To Build a Fire a story by Jack London
In 1906 Jack London wrote the story "To Build a Fire . This is a story about a
man traveling in the klondike. He is trying to reach the camp where the other miners are.
The only companion he has is a dog. Along the way he encounters unfortunate mishaps.
Were these mishaps and his death a result of ignorance?
There are many mistakes that the man made in his journey. The first was mistake
was that he kept taking his hands out of his gloves. He knew that it was colder than fifty
below zero and that his spit froze before it hit the ground. Though he new this he still took
his gloves off every time he needed to do something. Every time he took his gloves off he
exposed his hands to extreme cold, which lowered his temperature and brought him closer
to freezing. If he had just left his gloves on he would have stayed warmer and may have
The second mistake was that he didn't bring extra supplies. If he had brung extra
matches, burch bark and extra gloves he would have been able to make extra fires and
keep his hands warm. Then again if he had taken a sled he could have packed for the
worst circumstance. He then could have made it back a lot sooner than he planned.
The third mistake was building a fire under a tree. If he had built a fire in the open
it wouldn't have been put out by the falling snow. He also could have kept warm by
walking back and forth between the tree and the fire while collecting wood. If he had done
this he wouldn't have had to make another fire. He then could have dried his boots and
The fourth and last mistake was lighting all the matches at once. If he had only lit
one or even a couple at a time he could have relit the fire when it didn't catch. He
wouldn't have had a reason to panic, he could have just redid the fire and stayed there.