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Throughout Jack London's story, "To Build a Fire," the man remembers "the old man on Sulphur Creek" and his advice. Find examples and note the...

Although we are told that the man traveling alone in the Yukon is not much of a thinker, he does recall the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek six times during his journey.  It is significant that the old timer doesn’t come to mind, however, until nearly halfway into the man’s journey, when he is already having trouble.  He is simply too stubborn and prideful to follow the old expert’s advice.


The traveler first thinks of the old man when he is unable to eat his sandwich, ironically because his mouth is literally frozen shut by the 75 degree below zero weather.  The man realizes that the old timer was right that it gets cold in the Yukon, and he recounts how he had laughed at the man, admitting to himself that “one must not be too sure of things.” Yet instead of turning back at this realization, our traveler stubbornly continues his fateful journey.


After falling through the ice up to his knees, the man thinks in more detail about the advice the old timer had given him:  don’t fail in your first attempt to build a fire, especially with wet feet, which cannot rewarm when it’s 75 degrees below.  As he sets his fire up, the man feels ”grateful for the advice.” Once the fire is going, however, he thinks for the third time of the old timer’s advice and smiles in a condescending way at how serious the old man had sounded. He’s proud that even though he has gotten wet, he has managed it just fine.  “Those old men were rather womanish, he thought...Any man who was a man could travel alone.” Our traveler is way too arrogant for his own good, because unfortunately, he does fail at keeping the fire going.


As he tries in a panic to restart the fire, he twice admits to himself that the old man was right about the importance of traveling with a companion, who could have built the fire for him.  Still somewhat in denial, he thinks that he is likely to lose some toes.  The harsh reality is that he’s unable to start a fire, so he is going to die.


The man’s final thought of the old timer on Sulphur Creek occurs as he sits freezing to death in the snow.  He is having a final moment of denial, thinking that when he returns to the U.S. he can tell people what real cold is.  Then he sees the old man in his mind, “...warm and comfortable, and smoking  a pipe.”  Facing harsh reality, the dying man says aloud, “‘You were right, old fellow.  You were right.´”  He is finally humbled into fully admitting the wisdom of the old man’s warnings, but it is simply too late.

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