51 pages • 1 hour read
To Build a Fire
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Symbols & Motifs
Fire
In the wintry Klondike wilderness, fire is as crucial to survival as is food or water. For the man, fire represents the desire and ability to continue living. The title emphasizes the importance of fire in the story. The man’s survival hinges on his physical capability of performing a task that is regularly taken for granted: building a fire.
During his lunch break, the man is easily able to build a fire, allowing him to eat and persist. Much like how he doesn’t fully respect the freezing temperatures, he also doesn’t appreciate the fire’s warmth. Through instinct, the dog does value the fire and doesn’t want to leave it. The dog inherently understands the Klondike’s danger, and that the fire’s warmth is crucial to survival.
Later, through detailed description, the story’s tension climaxes when the man fights for his life, the continuance of which is entirely dependent on his ability to build a fire. When he fails, he desperately clings to his life, but the cold soon kills him.
The Old Man
As he hikes, the man often thinks about the advice given by the old man of Sulphur Creek. The old man has advised him to never travel alone across the Klondike when the temperature is below negative 50 degrees. The old man represents the respect and appreciation for nature’s power; the man, on the other hand, lacks such characteristics. Through the man’s references to the old man, his arrogance is illustrated, as is his later realization of his own frailty against nature’s dangers.
After the man’s feet become wet, he soon builds a fire. Prior to the falling snow putting out the fire, he “remember[s] the advice of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek” (9) and gloats to himself about how—despite being alone—he has saved himself. He thinks that some of the “old-timers” are “rather womanish” and that “any man who was a man could travel alone” (9).
Soon the fire goes out and he struggles desperately to rebuild it. As his hands fail him, he realizes that the presence of a hiking companion could easily resolve his dire situation. He acknowledges that “the old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right” and that, “after fifty below, a man should travel with a partner” (12).
The man is portrayed as arrogant because he ignores nature’s power, despite the advice of his experienced elder. However, a small degree of character growth is demonstrated when he becomes self-aware of his own mistake of dismissing the old man’s advice.
The Boys at Camp
“The boys” are the fellow prospectors who are already at the camp to which the man is attempting to hike. The man often thinks about them and the dinner that awaits at camp. The boys symbolize the man’s presumptuousness that he’ll be able to complete the hike to camp without incident, despite the dangers posed by nature.
Shortly after turning off the main Yukon trail, the man hikes without human companionship, looking forward to his evening with the boys. He is confident that he’ll “be into camp by six o’clock” and that “the boys would be there” and a “hot supper would be ready” (2). Though his day’s travel has only just begun, he is already assuming that—despite the brutal climate—he’ll arrive at camp without any setbacks.
After he fails to build the fire and starts running wildly down the trail, he still believes he can “reach camp and the boys,” and although he would likely lose some body parts, the boys would manage to “take care of him” and “save the rest of him when he got there” (15). He tries to hold onto this belief despite the intruding thought that “he would soon be stiff and dead” (15).
As he slips into death, he imagines himself with the boys as they discover his frozen body. Although he is clearly dying, he still sees himself reaching his goal of meeting up with the boys.
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