In the short story “To Build a Fire” a man travels along a freezing trail in well below negative 50 degree weather. His only companion is a dog and his destination is unclear. Despite the relatively boring plot in “To Build a Fire” the symbolism definitely makes up for the plot and makes this short story a very interesting read.
The biggest bit of symbolism in this book is the (relatively) obvious connection between fire and life. The best piece of evidence I have is that at the end of the book, when the mans fire snuffed out so is his life.. Also, nearing the end of the story it says this about the dog “As the twilight drew on, its eager yearning for the fire mastered it.” This also proves that fire is life because huskies are basically the definition of self preservation and if it needs the fire then the fire must be necessary for life.
Hands, they are an important part of our bodies and in this story they represent the man’s prowess. When the man takes his hands out of his gloves to eat his lunch they quickly freeze and because of this he can’t eat his lunch. A simple task made impossible by his frozen fingers. Also, later on in the story when the mans fire is snuffed out his hands grow cold and because of this he can’t light a fire. Something that is well within his capabilities. At one point the man tries to kill the dog to, guess what; warm up his hands.
symbolism
As I hinted at before, the dog in this story represents self preservation. In the story it says “This man did not know cold. [...] But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold.” Also, if you look at Jack Londons other dog books all of them are about survival. In Call of the Wild the main character, a dog, gets abused, tortured, and put in dog fights. But, he survives it all and in the end gets a happy end. In several other of Jack London's dog books similar things happen but the dog almost always survives it all. This proves to me that the dog symbolises survival.
“To Build a Fire” contains many symbols. Hands, the dog, the old guy in Sulphur Creek… I mentioned some of them here, but it would be impossible to encapsulate all of the symbols in any one piece of writing which is why “To Build a Fire” is one of my favorite short stories. Not because of the plot, the character, or the setting, because of the symbols.
