The old timer’s advice is to never travel alone during a cold snap. Specifically, London writes that the man “remembered the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The man had been very serious when he said that no man should travel alone in that country after 50 below zero.” The old timer specifically warned about the danger of getting one’s feet wet in such extreme cold, and about how “in the country” temperatures can be much more extreme. The man’s reaction to this advice is telling. In fact, the story’s unique, dispassionate point of view leaves out more than it tells. We get only the most basic reactions from the man: when he gets a fire going, he thinks the old man “womanish”; when the snow extinguishes his fire, he thinks that “perhaps” the old man had been right. The man begins with the confidence that he can ignore the old man’s advice; what we learn as the story progresses is how tragically wrong he is, both about his own endurance and his problem-solving skills.
An interesting exercise would be to retell the story from the old man’s point of view; for him, the man must have been just another in a long line of “greenhorns” who will either learn to adapt to the harsh climate of the Yukon or die out of hubris.
You have hit the nail on the head when you say that it is the "old-timer from Sulphur Creek" who gave the man "key advice." It is so very "key" that, if the man would have listened, he would have still had his life at the end of the story instead of freezing in the frigid temperatures.
It is simply luck that the man meets the old-timer before his adventure in the Yukon. In the back of his mind, the man knew the Yukon in the winter was dangerous. The old-timer continually emphasized the cold, especially in "the country." The man is already in trouble in that he "laughed at him at the time." Still, the old-timer goes on with the most important part of his "key advice" you speak of in your question. He mentions the importance of taking someone else along (so that the man isn't in the wilderness alone). He mentions the importance of keeping one's feet dry. Then he says this about the cold:
There must be no failure. When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire - that is, if his feet are wet...the circulation of wet and freezing feet cannot be restored by running when it is seventy-five below.
We should get from this how absolutely imperative it is to build a fire right away in case one's feet get wet. Again, the man laughs. Full of pride in his own abilities, and unwilling to listen to the wisdom of the elderly, the man sets off.
Unfortunately for the man,...
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he only takes into account the wisdom of the old-timer when he is approaching death, freezing in the extreme cold of the Alaskan wilderness. How do we know, as readers, that the man finally realizes the wisdom of the old timer? Because the man, dying, says this:
If he had only had a trail-mate he would have been in no danger. The trail-mate could have build the fire.
Thus, the man dies alone in the wilderness due to his own negligence.
The old-timer from Sulphur Creek had warned the man of the dangers of going into the frigid Yukon Territory in the winter. He had tried to emphasize "how cold it sometimes got in the country", and outlined some basic survival skills the man would have to know in order to survive under those extreme conditions. The man "had laughed at (the old-timer) at the time", and, thinking he could handle it, had set off into the Alaskan wilderness in the winter alone.
Two especially critical pieces of advice the old-timer had given the man were the absolute necessity of being able to build a fire immediately should his feet get wet, and the wisdom of taking with him a companion. About the fire, the old-timer had warned, "...there must be no failure. When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire - that is, if his feet are wet...the circulation of wet and freezing feet cannot be restored by running when it is seventy-five below". The man remembers and appreciates the advice the old-timer gave him when he is in trouble, but had not taken it seriously enough to make sure he thoroughly learned how to make a fire under dire conditions before he set out.
When he cannot make a viable fire, the man regrets not having listened to the other element of the old-timer's advice - "If he had only had a trail-mate he would have been in no danger. The trail-mate could have build the fire".
The old timer from Sulfur Creek warned him not to travel outside alone when the temperature is below a certain point. The man's arrogance takes over and he feels the advice is "womanish". His pride goes to far as he bets his survival on his ability to survive the vicious cold. His mistake was first in believing himself superior to power of a cold and indifferent universe. It is only when he faces certain death that he relents. He then changes his perception of the old timer.
What did the old timer say in "To Build a Fire"?
In Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire," the protagonist makes the fatal decision to travel through the treacherous Yukon alone in freezing temperatures seventy-five degrees below zero. In the story, the protagonist is portrayed as an arrogant, ignorant man, who scoffs at the advice of the old-timer from Sulphur Creek and decides to make the dangerous journey on his own.
The old-timer from Sulphur Creek advised the protagonist, a newcomer, to not travel alone in temperatures lower than fifty degrees below zero. The old-timer is familiar with the territory, respects the natural environment, and understands the dangers of traveling alone in extremely cold weather. Instead of listening to the old-timer's advice, though, the inexperienced protagonist considers him "womanish" and foolishly pushes his luck.
The protagonist's only companion is his dog, and he must rely on himself to brave the harsh conditions. Unlike its inexperienced owner, the dog recognizes the dangerous situation and realizes that they should not be traveling in such conditions. The dog is attuned to nature and hopes that its owner will turn around or build a fire.
During the journey, the protagonist ends up falling through the ice and mistakenly builds a fire directly underneath a snowy tree branch. When the snow falls onto the fire, it extinguishes the flames, and the protagonist quickly experiences the effects of hypothermia. Eventually, the protagonist succumbs to the cold and dies in the wilderness. If the protagonist had listened to the old-timer's advice, he would have avoided such a death.
In "To Build a Fire," the man remembers advice he had been given by the old man at Sulphur Creek. List three of these bits of advice.
It is of course the unfortunate unfailure of the anonymous protagonist in this excellent story to pay attention to the advice that the old man from Sulphur creek gave him before he embarked on his journey that results in his death. The first mention we have of the old man is when the protagonist remembers the old man telling him precisely how cold it got in the country, and then how he had actually laughed at the old man. Listening to this advice would have probably causes the protagonist not to venture out in the first place, as he would have had a healthy respect for the cold and how dangerous it could be.
Secondly, the old man told him that "a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire--that is, if his feet are wet." This is one piece of advice that the protagonist does listen to and act upon when he does get his feet wet after he falls through the ice into water.
Thirdly, the protagonist remembers another injunction that is given to him by the old man:
He remembered the advice of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, and smiled. The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought.
Note the arrogance of the protagonist in the way that he rejects this bit of advice, and rather insultingly considers the old-timer to be "womanish." This is another crucial bit of advice that could have potentially saved the protagonist, for travelling with a companion would have meant there would have been somebody else to help make a fire or fetch help. The protagonist's arrogance is yet again shown to have led to his death.