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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire" and the implications it has for man in his struggle to dominate nature. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVToBild.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
whose lack of imagination made it impossible for him to save himself. This paper argues that it is the mans conflict with himself, rather than his conflict with nature,
that leads to his death; and that Londons main point is that man cannot conquer nature unless he first conquers himself. Discussion There are two conflicts in the story:
man against himself and man against nature (nature here is represented by the dog). The dog, which acts on instinct, survives while the man, a rational being, perishes.
However, despite the fact that the conflict with nature is vital to the story, it is the internal conflict that is more important. There is one other "character" in
the story: the cold. Its 75 below zero, and no one should be attempting to go anywhere in such brutal weather, especially not alone, and not in
winter. (We know its winter because London says that the sun is only in the sky for a few minutes per day: "... that cheerful orb ... would
just peep above the sky-line and dip immediately from view" (London, 1908)). But the man is arrogant as well as unimaginative and the combination proves fatal. The first situation
that might have gone differently is early in the story, and actually deals with the mans character. The man is "without imagination" (London, 1980). He is "quick and
alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances" (London, 1908). That is, he knows as a fact that the extreme cold
of the Yukon is dangerous, but he doesnt truly understand the extent of the danger because he is unable to feel it. If he were more imaginative, more fearful,
...