The Frailty of Man in "To Build A Fire"

In “To Build A Fire,” Jack London explores the theme of the frailty of mankind.  In the story, the unnamed protagonist (or “the man” as he will henceforth be referred) is traveling through the Yukon to return to the campsite where his buddies are preparing a warm meal.  As the story progresses, London’s views on the relative feebleness of mankind becomes crystal clear.  He makes this clear when he writes about the man not thinking about his frailty, when he writes about the cold of space bearing down on the man, and when he writes about the man freezing to death.

            The narrator refers to the frailty of mankind when he reveals that the extreme cold does not cause the man to “meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man’s frailty in general.”  By saying this, the narrator is emphasizing the weakness of man and how small man is compared to larger things like the weather.  While many animals can tolerate weather extremes, humans cannot.  This shows that humans, while considered the most evolved species of life, are actually fairly weak.

            The narrator also shows the frailty of mankind by relating how the man “[receives] the full force of the blow” from the unrelenting cold of space while crossing the “unprotected tip of the planet.”  Not only does this make the man seem small, frail, and insignificant by mentioning how he is merely crossing the tip of earth, it goes even further and makes the man seem like a microscopic speck by referring to the coldness of space smashing down on the man’s location.  The man is not strong enough to contend with all the might of the universe when it comes down on top of him like a hammer.

            Finally, the narrator shows the frailty of man by relating how the man eventually succumbs to the cold and freezes to death.  When the man fails to get the fire lit, the process of dying begins.  He tries to survive by trying things like running to get is blood pumping and trying to kill the dog to use its body warmth, but they all fail to warm his body enough to allow him to live.  When he finally gives in to sleep and dies, the dog keeps on living.  Although uncomfortable, the dog is not in dire straits yet.  He simply runs off to find fire providers.  This shows the man, even though more evolved than most other animals, is not as strong as the same animals in many ways.

            The theme of Jack London’s “To Build A Fire” is that mankind is a frail species.  Humans, when unable to use their higher brain functions to adapt the environment to their benefit, are a very weak species compared to most animals.  They are not able to survive in temperature extremes unprotected.  Jack London is able to convey this message to us because he had a lot of experience in the Yukon, where he saw firsthand the weakness of man in extremely cold weather.