To Build a Fire 조 원 : 구기창, 최문용, 김성옥 김민정, 김민희, 우동길

Contents Major Themes & Characters Summary Vocabularies Pop Quiz

“To Build a Fire is a prime example of the literary movement of naturalism. The naturalists viewed the deterministic environment as indifferent and harsh to its inhabitants; accordingly, keen instinct rather than civilized intellect is necessary for survival.” Major Themes • Determinism In "To Build a Fire," London repeatedly shows how the man does not have free will and how nature has already mapped out his fate. • Instinct over intellectualism The man exercises intellectual properties more than instinctive ones. On the other hand, The dog has an innate understanding of the cold and its dangers. Accordingly, only the dog survives. • Indifferent environment and survival The environment does nothing to help its inhabitants; in fact, it is coldly indifferent to their existence and struggle. This indifference makes survival itself a critical goal for characters.

Keeps alive and finds the nearby camp of men Characters NATURE ↑↓ The man ▪ Intellectuality ▪ The products of intellectual civilization: warm clothing, matches, maps, thermometers ▪ Inability to think about the future consequences of present actions or facts The dog ▪ Pure instinct ▪ His own natural advantages : fur, a keen sense of smell ▪ Instinctive understanding of the cold ↓ Died ↓ Keeps alive and finds the nearby camp of men

Summary This story is about a man on the Yukon Trail on a very cold day (seventy-five degrees below zero). His only traveling companion is a husky wolf-dog. It describes the hardships the man is going through at starting a fire and trying to keep himself warm. The cold does not faze the man, a newcomer to the Yukon, who plans to meet his friends (who are referred to as boys) by six o'clock at an old junction. He walks along a creek trail, mindful of the dangerous, hidden springs, because getting wet feet on such a cold day is dangerous. The man continues on and, in an apparently safe spot, falls through the snow and gets wet up to his shins. He remembers the old-timer from Sulfur Creek who had warned him that no man should travel in the Klondike alone when the temperature was fifty degrees below zero.

The man becomes scared, and he immediately starts a fire to dry his wet clothes. He foolishly starts the fire underneath a spruce tree, which is covered with snow. The warmth of the fire melts the overhanging snow and it falls onto the fire, extinguishing it. He then tries to start a new fire, aware that he is already going to lose a few toes from frostbite. He gathers twigs and grasses. His fingers numb and nearly dead, he unsuccessfully attempts to light a match. He grabs all his matches and lights them all at once, then sets fire to a piece of bark. He starts the fire, but in trying to protect it from green pieces of moss, it soon goes out. The man decides to kill the dog and to put his hands inside its warm body to restore his circulation. But due to the extreme cold, he cannot kill the dog because he is unable to pull out his knife, or even throttle the animal. He lets it go.

In a desperate attempt to keep himself warm, he starts to run, trying to let the friction heat his body. However, he has no stamina, and soon he stops and sits down. He imagines his friends, finding his dead body in the snow. He imagines himself telling the oldtimer at Sulfur Creek that he was right: It was too cold to travel. A warmth covers him and he falls into a deep, deadly, relaxing sleep. The dog does not understand why the man is sitting in the snow and not making a fire to warm them. As night falls, the dog comes closer him and smells death on the man. It runs away in the direction of the camp where the others are, unwilling to face death and venturing towards life.

Vocabulary A statement that is conjectural is based on information that is not certain or complete If something protrudes from somewhere, it sticks out. The muzzle of an animal such as a dog is its nose and mouth Someone or something that is savage is extremely cruel, violent, and uncontrolled Intimacy between two people is a very close personal relationship between them A tangle of something is a mass of it twisted together in an untidy way

If someone is in a state of agitation, they are very worried or upset, and show this in their behavior, movements, or voice. An avalanche is a large mass of snow that falls down the side of a mountain If you fumble for something or fumble with something, you try and reach for it or hold it in a clumsy way. Sulphur is a yellow chemical which has a strong smell. If people erect something such as a building, bridge, or barrier, they build it or create it

Peremptory : Someone who does something in a peremptory way does it in a way that shows that they expect to be obeyed immediately. Allegiance : Your allegiance is your support for and loyalty to a particular group, person, or belief Crumple : If you crumple something such as paper or cloth, or if it crumples, it is squashed and becomes full of untidy creases and folds Anaesthetic is a substance that doctors use to stop you feeling pain during an operation, either in the whole of your body when you are unconscious, or in a part of your body when you are awake. Twilight is the time just before night when the daylight has almost gone but when it is not completely dark.

Pop Quiz What is the main theme of the story? A) To build a fire B) Human-dog relationship C) Survival in the wilderness D) importance of advice of old-timer 2. The main character could not build a fire several reasons. Select a wrong cause! A) Bed spot under the spruce tree B) Strong wind C) Unexpected cough D) Shivering

4. The story has two types of version that 3. What is the thing he doesn’t prepare for survival in the harsh coldness? A) Mittens B) Ear-flaps C) Warm moccasins D) Mask E) Thick socks 4. The story has two types of version that the author wrote at that time. The story is the second one. What is the difference of each version? A) We can know what is his name B) The dog’s existence C) The main character didn’t die in the end. D) All is right answer

Thank you 5. Next thing is a common sense about some flower. A) pick-me-up B) morning glory C) forget-me-not D) golden bell (강장제) (나팔꽃) (물망초) (개나리) Thank you