doing just fine and seems to plugging along as if it is a normal day, but then things quickly take a turn for the worse. The man, who neglected another person’s advice to always bring a companion when the temperate was 50 below zero (the temperature was 75 below), falls into water after not being careful enough. The man is able to act fast and tries to build a fire to warm back up his feet. The man fails and continues to try but to no avail. Slowly and painfully, the man begins to die and tries many things as a last effort, but eventually gives up as the dog he was very abusive to trots away back to camp.
He pictured the boys finding his body next day. Suddenly he found himself with them, coming along the trail and looking for himself. And, still with them, he came around a turn in the trail and found himself lying in the snow. He did not belong with himself any more, for even then he was out of himself, standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow. It certainly was cold, was his thought. When he got back to the States he could tell the folks what real cold was. He drifted on from this to a vision of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek. He could see him quite clearly, warm and comfortable, and smoking a pipe.
"You were right, old hoss; you were right," the man mumbled to the old-timer of Sulphur Creek. [To Build a Campfire]
The man fails to take any advice and use it to his advantage. His arrogance was ultimately the thing that killed him, for had he have listened to the old timer, he might still well be alive. The man fought nature and lost the battle, and his demise was a direct result of his foolishness and cockiness. Because the man rejected any help from people (even if they were much smarter than him), he met a fate that was bound to catch up with him soon. The man’s dog, who was somewhat tortured, was smarter and more wise and ultimately survived because of its wit. Though the man never gave up until it was over, his lack of care in the beginning came back to bite him. The man fought and fought, but in the end, he could not escape the grasp of Mother Nature.