To Build a Fire
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"To Build a Fire" is a short story by American author Jack London. There are two versions of this story, one published in 1902 and the other in 1908. The story written in 1908 has become an often anthologized classic, while the 1902 story is less well known. The 1908 version is about an unnamed, male protagonist who ventures out in the subzero boreal forest of the Yukon Territory. He is followed by a native dog and is en route to visit his friends—ignoring warnings from an older man [an elder from the Sulphur Creek] about the dangers of hiking alone in extreme cold. The protagonist underestimates the harsh conditions and slowly begins to freeze to death. After building one fire and leaving it to venture on in his journey he later on attempts to build another but fails. He slips into unconsciousness and dies of hypothermia.
See also
- "The Little Match Girl," a short story by Hans Christian Andersen about a child dying of hypothermia
- "The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree" (1876), a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky
