Jack London's "To Build a Fire“ Knowledge or Instinct? Jack London's "To Build a Fire“ Grab a textbook under the front table. 11th is on the left. You also need: pen/pencil, 1-2 pieces of NB paper, story pg 498.

Meet Jack London Biography….p496

Images of the story you are fixin’ to read Picture it…if you can Images of the story you are fixin’ to read

You are here…brrrrr!!

Would you travel this alone?

  …Or this?

What if this was your travel companion? Would you still go alone?

See! This could be ya’ll! Awwww cute

If you had to, could you build this fire?

Encountering the Wilderness You will title each section as we go (like look above)…bullet out the answers to the questions We are going to begin to read “To Build a Fire.” First, while you are reading, carefully describe the main character of the story—"the man"—in a brief character analysis. Utilize these questions in your analysis: How would you describe the man in London's story? How experienced is the man? Is he a novice? Prepared? What does the man seem to think of his own abilities? How does the man behave in relation to his environment?

Next , we are going to focus on his relationship to the environment. Look at the opening passage: Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-traveled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland. It was a steep bank, and he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o'clock. There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun. This fact did not worry the man. He was used to the lack of sun. It had been days since he had seen the sun, and he knew that a few more days must pass before that cheerful orb, due south, would just peep above the sky-line and dip immediately from view. Write some of the adjectives in this opening scene and write them down. Examples: Cold, Gray, Dim. Little-traveled, Steep, Clear, Intangible, Subtle, Dark

Opening Scene Answer these questions on the opening scene: How would you describe the setting in this opening paragraph? What is the mood of this opening paragraph? How does this opening make you feel as a reader? What is the man's reaction to the landscape?

The Narrator You may have noticed by now that the man is cheerfully unaware of the situation that he is in during the first section of the story. Note specific passages that allow you to know this information. EX: "the animal was depressed by the tremendous cold." EX: the man's recollection of how he laughed at the "that man from Sulphur Creek [who] had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country."

When did the narrator: Then, answer the following questions: have knowledge unknown to the characters themselves? provide his own commentary? Then, answer the following questions: How would you describe the tone of the narrator? Does the narration foreshadow subsequent events? How? How does the narrator feel about the character(s) at this point in the story?

Point of View What point-of-view is the narrator adopting in this story—first or third person? (Answer: third-person omniscient person point of view, since the narrator is not using "I" to describe him- or herself.) How would this passage be different if it were narrated via first person point of view? Would the story change?

Reminders of POV There are different kinds of third-person narration: limited and omniscient. Limited third-person narration usually focuses on the thoughts of a single character in the story. Omniscient third-person narrative, on the other hand, has total access to the thoughts of all characters in the story, such as the case in "To Build a Fire" (where we know the thoughts of both the man and the dog). What effect does having this omniscient knowledge have on the story. What would be different if the story's narrator only related the man's point-of-view?

Knowledge and Instinct What does it mean "to build a fire?" (initial responses may focus on notions of survival, students might recall the legend of Prometheus, or suggest the relationship of fire to knowledge). Create a “T-Chart” (Knowledge on left, Instinct on right). Revisit London's story and use your chart to note passages that discuss knowledge and instinct. Find at least 2 of each. For example, London writes: "Empty as the man's mind was of thoughts, he was keenly observant, and he noticed the changes in the creek…" This passage suggests a certain assumed kind of knowledge that, we discover later, did not prevent him from surviving his fall into the ice. Pay attention to the dog's instincts!

Compare and contrast Now, compare the main character to the Sulphur Creek old-timer who gave advice. What are some key differences in their attitudes towards nature and their knowledge of nature?

Next compare the man and the dog: How is the relationship between the man and the dog discussed at first? What did the dog instinctively understand that the man did not? How does the man and dog's relationship symbolize the man's relationship to his environment? (will likely point out that the man was initially established as the master of the dog. The narrator discussed the "whip lash" and the "harsh and menacing throat sounds" the man used towards the dog, which even convinced the dog to risk its life for the man. Should be able to point out several passages that establish what the dog knew about the weather and landscape that was not obvious to the man. Should highlight a key passage: "On the other hand, there was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man… so the dog made no effort to communicate its apprehension to the man." Students might note that the dog in many respects symbolizes the natural landscape that surrounds them. Just as the man did not respect the dog, so too does the man fail to respect the world around him. Ask students to consider this suggestion as they reread the passage of the story that describes the struggle between the man and the dog. The man, freezing, attempts to kill the dog in order to steal its warmth, a futile struggle that is an apt symbol for the life and death struggle he is experiencing in the wilderness.)

As you draw to the close of the story, answer the following questions: What does the man's failure to "build a fire" symbolize? Does the man have either knowledge or instinct? Did the man finally gain knowledge at the end of the story? What is the significance of the dog's final movement towards civilization at the end of the story? What does this suggest about the dog's relationship to nature? Is instinct driving this movement?

Assessment In a brief essay, consider how the third-person omniscient narrator enabled the author of the story to relate the struggle between man and nature, knowledge and instinct. At least one-page.