Jack London: "To Build a Fire" - Naturalism, Setting

Question 1

note

Answer 1

• characterization (the way in which an author paints/portrays a character)
• foreshadowing (hinting about what is to come)
• imagery (highly descriptive language that paints a picture in the readers mind)

Question 2

what is the difference between the dog and the man regarding the extreme cold setting of the story “To Build a Fire”?

Answer 2

the man acted by his own judgment; the dog acted by instinct

Question 3

london gives a hint of the personality of the man in paragraph 5 of “to build a fire” with descriptions like

Answer 3

“…the eager nose that thrust itself aggressively into the frosty air”

Question 4

what image does jack london use to describe the Yukon in paragraph 20 of “to build a fire”?

Answer 4

“the cold of space smote the unprotected tip of the planet…”

Question 5

in the underlined passage from paragraph 13 of “to build a fire” Jack london contrasts the man’s judgment about the danger of the cold with his dog’s

Answer 5

instincts

Question 6

in the underlined passage from paragraph 6 of “to build a fire” Jack london uses the instinct of the wolf-dog to

Answer 6

build the foreshadowing of something bad about to happen

Question 7

what is the author’s message in paragraph 40 of “to build a fire” – when the man dies and the dog leaves to go find the camp

Answer 7

london’s message is that man dies, but nature goes on

Question 8

in paragraphs 27-28 of “to build a fire,” jack london exhibits naturalist writing, showing that in spite of the “violent effort” the man exerted to build and keep a fire going, the man

Answer 8

was no better off, was not able to defeat nature