“To Build a Fire” Essay Humanity is just a part Of nature; if it ceased to exist everything would go on as if it never did exist. Nature’s uncaring for humanity is displayed in Jack Loon’s “To Build a Fire” with the man and nature not doing anything to help him survive. This is shown in “To Build a Fire” when the man fell in the ice, tried to start a fire for the second time, and when he freezes to death. Nature did not help the man when he fell in the ice, it simply did not freeze the water wrought or make it noticeTABLE that the ice was thin.
Despite the man’s efforts to avoid the water underneath ice by looking for “sunken, candied” snow, he fell in through, into the water. (London 85) The water had soaked him “halfway to the knees” and it was imperative for him to build a fire to get his things dry before continuing his journey. (London 87) When he did this nature did not care and allowed ice to fall on top of it, smothering it. There was no sympathy from nature; nature was indifferent to what was happening to the an and whether or not he lived.
After nature smothered his first fire he started working on another one, so he could thaw his feet and survive. Nature did not care that the man was freezing to death, so it did not help him get a second fire. At this point the man’s hands were so numb that his unavailing efforts caused “the [matches to fall] into the snow. “(London 90) When the man tried to light one all of them lit up, nature did not succor by spreading the fire just let it fall into the snow, and let the fire go out.
The man had no way to light a fire so his only hope was to make it to the camp before he could freeze to death so he “ran along the old, dim trail. “(London 93) The man figured that if he could make it to the camp his friends could help him because nature wasn’t helping him survive. There was no hope for the man, but he still ran trying to sun,’vive. Meanwhile nature did not care what happened to him. Nature, displayed by the dog does not care that the man is freezing just that he could provide fire.
When the man goes into “The most comforTABLE and satisfying sleep he could remember’ the dog waits for him to build a fire, trying to wake him up by howling and whimpering. The dog was waiting for what it needed, a fire, warmth, and food. When the man did not wake up, the dog, savoring its remaining warmth, disengaged the dead man and went to where it knew there were “food providers and fire providers. “(London 95) The dog never cared for the man nor had any commiseration for the man dying, only for what the man provided for the go.
No matter what happened to the man nature did not care and had no sympathy for the man or mankind. Nature did not care what happened to the man because if it did he would have lived. The man was insignificant to nature because it let him fall in the Ice that he couldn’t see, did not permit his fingers to light a second fire, and lets him freeze to death. Nature doesn’t care about humanity, because even if humanity disappears everything will go on as if humanity never existed.
