To build a fire

Jacqueline Procter
Journal # 29
March 21, 2008
Frank Norris

Quote:
"Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it decently. With this newfound peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness. A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death. It was like taking an anesthetic. Freezing was not so bad as people thought. There were lots worse ways to die.

Summary:
A peaceful calm overtakes the man as he realizes his impending death is fast approaching

Response:
In classic naturalistic fashion the man was doomed to perish. From the very beginning of the story I had feeling that the man would not survive, but at the same time I held out hope that he would make it. I can’t imagine putting myself in that situation of such extreme danger, but apparently the payoff was worth it if gold was found. Thousands -- approximately 100,000 men headed out to the Klondike. The problem is that by the time everyone flocked to the area the claims were already staked out. The people who made money on this endeavor were the merchants of food, clothing, and climbing gear – western outfitters.

In the end the man was at peace regarding his inevitable demise, and as the warmth of freezing to death takes over, he decides to take a nap. He didn't reflect on his life as most people would in this situation. His only thought was that the old timer was right about traveling with a partner. The fire, stands between his life or imminent death -- a buddy may have frozen along with him if they were both traveling along the frozen creek bed -- not a good idea; although, a more seasoned mountaineer, one more familiar with the terrain, would have known a safer route to the camp. I thought that maybe in his greed to find gold he chose to travel alone, but he was trying to reach a camp full of other men, so maybe he just wasn't that intelligent to begin with. The story mentions his "mind empty of thoughts," I guess that is the clue that he isn't too bright, but in extreme cold I've read that thinking is impaired (actually I know that at high altitude it is impaired) The bottom line is that he should have listened to the sage advice of the old timer, and he realized his mistake too late, but perhaps this book helped save hundreds of lives during this period, as Dr. Scott mentioned that everyone carried it with them, in their quest to find riches.