the bitter cold. The fact that the trail is covered foreshadows the traveler's solitude and his lack of resources foreshadows the lack of preparation that leads to his death. The fact that the newcomer is surprised by the extreme cold also foreshadows his failure to listen to the old man at Sulphur Creek. London also utilizes foreshadowing when he describes the wolf dog's fear and apprehension. The wolf dog understands that it is dangerous to embark on the journey and its instincts turn out to be correct.

One good example of textual foreshadowing comes early on:

He plunged in among the big spruce trees. The trail was faint. A foot of snow had fallen since the last sled had passed over, and he was glad he was without a sled, traveling light. In fact, he carried nothing but the lunch wrapped in the handkerchief. He was surprised, however, at the cold.
(London, "To Build a Fire," eNotes eText)

Referring to the trail as "faint" shows that the area has not been traveled much recently; others know how dangerous the cold can be. The man's lack of a sled, and his only item being his lunch, shows the lack of preparation that leads to his death; he is not mentally prepared for the extreme cold of the Yukon and so does not bring enough matches, or a flint-and-steel which cannot burn out. Finally, his "surprise" at just how cold it is shows his ego and his failure to prepare; if he had listened to the advice of the Old-Timer, or simply used more common sense in preparing, he might have survived.

Each of these points indicates his later failure; he has no sled, and so only one dog -- he might have been able to snuggle in with multiple sled-dogs and survive that way. He only has his lunch and no other supplies -- he was not thinking ahead. He is surprised at the cold -- because he didn't listen to advice, and so the cold is what kills him.

“To Build a Fire” by Jack London reinforces the conflict of man versus nature.  Nature does not intend to best the man.  The natural world “is what it is.” If man makes the decision to try to outwit or outdo nature, he probably will lose.  In the story, this arrogant man, who does not listen to the warnings of an experienced man of the Yukon,  believes that he is thoroughly prepared for everything.

Foreshadowing is an authorial device to hint at the events to come.  Many times the foreshadowing does not become apparent until the story is completed.  The main character himself through the third person point of view provides the reader with clues to his eventual demise.

1st example of foreshadowing

“Once in a while the thought reiterated itself that it was very cold and that he had never experienced such cold.  As he walked along he rubbed his cheek-bones and nose with the back of his mittened hand.” 

The reference to the cold prefaces the man’s stepping into the stream and getting wet. In addition, his hands later become useless when he loses his fire.  This costs him the matches when he drops them in the snow because of the lost feeling in his hands. Without fire, the man will not be able to survive.

2nd example

“He unbuttoned his jacket and shirt and drew forth his lunch.  The action consumed no more than a quarter of a minute, yet the numbness laid hold of the exposed fingers.”

Again, the exposure of his hands to the cold and the immediate numbness hints at the loss of the hands and eventually the loss of the potential fire which might have saved the man’s life. Until the man experiences 75 degrees below zero, he does not understand the peril in which he places himself.

3rd example

“The old-timer on Sulphur Creek had told him about it the previous fall, and now he was appreciating the advice.  Already all sensation had gone out of his feet.”

The main character felt that he had the intelligence and preparedness to beat the cold.  The other man who knew what the cold could do to a man tried to warn him to never travel alone in this kind of cold. In the beginning, the man called the old-timer womanish; now, he begins to see that the man understood the depth of the dangerous cold.

4th example

“He spoke to the dog, calling it to him; but in his voice had a strange note of fear that frightened the animal, who had never known the man to speak in such way before.  Something was the matter, and its suspicious nature sensed danger—it knew not what danger, but somewhere, in its brain arose an apprehension of the man.”

When the dog sensed that something was going on with the man, the heart of the story comes to light.  The difference between animal  instinct and man’s ability to solve problems. In this situation, the dog’s instincts win by far.  The dog knows that something is not right with the man. 

The man did not try to establish a relationship with the dog which was not smart.  The story never mentioned the man feeding the dog.  If he took the dog with him for company or protection, he should have prepared for this part of the trip as well.

When the man realizes that he is not going to make it, he understands that the conflict with  nature was a lost cause from the beginning.  It was not a battle on the part of the natural world.  It was a fight between the man and his own ability to listen, think, and prepare.

Foreshadowing is a literary technique in which the author drops hints or gives clues--sometimes subtle, sometimes very obvious--about what is going to happen later in the story. Here are a few examples of foreshadows in "To Build a Fire":

The following passage sets us up to expect some kind of trouble for the man, who is a newcomer to the cold and doesn't think about its dangers:

Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero. That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head.

In the next passage, we have a hint that something might go wrong with his fire:

He threw down several large pieces on top of the snow. This served for a foundation and prevented the young flame from drowning itself in the snow it otherwise would melt.

Now, with two examples to get you started and the links to visit, see if you can find more foreshadows in the story.

The title "To Build a Fire" foreshadows the main obstacle that the man must overcome to survive. Despite the extreme cold, the man is unprepared, and so only brings one source of fire: matches. When he experiences frostbite on his fingers and is unable to handle the matches properly, he finds that he cannot build a fire to thaw out; he must thaw his fingers to build the fire to thaw his fingers. This end is foreshadowed earlier, when he stops for lunch:

He tried to take a mouthful, but the ice-muzzle prevented. He had forgotten to build a fire and thaw out.
(London, "To Build a Fire," eNotes eText)

This directly anticipates his later inability, quoting the title and showing how important fire is in the Yukon. The first mistake only causes him to lose a few minutes at lunch; the second, compounded by an unforeseeable accident, costs him his life.

As a Naturalist, Jack London presents human beings as subject to natural forces beyond their control.  As is evident in London's story, "To Build a Fire," this idea is at the center of the narrative.  In the exposition, there is clear foreshadowing of nature's forces being in charge of the day. 

• It is cold and gray, exceedingly cold.  However, the "newcomer," the chachaquo, misjudges the temperature.  It is a clear day, and yet

there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun. 

• Nevertheless, this fact does not worry the man.  Not the grayness of the sky, the lack of sun, the tremendous cold, or the strangeness of it all bothered him.
• Because this is his first winter the man "lacks imagination."  He has not had to contemplate life and death.  The fifty degrees below zero means eighty-odd degrees of frost--that was all.  It did not impress upon him

to meditate upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold.

• When he steps outside, the man spits.  At fifty degrees below zero, spit crackles on the snow at fifty below, but this spit crackled in the air.  Still the man thinks, "...the temperature did not matter."
• The dog's instinct tells it a "truer tale than was told to the man by the man's judgment," London writes.
• The dog questions every move of the man, expecting him to return to the camp.  The dog had learned about fire and yearned for one; it does not want to go out into this cold. 

All the elements of nature as well as the dog indicate the unfavorableness of going out into the brutal cold, yet "the man held steadily on."  With much foreshadowing of the danger of his setting out, Jack London's neophyte sets forth into the cold and ominous setting.