Honors 9 Homework for 11/21/18
Re-read "To Build a Fire".
Read through blog notes.
Brainstorm and pre-write character and plot paragraphs.
"To Build a Fire" Notes
Period 1
How did the story make you
feel?
The guy got what he deserved
– he mistreated the dog. It was sad. The man wasn’t prepared and didn’t know
what was going on. He went too far (too far away from other people). It was
also sad that he had to resort to trying to kill his dog. Jack London liked to
write about dogs (wolves specifically) because the pack of wolves tends to
symbolize the intersection of nature and civilization.
The way that the story was
written – not naming the man, having him travel through barren terrain – made
the man seem more alone. The dog represents nature. The fact that the man dies
and the dog lives suggests that nature always wins.
The man’s behavior followed
the Homeric pattern. In the end, the character gets what they deserve by doing
what they should not do.
How do we get to the feeling
of a story? We analyze the denouement. The denouement starts after the climax
of the story.
Most people think that Jack
London is a Naturalist. Therefore, nature always wins. The conflict is man vs.
nature. The external conflict resolution occurs when the man finally falls
asleep.
The story suggests that the
fire is man’s will to keep living.
The moment when the man gets
his feet wet is the climax because we know that at this point that the
resolution is inevitable.
The story makes the reader
feel hopeless, but also that nature is cold and unforgiving. This happens
because at the end, the dog just moves on.
Man can try to fight against
nature but he will never win. If the dog symbolizes nature, then its continued
existence is important.
The feeling we are left with
is one of unfairness. The man was never going to win. His death was unfair.
The man’s fate is inevitable,
so he can’t really avoid his fate no matter how hard he tries.
The man doesn’t think
abstractly. He realizes that it is cold but he doesn’t understand the severity
of the weather. If the ability to think abstractly, or have imagination, is
what distinguishes man from animal, then the man is perhaps less human than
others, or not using the tools (intellect) that we innately possess as humans.
The dog and the man both do
not have imagination, and yet the dog is doing what it should do to survive.
The man is responsible for his own death. As a result, we feel frustration. His
hamartia is his hubris. He has hubris because he doesn’t have imagination. He
is unable to imagine his own death.
Where does he lack
imagination? When he ventures so far out into the cold. Also, he shows a lack
of imagination when he builds the fire under the tree (the snow melts and falls
on the fire). Why does he build the fire
under the tree? Because it is easier.
The theme has to do with
Existentialism (our existence comes before our essence). The man’s existence
precedes his essence. He is not on the same level as nature. As a result, he is
not able to defeat nature. Man has so much hubris that he wants to rebel
against nature. He feels like he is better than nature.
The man overestimated the
power of his mind. He didn’t imagine any adverse outcomes. He’s overestimating
the ability of “mind over matter”.
***
What caused the man to die?
The cold (symbolizes nature, death, and indifference).
Given what we have discussed
thus far, what is the theme of the story?
Man represents all of
humanity. Part of what defines humanity is that we are rational beings. Is
there a symbol in the story that symbolizes the power of the mind? The fire.
“… A man’s place in the
universe.” What is man’s role in the universe?
London uses diction to describe
the dog – instinct. The dog represents nature. Man’s role is to reason while
nature’s role is just to be/exist.
Why is the man responsible
for his own death? He has hubris. He chooses to build the fire under a tree.
What changes? The man dies.
What makes it change? He dies
because of the cold? (Cold symbolizes nature, indifference, or death.)
Why does it change that way?
Hubris. Connect this to the question we asked earlier: “what is man’s place in
the universe?” In doing this, we arrive at the theme.
Symbolism:
Man = Mankind
Dog = Nature
Cold = Death, Indifference, or Nature
Fire = Knowledge
The man in the story is a
negative example of the theme.
Is he a Homeric hero? Yes. Is
he a tragic hero? Yes. Is he a natural hero? Yes. Is he an Existential hero?
Yes.
This story is a lot like “Old
Man and the Sea”, except for one fundamental difference. Mind over matter. In
“Old Man and the Sea” mind beats matter. In “To Build a Fire” matter beats
mind.
The man can’t imagine death
because he has hubris.
What sets the bounds for the
man? Not the gods. The universe. What
the man is transcending is not the gods but, rather, natural law.
“The stars that leaped and
danced and shone brightly….” Why is the choice of words interesting here?
The point of view has to be
this point of view, because we have to be able to go into the mind of the man.
This helps us understand why he makes the wrong decision. It’s because he has
hubris. In what area does he have hubris? His mind over matter. He even forgets that he is an object.
Existentially, he sees himself as a mind and forgets that he also has a body.
We cannot go into the dog’s mind, because the dog doesn’t have a mind, only a
brain. Something in the denouement happens that is significant. Why does the
dog howl?
Arete – He goes off the trail
to see about getting logs in the spring.
Hubris – This is all
throughout the story – his internal conflict question.
Ate – He goes too far out by
himself (goes off the trail).
Anagnorisis – “You were
right, old hoss.”
Nemesis – He dies.
External conflict – Can the
man survive?
Internal conflict – Can the
man avoid having hubris?
Setting – How does the
setting contribute to the theme?
***
Where does the anagnorisis
occur? p. 180 “You were right old hoss.”
Never lose focus of his
hubris. Keep focus on the man’s hubris in the character paragraph.
Why does he have hubris?
Humanity is selfish. We often ignore problems until it is too late to fix them
for our own benefit (for example, climate). The majority of humanity will take
the easy way out and ignore the consequences. The man in the story builds a
fire under a tree because it is easier; this results in his death.
The man can’t imagine that he
is an object and this leads to him making the wrong decisions.
Our human nature is often
trying to defeat our human condition.
People always chose the easy road because they can’t or don’t imagine
the consequences.
When does the man take the
easy way out? Lighting the fire under the tree. He also is ill prepared for the
elements. After eating his lunch, he has a “comfortable” smoke.
Where does he forget he is an
object? When he has an ice muzzle from spitting out his tobacco.
Main passage for arête: “… he
had come the roundabout way to take a look at the possibilities of getting out
logs in the spring from the islands in the Yukon” (168).
What in the story represents
the superego? The old man from Sulphur Creek. Why? The old man gives him advice
(thou shalt, thou shalt not), which he ultimately does not follow. The old man
is symbolic of knowledge, experience, vicarious learning, the superego, the
mentor. The main character must learn vicariously because he is a newcomer.
The man’s overconfidence
makes him lazy. He laughed at the old man’s warnings about the cold (162).
Humanity has a tendency to
know what the right thing is to do, and not to do it. We like immediate
gratification.
“The temperature did not
matter.” Why did it not matter? Because he was a mind. The man is aware of the
fact we shouldn’t have hubris, but he still has it!
Character analysis:
Arete: 168 – goes to see
about the possibility of getting logs out of the river in the spring
Hubris: he laughed at the old
man (172), the temperature did not matter, he chuckled at his foolishness
Ate: He goes off the main
Yukon trail (first sentence)
Nemesis: His dying
Hamartia: His intelligence
Mood: “Exceedingly cold and
gray.”
Atmosphere: “Exceedingly cold
and gray.”
Setting: Why does he have the
man in this setting? The odds are stacked against the man. Alaska. The harshest
and darkest days of the year. Extreme cold. Dead of winter.
Exposition: He is a newcomer
who has been given advice from the old man of Sulphur Creek.
An Existential analysis will
come down to the mind/body explanations of this story. In your explanations you
will add that he is forgetting that he is an object because of his dependence
on his subjectivity, which is his hamartia.
The man is the protagonist. He
is struggling to survive against the cold. The cold represents nature and
nature’s indifference. What is man’s place in the universe? Some Naturalists
think we don’t have a mind, only a brain. Other Naturalists think we do have a
mind, but it doesn’t matter. Jack London’s position is that man is a physical
body, but also a mind that is able to think abstractly. “The conjectural field
of immortality” – are we able to achieve immortality (or some form of it) by
stretching the bounds meant for us by the universe? “Imagination is more
important than knowledge…. Imagination embraces the entire world.”
Period 2
How did the story make you
feel?
The man deserved his death.
He went too far (from others, from shelter, from civilization).
Calm – nature wasn’t
vindictive. It wasn’t attacking the man. Nature isn’t the bad guy; it’s just
indifferent.
The man lacked imagination.
He was ignorant. So, we don’t feel bad for him. He didn’t listen to the old
timer.
The man was too proud. He had
hubris in that he thought that he could defeat nature. He underestimated
nature.
Frustration – the man lacks
the imagination that would have otherwise prevented his death.
If you are without
imagination then you lack the ability to think your decisions through all the
way to the end.
Imagination is a gift and a
pain, because later on the man starts to think of all the things that could
happen to him when his hands and feet start to go numb.
In comparison, the dog has
instinct. The man does not follow his instinct and suffers as a result.
The man doesn’t have a name,
which helps establish the man as symbolic of mankind.
Humanity is without instinct;
therefore, he requires imagination to survive.
The conflict is man vs.
nature.
The point of view is third
person limited (limited to knowing everything that is going on in the man’s
mind). Because we know that the man
lacks imagination, we don’t feel pity for him. Instead, we feel a greater sense
of frustration.
The setting of the story
contributes to the sense of isolation.
The dog is used as a
comparison to the man. He operates on instinct, while the man uses intellect.
“It only obeyed the
mysterious prompting that arose from the deep crypts of its being.” The word
mysterious is important because it demonstrates that the man, a symbol for
mankind, does not understand the dog, a symbol for nature.
Naturalism – Nature always
wins.
“The man drowsed off into
what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever
known.” This sentence shows that nature has won. Everything after this sentence
is the denouement.
Mankind, as a whole, thinks
that they are above nature. We are still part of nature. This brings us back to
the realization that everything is connected.
The dog is not attached to
the man. He is only relying on the man for food and fire.
Theme? Man vs. nature – nature
is more deserving of respect than mankind.
***
Symbolism:
Man = Humanity
Dog = Instinct, Nature
Cold = Nature, Death,
Indifference
Fire = Knowledge
Central theme question: What
is man’s place in the universe?
The conflict in the story is
man vs. nature. Man is the protagonist and nature is the antagonist.
The man is trying to overcome
nature throughout the story. How will he overcome nature? With fire.
Diction is an important
literary device to consider while analyzing this story. Pay attention to words
like possibly and mysterious. These words demonstrate that man doesn’t understand
the workings of nature.
External conflict question:
Can the man survive?
What must man overcome in
himself in order to survive? His hubris.
Internal conflict question:
Can the man overcome his hubris?
Why does the point of view
need to be the way it is? Because we need to be able to see the man’s hubris.
Why does the man have hubris? He lacks imagine and cannot imagine himself
dying. He is so overconfident in his ability to conquer his matter (mind over
matter). He will attempt to use knowledge to survive in the wilderness.
Fire is a cultural symbol of
knowledge, which comes from the myth of Prometheus.
Man is self-surpassing. We
reach for things that are beyond our grasp. The gods are anthropomorphic
projections of our being, which help us to understand our own psychology.
What is humanity’s place in
the universe? Are we just supposed to submit? We must know ourselves in order
to overcome ourselves.
What kind of hero is the man
in the story? Homeric, tragic, Naturalist, and Existential.
The bounds that the man must
not exceed are imposed by nature, not the gods.
What is man? He is an object.
His body is part of nature, but his mind is not. Mind over matter. Object vs.
Subjectivity (mind).
Man’s reach should exceed his
grasp. We are meant to self-surpass and break the bounds imposed by the
universe. We self-surpass by committing ate.
What is man’s place in the
universe? He must break the bounds of
the universe in order to discover it.
What changes? The man dies.
What causes the change? The
cold causes his death. This happens because the man has hubris.
Why does it change that way?
The theme.
We are supposed to commit
ate, but at the same time, we should not have hubris. If you are going to try
to beat nature, you better have humility.
The man is over-confident in
his ability to overcome nature using his knowledge. He forgets that he is an
object.
Why does he build the fire
under the tree? Because it was easier. Because he didn’t have the imagination
to see that the fire would melt the snow in the tree.
Why does the dog howl? We
don’t know. We don’t understand nature.
***
Where do we see that the man
doesn’t see himself as an object? He was without imagination (168). He forgets
the ice muzzle (172). He had forgotten for a moment that his hands were frozen
(178). He wills his fingers to close but they do not obey. He drove the thought
of his freezing hands and feet out of his mind.
Where does he take the easy
way out? It is easier to start the fire under the tree.
99% of our lives are
predetermined for us, and yet, we are most responsible because it is how we
deal with what we are dealt.
The man demonstrates his
hubris when he realizes that the old man was right, but doesn’t change his
behavior. He doesn’t use this knowledge. Knowing something is not the same
thing as doing it.
His moment of anagnorisis
occurs when he realizes the old man was right as he is dying. The man is so
certain he can overcome his matter because he doesn’t see himself as an object
and takes the easy way out.
The dog is a foil for the
man. How is it different? It depends on instinct while the man depends upon his
mind. It survives and the man doesn’t.
The dog acts on what it knows it should do. It is different in one other
way: it doesn’t have hubris. Therefore, it doesn’t have arête. It doesn’t
stretch the limits. It will never self-surpass.
One example of where he is
lazy occurs when he doesn’t follow the advice of the old man. That is one of
the reasons he dies. The old man symbolizes knowledge, imagination, vicarious
experience, the mentor, wisdom. Why is experience necessary for the main
character? Because the main character is a newcomer.
