Jack London "To Build a Fire"

Jack London composed the short story, "To Build a Fire," which correlated with Naturalism. Naturalism consists of scientific reasoning, which is relative to this piece in particular. This genre of Realism, often compared to as well, draws much attention onto nature and humanity. Humanity, being quite the broad subject, can be specified as a social interaction or behavior for this particular point. London's literary piece features a man with his loyal and trustworthy Huskie dog. These two characters set about into the wilderness of Alaska. The temperature remained as a large issue in the piece. Due to this particular predicament, the story foreshadows a survival guide, incorporating the use of human instincts. With the use of humanistic instincts and interactions, one can presume a correlation between London's piece and Naturalism. An adequate example of this lies in the introduction of the piece; the title of the story. The title of the piece allows readers to formulate an idea or theme of this piece, incorporating various aspects of Naturalism throughout. Because of the human nature displayed in this piece, characteristics relative to Naturalism are discovered. "To Build a Fire" adequately displays Naturalism in a sense of survival, nature, and human instinct. Because of this, one may retain the theme and idea of the story itself.

It is strongly presumed that the protagonist of the story is unaware and inexperienced in his abilities out in the wilderness (London). He searches for gold, ignoring any dangerous actions or signs. The most important sign the protagonist seems to disregard would be that of the temperature and weather. The inexperienced protagonist continues to disregard any strong or main signs of absolute danger (London). Again, right from the beginning, the reader may imply that the man will have to endure some sort of instinctual struggle with nature. As the story progresses, nature does not do anything drastic against the man and his dog, but it simply sustains its conditions to where the man is not concerned about his initial intentions-gold (London). The undeniable conflict and struggle of "man vs. nature" heavily occurs throughout London's literary piece. Although this is directed with nature, it does not correlate with Naturalism itself. Naturalism involves the viewing of human beings from a mutual, yet neutral and scientific standpoint (Werlock). Naturalism's role in the story is bringing out the man and his dog's instincts to where he is almost not properly functioning as a human anymore. This allows the protagonist to obtain the role of a more animalistic perspective, retaining survival as a natural occurrence. Naturalism, in itself, is based heavily upon Darwin's ideals, and London's story undoubtedly conveys his survival theory (Werlock). The main issue is not that of competition to survive, but more of the force and subjection to undergo this undeniably agonizing predicament (London). London's literary piece heavily relates to the idea of survival and one's limits in terms of nature and instinct. This can test the boundaries of those who cannot define these aspects easily. Naturalism, being a subgenre of Realism, can depict a scientifically charged approach to the literary community. Because of "To Build a Fire's" heavy use of science and factual material, one may adequately define it as a Naturalistic piece. Because of this, London's survival tale can effectively display the use of Naturalism and human instinct.

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." American Literature. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 601-614. Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "naturalism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gamshrtsty0501&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 15, 2011).