To Build a Fire

The story’s protagonist is an unnamed man who is hiking alone in the Klondike. There is little physical description of the man, other than that he has a beard and “high cheek-bones and [an] eager nose that thrust[s] itself aggressively into the frosty air” (3). He is attempting to join “the boys” at a prospectors’ camp. The old man of Sulphur Creek has advised him not to hike alone when the temperature is 50 degrees below zero, but he ignores the old man’s guidance. The man is “without imagination” (2), which prevents him from foreseeing the dangers that lead to his death. At the outset, he acknowledges the cold; however, his arrogance gives him a sense of invincibility. Instead of appreciating and respecting nature’s perils, he trudges forward under the assumption that he will arrive at camp in time for dinner.

Along the trail, the man is followed by a dog. His lack of compassion for the animal is demonstrated by forcing it to lead the way across thin ice. The dog’s instinct is to remain near fire because the temperature is too cold for travel. The man ignores the dog—like he did the old man—and carries forward. He could have been saved by following the dog’s cues and the old man’s advice, but he cavalierly continues down the trail.

After his foot becomes wet, the man builds a fire, which has become necessary to dry out and stay alive. Though he skillfully constructs the fire, he has built it under a large tree, which dumps snow that snuffs out the flames. At this point, he becomes more aware of his own mortality and realizes that he should’ve heeded the old man’s advice. Here, for the first time in the story, he exhibits a small degree of character growth.

The cold causes him to lose the use of his fingers, and he subsequently fails to rebuild the fire. He starts to understand that he is likely to die but tries hard to force this thought out of his mind. He remains in denial about his impending death until he fails to kill the dog. He then starts running “blindly, without intention, in fear such as he had never known in his life” (15). Still, he clings to the irrational belief that he might reach camp. He falls down and fully understands that he is dying. Though no people are present, his self-respect compels him to seek a dignified way to die, instead of “running around like a chicken with its head cut off” (16). He plans to sleep into death. As he slips away, he imagines “the boys” finding his body, and then imagines himself alongside them when they make the discovery. This ironically displays an imagination that was absent in the story’s beginning—and that might have saved him if he’d been able to use it earlier.