The Existential Theme of London’s To Build A Fire Essay -- Build Fire

The Existential Theme of capital of the United Kingdoms To Build A Fire Jack Londons short story, To Build a Fire, is the tragical tale of a reality who decides to travel alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freeing temperatures and falls victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. During his journey, the humanness gets his feet wet as he falls through the ice into the water of a hot spring (London 122). Because of the severity of the cold, some one hundred and heptad degrees below the freezing point, the mans life depends upon his ability to promptly light a fire to keep his feet from freezing (122-23). After one, half-successful fire-starting endeavor, and several other pitiful attempts, the hopelessness of the mans lone struggle against the hostile environment of the Yukon begins to become apparent. After a lengthy episode of panic in which the man tries desperately to return the feeling to his extremities by running around like a chicken with its head cut off (128), the man at last grows calm and decides to meet death with dignity . . . (Labor 66). The storys central theme is one portrayed by many existentialist writersthat man lives a solitary existence which is subject to the relentless, unforgiving forces of nature an ever so subtle part of this theme is that it is mans goal to reign meaning in his existence. The word existentialist, as well as the subject of existential philosophy itself, evades definition. Davis McElroy points out this problem by comparing the act of defining existentialism to the act of trying to explain human existence in a single sentence . . . (xi). For the sake of brevity, perhaps a short, simple definition would be best according to the American Heritage Dictionar... ...s artful placement of irony within the story. Works Cited Existentialism. The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. New York Dell, 1994. Hendricks, King. Jack London Master Craftsman of the Short Story. Logan Utah S tate U P, 1966. Rpt. In Jack London Essays in Criticism. Ed. Ray Wilson Ownbey. Santa Barbara Peregrine, 1978. 13-30. Labor, Earle. Jack London. New York Twayne, 1974. London, Jack. To Build a Fire. Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 6th ed. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York Harper Collins, 1995. 118-29. McElroy, Davis Dunbar. Existentialism and Modern Literature. Westport Greenwood, 1968. Perry, John. Jack London An American Myth. Chicago Nelson-Hall, 1981. Walcutt, Charles Child. Jack London. Minneapolis U of manganese P, 1966.