To Build A Fire example essay topic

395 words
In Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire", nature is not selective about who lives and who dies; but, neither is nature a quiet "bystander". In these stories nature's force does not allow the people to succeed. The characters try again and again to accomplish their goal only to find out nature would destroy again. For instance, in "To Build a Fire", the man tries several times to build a fire but he fails because of the forces of nature. An example is when the "fire provider" tried to build a fire, but snow fell from the tree and put it out (London 491). Another effect of nature in this story is when the man was again trying to build a fire but his "shivering got away with him" (London 491).

In "The Open Boat", the men struggled with nature because the waves complicated things by always pushing them back and not letting them move on. Another time nature had an effect on the men in this story is when Crane writes, "The little boat, drunken with this weight of water, reeled and snuggled deeper into the sea" from the waves crashing into the boat (465). Therefore, the men had to work hard to bail the water out so they would not sink. The "January water" made the men's attempt to bail water even more difficult (Crane 465). As some people might blame nature for the many failures the men experienced, man would be easy to blame also.

In "To Build a Fire", the man had been warned of the terrible weather conditions, but still yet he decided to continue his journey. He soon found out "perhaps the old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right" (London 490). He could have taken a trail mate with him to help him out along the way, but he chose not to. I believe the man realized his ignorance after he had failed several times because he says "the trail mate could have built a fire" (London 490). In my opinion in "The Open Boat" the oiler should have done less work so he would have had strength to swim after the boat sank. So, who is to blame?

Nature or man's ignorance? The decision is difficult.