To Build a Fire

To Build a Fire and Other Short Stories Jack London "To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. There are two versions of this story where one was published in 1902 and the other in 1908. On an extremely cold winter day, a man who remains unnamed throughout the story, and his native wolf-dog go onto the Yukon Trail after being warned of the dangers of traveling alone in extreme weather conditions by an old man from Sulfur Creek. With nine hours of hiking ahead of him, the man is expecting to meet his associates ("the boys") at a camp in Henderson Creek by that evening. The man is accompanied only by his dog, whose instincts tell it that the weather is too cold for traveling. However, the weather does not deter the man, a relative newcomer to the Yukon, even though the water vapor in the man's exhaled breaths and the saliva from the tobacco he is chewing has frozen his mouth shut. It is here where London's use of symbolism of "heat (sun-fire-life) and cold (darkness-depression-death)" immediately creates a sense of impending doom. As he hikes along a creek, he takes care to avoid pockets of unfrozen water hidden beneath thin layers of ice. He stops to build a fire and thaw out so he can eat his lunch, and soon after continues hiking. Shortly following his trek he breaks through the ice and soaks his feet and lower legs.