illustration fo a man in winter clothes lying on the snow under a tree with a dog standing near him

To Build a Fire

by Jack London

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Student Question

If you were the dog in "To Build a Fire," what would be your point of view?

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From the dog's perspective in "To Build a Fire," survival is paramount. The dog is focused on warmth and food, observing the man's inexperienced and risky actions in the harsh Yukon climate. It senses the man's struggle and eventual failure to build a fire, leading the dog to distrust him. As the man nears death, the dog instinctively chooses to leave, driven by its natural survival instincts to find food and warmth elsewhere.

Expert Answers

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Concerning the dog's point of view in London's "To Build a Fire," the question isn't as unusual as it may seem, since London was quite fond of writing stories from a dog's point of view.  Also, this is the kind of question that gets you to think about the story and what the dog sees, but there really isn't a correct or incorrect answer.  You can probably write anything that is serious and thoughtful and do just fine.

With that in mind, I'll suggest some ideas and ask some questions that you can keep in mind if you like:

  • As London would write the story, the dog would probably make value judgments about the kind of master the man in the story is.  Is the man gentle and kind, or does he beat the dog any chance he gets?
  • Does the dog see the man as knowing what he is...

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  • up against?  Does the man respect nature and its power?  The dog is a part of nature, in a sense, in that he is more fit to survive in the cold conditions than the man is.  What does the dog think about the man's feeble attempts to survive? 
  • Why won't the dog go to the man when the man calls him near the end of the story?  What does the dog sense?  How does he know not to trust the man at that point? 
  • How does the dog feel when he takes off to head to the next place of warmth?

The thoughts and questions above should help you write a thoughtful piece.

By the way, just in case you mean something a little different in your question than what I've interpreted, technically, telling the story from the dog's point of view would be using first-person narration if you have the dog actually doing the talking or writing, or third-person limited omniscient, if you have a speaker telling the story from the dog's point of view and reading the dog's thoughts.  

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Mine would probably be similar to the dog's own point of view in Jack London's short story, "To Build a Fire." The dog was most concerned with survival in the cold wasteland of the Yukon. He was hungry and tired most of the time, so he worried about when and where his next meal would come. He must have wondered about the inexperienced actions of the man, who travelled alone in the extreme cold and took chances on thin ice. He must have also wondered about why the man did not build a successful fire. Once the smell of the man's death crept into the senses, it would not have taken long to make the decision to leave him behind since ultimate survival meant finding food and fire.

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