University of Social sciences and Humanities

Introduction
to Literature Group 1
Nguyen Huynh Anh
Nguyen Ngoc Tu Anh
Ta Hanh Diem
Hua Thi Hoa
Nguyen Phu Thinh
Instructor: Do Nhat Nam
TO BUILD A FIRE
Jack London
OUTLINE CHARACT
AUTHOR’S 7 ER
BIOGRAPHY 1 8 THEME
STORY’S S
2 TONE
INTRODUCTION
TO 9
S
PLOT
EVENTS 3 BUILD 10 MOOD
PLOT
TECHNIQUE 4 A FIRE
11
CONFLIC POINT OF
T 5 VIEW
SETTING 6 FIGURATIVE
12 LANGUAGE
 1. AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
• Jack London was an American novelist,
journalist, social activist, etc.
• He was born in San Francisco, California
in 1876, in a working-class family.

Jack London
(1876-1916)
Flora Wellman William Chaney
 JOHN LONDON
- Jack London’s stepfather -
• Jack London experienced many jobs:
newspaper giver, worker, etc.
• In 1889, quit school and worked at
Hickmott’s Cannery.
• In 1891, explored San Francisco in his sloop.
• In 1892, joined the California Fish Patrol.
• In 1893, joined the Sophia Sutherland for
a 7-month sealing voyage.
• In 1894, joined Industrial Army.
• In 1897, joined the Klondike Gold Rush.
 The Klondike Gold Rush
in Canada’s Yukon Territory
2. STORY’S INTRODUCTION
• Published in the Century Magazine in 1908.
• Is a rewrite of Jack’s earlier story that
appeared in a boy's adventure magazine
in 1902 and had a wildly different ending.
• Based on Jack London’s travel across
the Gold Rush.
3. PLOT
EXPOSITION
 Physical setting: an extremely
clod, gray morning of serve
winter in Yukon;
absence of the sun.
 2 protagonists: a man + a dog

 Just enough information of

characters to realize the
contradict leading to the first
conflict: man versus nature.
RISING ACTION
 Incentive moment:
the man ignored all the precaution
and make himself wet
 2 main events in this part:
- Clumps of snow falling down
from trees blotted out the fire
- The man failed to build the fire
 Change in the man’s psychology
 Enhanced the conflict between
the man and the Mother Nature
 Yukon The man
• Extremely harsh weather • Great effort to restore
his warm
• Stayed cold, indifferent • Burning desire to survive
and merciless
CLIMAX
 The only thing dominated the man: surviving
 He decided to kill the dog, but failed because
of his poor physical condition
 “A certain fear of death, dull and oppressive,
came to him.”
All the effort of the man became useless 
the fear reached its climax.
CLIMAX  A new conflict

Desire to reach the camp >< Thought of a highly likely

death of hypothermia
FALLING ACTION
 Change after change in both mental and physical
state of the men  he accepted the death
 “You were right, old host; you were right,”
First, he ignored the old timer’s advice, then kept
it in his mind and finally accept it completely.
His life came to an end.
RESOLUTION
 A description of the dog’s reaction to
the man’s death
 It is not the most loyal dog,
but it is a survivor.
 Instinct is far more than intellectuality
This kind of epilogue is a cold
treatment to the man’s death, but a
appropriate result for one
underestimating the extreme of
nature as his ignorance.
4. PLOT TECHNIQUE
PLOT TECHNIQUE
Foreshadowing is a plot technique that the author uses
throughout the story
• The dog’s fall for the hidden freezing trap
 the man would also fall and get his feet wet later
• “The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the
law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after
fifty below.”  he was frozen to death in the end.
PLOT TECHNIQUE
 Foreshadows by the way he use words, especially the word
“pall”. “Pall” represent for a cover of a coffin
 foreshadows for the man’s fate
 Foreshadows by the way he builds up events and leaves
comments. "The trouble with him was that he was
without imagination,”
 the man will encounter problems because of his ignorance.
5. CONFLICT
External conflict:
MAN vs NATURE
 5. CONFLICT
MAN NATURE
- A newcomer, an - The tremendous cold
inexperienced miner, winter( fitty degree below
his first winter in Yukon. zero, spittle cracks in the
air,…).
- Travel alone, - Enhance the challenge to
his companion- a wolf-dog. the man when
intentionally create many
hidden traps.
 5. CONFLICT
MAN NATURE
- The man was full of - Mother Nature held indifferent
foolishness and hubris. and harsh attitude toward the
lonely man.
- His self- assertion was - Mother nature also gave
so high that blinded signals warning about the
his eyes. hazards and his death ahead.
(sky characteristics, traps, the
unwilling actions of the dogs,..)
6. SETTING
• Physical setting: on a wilderness trail in the Yukon Territory,
a region in far northwestern Canada
• Chronological setting:
+ Open context: the late nineteenth century,
during the great Klondike Gold Rush
+ Narrow context: a gloomy and freezing
morning in a harsh winter
“It had been days
since he had seen
the sun, and he
knew that a few
more days must
pass before that
cheerful orb, due
south, would just
peep above the
sky-line and dip
immediately
from view.”
 EFFECT OF SETTING
On plot:
- Create events
- Provide obstacles, be an antagonist
On conflict:
- Develop external conflict and internal conflict
On character:
- Hint character’s background and character’s traits:
overconfidence, indifference and inexperience
- Contribute to character’s developments
 EFFECT OF SETTING
On mood:
- creates a mood of alienation and fear
- created a strong tension
- help readers feel both physically and emotionally
On symbol:
the man’s frozen surroundings
= death and the indifference of nature
7. CHARACTER
the nameless man
& his wolf dog
MINI QUIZ: Cross one out
1. The man is: Informal. (in Alaska and Northern
Canada)
A newcomer to a land
A chechaquo
A man with imagination
A miner
MINI QUIZ: Cross one out
2. It is NOT true that
The man had come to Yukon several times

The dog stayed with the man long after his death

The man wanted to kill his dog

MINI QUIZ: Cross one out
3. It is true that
The dog did not obey the man

The dog wished for fire

The dog got his feet wet

4. Who travelled with the man
besides his dog?
One of “the boys”

The old-timer on Sulphur Creek

All of them
CHARACTERS: The Man and his Wolf Dog
 General information: These two are both
• Not described in details
• Flat characters
 relatively uncomplicated
• Static characters
 change nothing from the beginning till the end
 PROTAGONIST:
The Man
 Backgrounds: we get to
know the man’s background
through the setting.
 A miner joining the great
Klondike Gold Rush.
PROTAGONIST: The Man
What led him to his tragic ending?
Overconfidence
“He was a newcomer in
the land, achechaquo, and
this was his first winter.
The trouble with him was
that he was without
imagination.”
 Knew both of his lacks: lack of
experience and lack of imagination
 Still confident that he was
well-prepared
 OVERCONFIDENT
He is too confident to even realize
that he is ignorant of many thing.
Ignorant:
the man might be even ignorant of his own ignorance
Lack of experience
ቊ
Lack of imagination
Unprepared mentally:
He had no idea what was
waiting for him
Unprepared Physically: no
serious preparation
No companion (!!!)
Ignorance
 series of minor misjudgments
 his deadly mistake
 Ignorance
ቊ
Overcon𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞
 STUBBORN
Stubborn: the man is stubborn
from the beginning and till very
close to his death
Refused to follow the rule
laid down by the old men
from the Sulfur Creek
 Even once showed
disrespectful attitude
 Stubborn
• Kept going on his journey
• Kept trying building fire
• Intended to kill the dog
• Once thought about
running to the boys
 Too stubborn
to accept his fate
 The man’s personality traits can be summarized
quite well in 3 adjectives:
Overconfident, Ignorant, Stubborn
A symbol: The Wolf Dog
It is not as much a character as a symbol.
A symbol: The Wolf Dog
• Hold no emotion to the man
• Have no “visible or
temperamental difference from
its brother, the wild wolf”
• Believed in its “instinct” rather
than any consciousness
[ BUT ]
• A slave to the man
 symbolize the cross between
civilization and wildness
 8. THEME
What are the story’s messages?
THEME
• The external conflict of nature vs man
• The tragic ending of the man
 Main theme: Those who underestimate the power of
the nature may as well be ready for the consequences
 THEME
• An meaningful implicit theme:
Human beings have to be careful with every
steps of their life as there is no telling when and
where dangers will reach them.
 Typical naturalist style: despite being
blunt and considerably harsh toward the
human in their works, the naturalists, in
the end, still have a constant worry over
the fate of the humankind.
9. TONE affected by:
- The way Jack London describes the setting:
distant point of view
- Description of the protagonist – the man: show no sympathy.
- The author’s uses of syntax
+ Declarative sentences
+ Virtually the same length for every
pharagraphs and sentences
- The plot
The change in tone from emotionless to surprise
EFFECTS OF TONE:
• Convey a feeling of seriousness.
• Readers do not be affected by the author.
• Readers can concentrate on the story.
The author shows no
sympathy for the man.
10. MOOD affected by:
SETTING:
- Dark tone, the lack of sun
- The dim and little-traveled trail
- The wide view of Yukon district
TONE: Emotionless
PLOT AND CHARACTERS’ ACTION:
- Exposition: Lonely but somehow hopeful
- Rising action: Grow darker
- Climax: Frustrated, fearful
- Falling action and resolution: regisnation and gloomy
The dark tone with the lack of sun.
The wide view of Yukon district.
11. Point of View
What is it and what is its effect?
Point of view
• Use the third-person pronouns
• Give us an access to the consciousness of one
character only – the man
 third person centered point of view
Effect :
• Reveal everything about the man
• Reveal the other characters from the
observation of the man
• Enables readers to see the man in the exact way
that he himself see this character
• Limit the readers’ access to the characters’
feelings and thoughts
 Force readers to have an objective and much
more dispassionate view
12. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
*SYMBOLISM
FIRE:

- Has great significance: carries some vital meanings

- Helps the man keep heat and warm to survive
- Creates hope and distinguish all hope
- Helps move the story
THE DOG:
- The cross between civilization and nature.
- Symbol of nature and natural instinct:
emphasizes the power of nature as well as the
smallness of man towards nature.
NATURE: symbolize death
*SUN
- Essential element that all need to stay alve.
- Provides light and warm
- Absence  Death
*SNOW
- Represents hardships and death
- Traps the man
- Puts off the fire
EFFECT OF SYMBOLISM:
- Convey messages
- Relate the specific circumstance of the man
to a universal concept
THE FIRE
The big native husky, the proper wolf-dog
The snow traps
the man.
… And he broke through.
12. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
*IRONY
Dramatic irony: the inexperience and unawareness of the man
Effect:
- Enables readers to read the story with a complete view.
- Create the intense mood.

Situational irony
- The snow from the branches fell on the man and
put out the fire.
- Expectation: the man makes a fire and use it to
warm himself.
The snow puts off
the fire.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
*SIMILE
Example: “ The result was that a crystal beard of the color and
solidity of amber was increasing its length on his chin. If he fell
down, it would shatter itself, like glass, into brittle fragments.”

Effects:
- Makes the sentences more interesting so that it can
attract the readers’ attention
- Shows the writer’s imagination, skillfulness in choosing
words and images
- Adds more details, which enables the readers to imagine