Dating back to Greek myths, the scenario in which a man struggles alone against a hostile environment is not uncommon in literature. What makes Jack London's "To Build a Fire" particularly innovative in this narrative subgenre is the author's choice to scientifically observe reality rather than become passionately involved in the character's decisions. London's approach is based on the naturalistic conception of narrative, in which the writer's task is to identify the cause-and-effect mechanisms that underlie society. The story's protagonist, a lonely man traveling across the tundra, lacks the ability to understand things beyond simple tangible facts, and this lack of imagination condemns him to tragically freeze in the snow of the Yukon Territory. The man's faults are even more evident in relation to his wolfdog, capable of resisting the inhospitable climate thanks to his ancestral instincts. If the traveler cannot be held responsible for his erroneous intuition, he is guilty of not having succeeded in counterbalancing his inferiority towards nature by integrating intellectuality into his journey. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThe author introduces the reader to man's insufficient ability to interpret the reality around him from the beginning of the story , when the cold temperature of fifty below zero “did not lead him to meditate on his fragility.” This simple flaw represents the first link in the chain of events that will determine the outcome of the journey, for, even if man recognizes the harshness of the weather, he adopts no countermeasures to improve his chances of survival. Although the elder advised him on the folly of traveling alone, he disregarded this recommendation, not only out of subtle arrogance and pride, but largely because he had not been able to imagine a situation he had never experienced. Man's negligence is made even more evident by the author through the figure of the dog, whose connection with nature is much deeper than in the case of the traveler. The animal, perfectly adapted to survive in freezing weather and blessed with trustworthy instincts, does not need fire to warm its feet and is able to foresee threats that come its way. Man, on the other hand, is a much more vulnerable creature and, instead of being cautious and in constant apprehension, he maintains an impudent attitude and does not recognize danger. He is less compatible with the environment, but he also cannot conceptualize with his judgment the “real story” that the dog understands with his sixth sense. Ironically, the only primitive and instinctive response that man manifests throughout history is his attempt to kill the dog to warm himself with the animal's carcass, but the dog's intuition proves sharper, the preventing us from falling into man's trap. However, his way of thinking changes when, reaching the point of freezing, he begins to lose the support of his senses. Since he is unable to use his fingers to sense stimuli, he is forced to rely on "the sense of vision in place of that of touch." This movement away from the bodily point of view is responsible for the first flashes of creativity in the man's mind, as he begins to notice the peculiarity of how "he could run with feet so frozen that 'he could not feel them when they touched the earth.' ". The process of transcending his weakened body is then taken to the extreme when the traveler compares his condition to the orbit of Mercury around the surface of the earth. Finally, while he »..