To Build a Fire: Jack London’s Repetition and Mental Acuity as Social Critique

The Role of Mental Deficiency: Analyzing Jack London's Critique in 'To Build a Fire'

Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, and an imperative social activist in his times of the early 1900s. Throughout his life, London would incorporate his own beliefs about the development of society in his writings. When Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” was published, it became a pristine example of how London uses his work to bring forth his social views and critique the modern world.

“To Build a Fire” revolves around an egotistical main character who is oblivious to the dangers of the natural world, and as the story continues, the repetitive nature of the man’s failures foreshadows his inevitable demise. When three separate critics review London’s story, they analyze his unique style of writing. James E. Bowen, Anthony Channell Hilfer, and Lee Clark Mitchell analyzed the man’s fatal survival choices and came to a common understanding that London’s use of either arrogant characteristics or repetitive failures serves his purpose, for conveying that in order to survive, humanity needs to broaden their mentality and explore a logical sense.

In the article “Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”: Epistemology and the White Wilderness.” the author analyzes the effects of the man’s mental capacity, focusing on how each of his choices brings him closer to his inevitable death. He believes the man’s lack of logical mentality corresponds to his feeble attempts to fight his way through the wilderness for survival. Bowen’s essay was spent analyzing these actions and personal characteristics. First, Bowen takes into account the rash decision of the man pursuing a survival trek in the wilderness. The protagonist believes he can do so individually despite having no previous knowledge or experience of the natural world. Bowen argues that “he is a man who does not penetrate beyond the obvious… fifty degrees below zero… it did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty in general…it did not lead him to the conjectural field of immortality and man’s place in the universe” (287). Here, Bowen highlights how the low mentality of the man affects his journey, specifically how he responds to the fierceness of nature. The author observes that without a logical mentality, the man is virtually trapped in a modernistic mindset that leads him to not being able to process the severity and difficulty of survival methods in the wilderness. Bowen observes that London’s repetition of the man’s “mental deficiency is coupled with and most likely responsible for the traveler’s forgetfulness. Not only does he forget the minor detail of starting a… fire [but]... he forgets to build his life-preserving fire out in the open” (288). He then proceeds to explain how this mental barrier proves to be detrimental to the man’s wilderness trek. The author criticizes the protagonist by using the repetition of “he forgot” to emphasize the man is oblivious to the severity of the danger the natural world offers. Bowen notices that in his writings London “strongly impl[ies] that animals survive through instinct; men of limited mental capacity fail… are the human beings who… [fail] over a hostile environment” (289). Bowen recognizes that London purposely distinguishes the man in “To Build a Fire” as incorrigible to convey that a lack of logicality also brings forth a lack of capability and accomplishments. Bowen believes London uses his protagonist to represent the bulk of humanity as logically deprived. This connects back to London’s views as a social activist and his attempts to critique society itself through his work.

Exploring Hubris and Human Nature: Anthony Hilfer's Analysis of 'To Build a Fire'

Similar to the views of James E. Bowen, Anthony Hilfer analyzes “To Build a Fire” and London’s interpretation of humanity in modern society. Seen in his essay “Blowback.” Hilfer studies two aspects of “To Build a Fire” and how they correspond with each other. Seeing how London articulates different writing styles to convey his main theme, Hilfer explores London’s writings and analyzes the effects of his repetitive nature along with the main character’s mentality flaw. Hilfer observes that London’s underlying theme is comparing the man to society by explaining, “It is a parable, a rigorously realistic fable, of hubris, of overstepping the limits” (284) as the man is unfathomed with the natural world and his impending death. Hilfer notices London uses this immense, unfathomable sense to communicate that humanity is not only unintelligent but arrogant as well. However, London does not solely accomplish this through the mentality of the protagonist. Hilfer observes that London uses “ironic verbal texture that reiterates 'he knew,' 'he knew,' 'he knew' three times in one paragraph to build to the revelation that he did not know enough” (284). According to Hilfer, the overuse of repetition throughout the writings is used as “verbal texture” for London to emphasize the importance of the scene. London ties together both the aspect of low mental intelligence with his literary repetition, allowing the consideration of the severity of the natural world. Hilfer observes this interchangeable interaction between the two literary devices, stating, “the man has two fatal limitations: he lacks a philosophical perspective, and he is self-reliant… but something more is implied from the length of London's usually spare character depiction” (284). As the story progresses, the man exhausts different methods of survival plans, all of which lack the simple logic of cause and effect. Ultimately, the two authors explain that the arrogant features found in the protagonist represent London’s view of humanity as a whole. However, Hilfer also explains London’s excessive use of repetition takes part in his underlying theme as well, lacking a logical mentality. The limited mindset London references in society shows to be a continuous threat of man’s extinction. This leads to a dramatic theme, queuing the authors to realize London’s idea that man and humanity are dependent on a logical mentality. Thus, in order to survive in the world, people must harness this logical mindset to alleviate themselves from destruction.

Repetition, Reflection, and Human Nature: Lee Clark Mitchell's Insights into 'To Build a Fire'

In his essay, “‘Keeping His Head’: Repetition and Responsibility in London's ‘To Build a Fire.’” Lee Clark Mitchell also explores London’s use of repetition. Like Hilfer, Mitchell also claims that London uses the repetition of man's failures to reflect his beliefs: humanity needs to implement logicality to maintain survival. His essay details specific instances when London uses repetition and continues exploring the idea of how the man’s arrogant characteristics help prove this point. Mitchell concludes his essay with another example of one of London’s short stories and how, again, he incorporated repetition to emanate his message. Mitchell notices when the man fails the basic skill of building a fire, London conjures a detailed series of the man’s flaws, aiding in proving his belief of modern society. Mitchell believes London chooses repetition to accomplish this because “[having] a repetitive concentration on the material world tends… to break characteristic connections between… events” (80). Due to the constant repetitiveness of failure, Mitchell observes London is connecting the failed “events” in his story to those of the modern “material world.” The “breakdown characteristic” Mitchell references pertains to London’s protagonist, who is revealed as illogical, thus being directly correlated with the material world. Sharing the same views as the previous authors, Mitchell pinpoints moments within the short story where London specifically repeats the man’s failing attempts at survival to emphasize his low logical mentality. London uses this character setup to represent humanity as a whole. Instituting his beliefs that humans are completely dependent on basic fundamental thinking skills for survival. Mitchell notices, “repetition itself implies a more ontological stasis… the narrative gradually separates the man from his world by exposing the ineffectiveness of his will” (80). Similar to Hilfer, Mitchell believes the repetitiveness throughout “To Build a Fire” serves the purpose of compelling the readers to contemplate their nature of being and their “will” to act in a logical sense. All three critics realize that London, in fact, does strive to have his readers contemplate life and the ability to exercise mental acuity. The authors observe that London uses the repetitive literary technique, along with illustrating the man to the extreme of being oblivious to the logical choices necessary for his survival. All three critics come to the common census. London’s sole purpose in using these unique combinations of writing styles was to relay his beliefs of society and to criticize the modern world.

Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is an intricate composition that stirs the mind into contemplating the importance of mental acuity. From it, Bowen, Hilfer, and Mitchell were able to derive a similar idea of the purpose of London’s unique use of literary devices. Within his short story, London shows the common man and how he relates to life-threatening situations. The critics come to realize that London’s use of an illogical mentality and repetitive sense of the man’s failures have the purpose of showing London’s ideal astute society.

Works Cited

1. Bowen, James K. 'Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”: Epistemology and the White Wilderness.' Western American Literature, vol. 5 no. 4, 1971, pp. 287–289. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/wal.1971.0004. Accessed 12 Jan. 2019.
2. Hilfer, Anthony Channell. “Blowback.” Texas Studies in Literature & Language, vol. 54, no. 2, Summer 2012, pp. 284–297. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/tsl.2012.0008. Accessed 12 Jan. 2019.
3. Mitchell, Lee Clark. “‘Keeping His Head’: Repetition and Responsibility in London's ‘To Build a Fire.’” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 13, no. 1, 1986, pp. 76–96. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3831433. Accessed 12 Jan. 2019.

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