To Build a Fire Introducing the Short Story Short Story by Jack London Introducing the Short Story with Literary Analysis: Setting and Conflict Reading Strategy: Predict Vocabulary in Context VIDEO TRAILER

Should you trust your INSTINCTS? INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY Should you trust your INSTINCTS? An instinct is unlearned, automatic behavior shown by all members of a species, such as birds building a nest.

Should you trust your INSTINCTS? INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY Should you trust your INSTINCTS? Do people, like animals, have instincts? If they do, when are they likely to use them? Are a person’s instincts as good as, say, a dog’s?

Should you trust your INSTINCTS? INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY Should you trust your INSTINCTS? The story “To Build a Fire” attempts to answer such questions.

Click on the title to play the trailer. To Build a Fire

Setting and Conflict In some stories, the setting can create the conflict a character faces. It can even act as the antagonist, or opponent, of the main character.

Setting and Conflict In “To Build a Fire,” the setting is the Yukon wilderness, and the main character must battle the crippling cold to survive. The setting challenges him in other ways as well. As you read, notice details about this harsh setting and think about the choices the setting forces the character to make.

Predict When you predict, you use text clues to guess what will happen next in a story. Predicting helps you become actively involved in what you are reading and gives you reasons to read on.

Predict To make sound predictions about what will happen in “To Build a Fire,” use the following strategies: Think about the personality, actions, and thoughts of the main character when predicting how he will respond to his situation. Note passages of foreshadowing, or hints and clues about future plot events.

Predict As you read, jot down at least three predictions and the clues you used to make them. Use a chart like the one shown. Predictions Text Clues The man will . . .

apprehension conflagration conjectural imperative intangible peremptorily reiterate smite Jack London uses the vocabulary words in the box on the right in his suspenseful tale. To see how many vocabulary words you know, substitute a different word or phrase for each vocabulary term. Sample answers appear in brackets. 1. intangible fear 5. smite in anger [cannot be defined] [strike, attack] 2. conjectural answer 6. imperative action [involving guesswork] [urgent] 3. baseless apprehension 7. forest conflagration [fear and worry] [large, destructive fire] 4. reiterate the command 8. peremptorily dismiss [repeat] [in a commanding way]

apprehension n. fear and worry for the future conflagration n. a large, destructive fire conjectural adj. involving guesswork imperative adj. urgently necessary intangible adj. unable to be perceived with the senses

peremptorily adv. in a commanding way that does not allow for refusal or contradiction reiterate v. to repeat smite v. to inflict a heavy blow on; past tense—smote