A spin of emotions essay

A Spin of EmotionsJack London’s “ To Build a Fire” is a story that narrates of a man’s journey through a snow-laid plane, in the course showing his inner traits and features. Reading through the prose, the man’s characteristics— being logical, systematic, and unfortunate— bubbles up in the surface. The man is logical. “ The trouble with him was that he was without imagination.

. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty odd degrees of frost. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man’s frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold..” (London, par.

3) The main character of the story is one who views life like everything is calculated and can only be deciphered by scientific formulae. A man only of reasoning, the cold touch of the frost, for him, only stands for degrees in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Because of this reason, his emotions and inner human instincts are somehow blocked. He is not able to imagine what his journey in such drastic weather conditions might result to and he can just think of how cold it is and how long will it take him to reach his destination. He is systematic.  “ On top, tangled in the underbrush about the trunks of several small spruce trees, was a high-water deposit of dry firewood..

He threw down several large pieces on top of the snow. The flame he got by touching a match to a small shred of birch-bark that he took from his pocket. Placing it on the foundation, he fed the young flame with wisps of dry grass and with the tiniest dry twigs. Gradually, as the flame grew stronger, he increased the size of the twigs with which he fed it. He squatted in the snow, pulling the twigs out from their entanglement in the brush and feeding directly to the flame.

He knew there must be no failure.” (London, par. 18) In making the fire, the man followed a very strict procedure knowing that a single mistake, if made, might cost his life.

While this is good trait to have, very useful in common instances, he disregards several matters. Animals are always good companions, more sensitive than humans are. The dog’s behavior should have warned him of the jeopardy surrounding them but he was so focused on his goal that he didn’t notice. The main character should have considered every aspect— the snow, the place where he built the fire— before starting as a single fault might be tragic; such as what happened when the snow cape from the tree fell on his fire. The man is also rather unfortunate. “ When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity. However, the conception did not come to him in such terms.

His idea of it was that he had been making a fool of himself, running around like a chicken with its head cut off–such was the simile that occurred to him. Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it decently. With this new-found peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness. A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death.. Then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known.” (London, par. 35)The main character of the story persisted to struggle against the frost and the danger it brings.

But try as he might, a human’s body is naturally weak. After several tries, he succumbed to failure and slowly embraced the coming of death. He would have made it to his destination if only luck had come at his side. Generally speaking the main character in Jack London’s “ To Build a Fire”, from start to finish, has been very rationale. But even his logical character did not help him when fate made its way through. His being logical and systematic is very useful indeed, but we must understand that as humans, we are not only made up of reasoning but also of emotions.

He had been persistent and had struggled through, no doubt. But sometimes, luck just doesn’t side with us. Sadly, it doesn’t side with him in the story too.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Works Cited; London, Jack. “ To Build a Fire.

” 2009. Read Print. 27 March 2009. ; http://www. readprint. com/work-1063/Jack-London;