Please check for grammar and also for the use third person only. This essay was to evaluate the character of the man in Jack London's "To Build A Fire." Just his character. Any tips on my intro and conclusion would helpful as well.
Character of a Man
In "To Build a Fire" Jack London tells us the story of a man on a trek through the bitter cold of the Yukon. London traveled to Alaska in 1897 and based the details in the story on his own experiences there. He picks up the story already in progress and follows the man until the bitter end. The following will provide evidence that the man, a chechaquo, or a new-comer to the land is observant, ignorant, and arrogant.
The first of the man's traits is his observation skills. His senses are keen and he notices the slightest changes in the air as pointed out here "And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled. He knew that at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow, but this spittle had crackled in the air" (London para 4). Although the man is a chechaquo he has learned signs to look for as sighted here "He noticed the changes in the creek, the curves and bends and timber- jams, and always he sharply noted where he placed his feet. Once, coming around a bend, he shied abruptly, like a startled horse, curved away from the place where he had been walking, and retreated several paces back along the trail" (London para 11). His observations of the areas around him help on his trek back to camp.
The man's thoughts throughout the story show his ignorance. Early on it shows while noting that the temperature is fifty degrees below zero "Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general" (London para 3). These types of thoughts cannot come from someone who knows what type of situation they are really in. The man then shows that his ignorance does not end with just the cold but within his own bodies abilities, "He would kill the dog and bury his hands in the warm body until the numbness went out of them" (London para 31). To think that even though his hands are so frozen that he cannot start a fire, but still believe he has the strength or skill to catch and kill a dog are proof of an ignorant man.
The most fateful of the man's attributes is his arrogance. Right at the start we see signs of his ego, "pausing for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch" (London para 1). Even without thinking his mind makes excuses so that the man can rationalize moving on alone. The man's body starts to show signs of how cold it is, "But it didn't matter much, after all. What were frosted cheeks? A bit painful, that was all; they were never serious" (London para 10). The man ignores this early warning that he may want to rethink his idea of being alone in this cold. He was given advice by an older local man earlier in his travels but chooses not to listen. The man believes, "Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought. All a man had to do was to keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was a man could travel alone" (London para 21). For the man to think that he is better than the indigenous population shows his arrogance to all men.
In the end, the man's observations cannot overcome his ignorance and arrogance. The man was able to notice all the things around him, but either chooses to ignore the signs or does not know what to do about them. His arrogance led him to his death in the end, believing that he was better than any others that came before him. "When he got back to the States he could tell the folks what real cold was" (London para 38). Even in his final thoughts his arrogance holds true believing that somehow he would make it home again.
