“To Build a Fire”

Jack London
Author Information
• Born John Griffith London in 1876.
• Suspicious of who his real father was and
this showed up in many of his short stories
• Supported himself from age 13 on
• Worked in a cannery, was a coal shoveler,
and was a hobo for part of his early years
• Jack London in the Klondike
• Photo 2
Jack London continued
• Entered and left University of California Berkley
due to money
• Observed Marx and Darwin, who also had an
influence on naturalism.
• Looked for gold in the Klondike from 1897-1898
• Claimed to dislike his job and said he wrote only
for money.
• Died in 1916 and was the best-selling American
author at the time.
Terms to Know
• Scientific Determinism: the philosophical
doctrine that every act or decision is the
inevitable consequence of antecedents
(things that came before), such as
psychological or environmental conditions
that are independent of human will.
• Things are already set in motion
Darwinism
• A theory that explains the origin and
perpetuation of new species, both animal
and plant. It says that offspring vary and
naturally favor the survival of some over
others. Because of this, a large variety of
animals and plants have emerged from
original species.
Social Darwinism
• ***Central to our short story
• A theory that inherent dynamic forces allow
only the fittest persons or organizations to
prosper in a competitive environment or
situation.
Yukon Trail
• Also called the Klondike Trail
• People, mainly immigrants, following the
Klondike river to Dawson, Yukon
(westernmost part of Canada) in order to
search for gold.
• 1897
A quick look at lit. movements:
• Romantic Era: (1780’s-1840’s)
• Writing revolved around nature and the artistic
beauty of life.
• Stories have an easily identifiable protagonist &
antagonist.
• The setting is usually exotic and the time and
place are often vague.
• Authors were very symbolic and imagination
praised over reason.
• Example: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Continued
• Realism Era: (1840’s-1890)
• An age of realism and truth in literature.
• Also called the Victorian age because Queen
Victoria reigned at the time.
• An age of newspaper, magazine, and modern
novels.
• Some authors wrote of war and nationally loyalty,
while others wrote of love.
• Example: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Continued
• Naturalism: (1865-1914)
• -Literary device using scientific determinism.
• -Emphasis on the biological and has a theme of
survival.
• -Draws from Darwin and Marx, Freud and
Newton.
• Authors tend to be pessimistic and objective about
presenting information.
• -Example: see related authors
Vocabulary
• Monotonously: done in a boring, tedious, or
repetitive way.
• Speculatively: examining something
theoretically or hypothetically
• Recoiled: to pull back or jump back
Related Stories & Authors
• London’s other work:
• The Call of the Wild (1904)
• The SeaWolf (1904)
• White Fang (1906)
• Other Naturalists
• Stephen Crane-The Open Boat
• Theodore Dreiser-Old Rogaum and His
Theresa
Reading the story
• See packet questions
Quick Review
• What is the difference between Social
Determinism and Social Darwinism?
• Quick Quiz
Works Cited
• "Darwinism." Merriam-Webster. 12 Mar.
2008 <http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/Darwinism>.
• The Norton Anthology of American
Literature. 6th ed. Vol. C. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2003. 971-986.
• Reading Literature. Evanston: McDougal,
Littel & Company, 1986. 333-347.