Analyzing “to Build a Fire” and “the Open Boat”

Nature is a powerful force that defines the lives of human beings. From creating a breeze strong enough to sail boats across seas to building up massive tsunamis that kill and depress millions, nature causes it all. These incidents can cause people to shout for joy, cry in grief, or even give no thought into the situation at all. But whether the forces come across as benevolent or malevolent, nature does not care. Two short stories, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane portray the idea of nature being an indifferent force and how it is neutral in society.

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London describes to readers how nature is indifferent and does not care for any human being. The protagonist in the story is traveling through the Yukon in temperatures seventy-five degrees below zero where he eventually falls into a hidden pool. On page six, London states “At a place where there were no signs, where the soft, unbroken snow seemed to advertise solidity beneath, the man broke through.” This scene describes how nature does not have feelings towards people. Nature camouflaged the pool in a way that the human eye could not detect. This shows that nature does not care if the victim survives or not because nature does not try to prevent the situation by getting rid of the pool. Nature also does not go out to hurt people because there are almost seven billion people in this world. Nature will not destroy one life if it could easily kill several at one time. Another scene in the story that London creates describes how the narrator attempts to build a fire but futilely fails when snow falls onto it. London writes “It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out!” Nature, once again, does not side with the protagonist, but not out of spite. The man is the only one to blame in this situation because he should have been more careful in placing his fire. If he thought more he would have realized that the heat from the fire would melt the snow onto the ground. Nature only took its course and dropped the snow. Nature did not try to help or prevent the situation, but just let it be. The man attempts to build a fire for a second time, but unfortunately fails. On page ten, London writes “A large piece of green moss fell squarely on the little fire… Each twig gushed a puff of smoke and went out.” Nature is not giving the protagonist any luck or happiness in these scenes. Although it may seem so, nature is not necessarily going against the man. It is