FREE ESSAY ON LONDON'S USE OF SETTING IN "TO BUILD A FIRE"

LONDON'S USE OF SETTING IN "TO BUILD A FIRE"

London's use of setting in "To Build a Fire"
In "To Build a Fire," Jack London uses many details of setting to illustrate the gravity
of the protagonist's situation. The story is a detailed description of the dangers of
intense cold and the stages involved in the process of freezing to death. The man in "to
build a fire" is a very dogmatic and arrogant person who believed in his own abilities
and took everything at face value. He didn't analyze and scrutinize over every detail. He
definitely wasn't one to philosophize and his conceptions were rooted in the tangible not
the surreal. At the end, though, he realizes his own deficiencies and finally dies. The
magnitude of the man's situation is fully illustrated and established through London's
descriptions of the landscape, snow, ice, and intense cold.
The height of London's graphic portrayal is the story's explicit description of the
intense cold of the arctic winter that the man is travelling through. The "sharp,
explosive crackle"(pg. 119 para. 2) that occurred in the air before the man's spit could
even hit the snow is just an example of the vicious cold that the man was travelling
through. The frozen moisture of the man's breathing that forms ice on his beard and
mustache. The "crystal beard of the color and solidity of amber"(pg. 120 para. 1) that
transpires when the man chews tobacco and the speed in which the man's appendages become
numb and unusable are further examples of London's account of the cold. 
The journey through the unbroken white "north and south, as far as the eye could see"
(paragraph 2) was another striking account of the wonderful use of setting in this story.
Without a doubt, the concept of a world of ice is a major factor in the greatness of this
story undermined only by London's graphic depiction of the man's death. This is depicted
in great detail throughout the latter part of the story.
The terrain of the Yukon, to the man, is just an obstacle that could easily be overcome
with knowledge of your surroundings and a pragmatic attitude, but in truth it is the
executioner of the man. The anxiety of falling in the water, the relief when the fire is
built, and the shock when it is put out are all situations that build to the tension of
the story. The panic when he is unable to build a second fire and the conclusion that is
bound to happen are more thoroughly realized when the man is unable to even light a
match. The wild rush through the snow and the idea to kill his dog to use its body as
warmth are further graphic details of the break down of the man.
The innovation of "meeting death with dignity"(pg.128 para. 3) is the final stage to the
man's realization that he was to die. The idea to "sleep off to death"(pg.128 para. 3)
and the statement, "Freezing was not so bad as people thought. There were lots worse ways
to die." is an additional step towards the conclusion we had all suspected when the fire
was put out. The setting is further developed by these accounts and the harshness of the
Arctic winters are even more realized.
Thus, London's setting within the unfeeling Yukon is both descriptive and arousing. The
major action takes place after the fire is put out, leading to the climax of the story
when the man begins his realization that death had found him. In this way, London uses
setting to show the extent of the man's situation and the death that will surely follow
if you underestimate it. The events of the story, the unrelenting cold, and the man's
final death are all tied together by London's expert control of setting.