Preview

Examples Of Realism In To Build A Fire

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
613 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Examples Of Realism In To Build A Fire
Realism can change how the world thinks about something. The stories all have realism using different characteristics. Mark Twain, Henry James, and Edith Wharton are all major writers that practiced realism in the writing. Realism paints a picture of what people really experience in life and it does not sugar coat some parts of the story. The stories with realism are to inform the readers or for enjoyment.
The characters in the stories are experiences the struggles in someway. The struggle in To Build a Fire written by Jack London struggle is when nothing is going in the characters way in the Yukon, Alaska. When his first fire went out, he stepped in a spring, and he struggled to start a second fire he knew that “it was a matter of life and death”. He knows that he could die because of how cold it is in the Yukon. He thought it would be possible to survive in the freezing forest, but then mother nature got him. In The Men in the Storm written by Stephen Crane the men waiting to get into a house in a huge city to get out of the blizzard. The blizzard “sought out the men in their
…show more content…
In The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair, he use gritty details to describe the work environment. “The pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their figures off.” The workers would slowly lose their figures do to the acid they worked with. The author use the gritty details about the acid to show society how bad the work conditions really were. In the short story To Build a Fire, London used gritty details to describe how cold it is in the middle of the Yukon forest. “He spat again. And again, in the air , before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled.” It is showing how cold the Yukon is when the story is taking place. The spitting in the story is a gritty detail, he could have used different ways to show how cold it is. Both short stories are showing realism using gritty

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Stories with different theme,plots, mood, tones, and setting is what makes up a story. In the short story “ To Build a Fire” the main focus is setting. Setting is when and where the story takes place. Setting can also have a dramatic affect on characters. For example, the author Jack London has the setting take place in the Yukon Territory, making a dramatic affect on the character. The setting in “To build a Fire” impacts the character mentally, emotionally, and physically.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    8. realism The style of art and literature that seeks to depict the physical world and human life with scientific objectivity and detached observation.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The writing style referred to as naturalism—popular among many notable late-nineteenth century writers—can be defined as the study of a character’s relationship to its surrounding and how the environment dictates and contributes to the character’s motives and values. Stephen Crane’s short-story “The Open Boat”, holds a very cynical depiction of life as the four main characters are stranded in the ocean on a small boat, left to face the wrath of waves, sharks, aching muscles, and coming to the realization that nature holds all the power. Similarly in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the main character is pitted against the brutal forces of nature in the extreme climate of the Yukon; 75 degrees below zero, the environment is utterly indifferent…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Fahrenheit 451,” firefighters rush to homes and start fires, rather than prevent them. Ray Bradbury’s story depicts a futuristic society where fire has become the matter of a significant dispute. On one side, fire is seen as almost a cleansing tool used to purify the thoughts of ordinary citizens by protecting them from reading “dangerous” works of writing by burning all copies of forbidden books. The government tells its people that reading books would be terrible for the common good but truly know that allowing people to read books would lead to the people’s questioning of the government’s authority. From an opposite perspective, however, fire is a destructive tool used by the government to…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When thinking of a work of fiction, one would most likely consider the unrealistic story or the happy ending. Additionally, most wouldn’t think of “the harsh realities of everyday life” (Feldman, 485) like domestic violence and alcoholism. This is because nowadays, most books aren’t realist novels. A realist novel is a fictional book that focuses more on character analysis rather than plot, and describes things as they really are, with no excess details. One can argue that Winter Birds by Jim Grimsley is a realist novel because of its portrayal of faith, unresolved plot, and absence of emotion.…

    • 1507 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is all about literature by imagination. If a story is as good as reality then it is a great story. A true fiction story can take you places without ever leaving, it gives you an experience where you can read and can’t stop.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The representation of realism in art or literature of objects, as well as actions or social conditions as they actually are. Realism, quite simply is the act of being real. One displays realism when actions are taken without idealization or presentation in abstract form. There are two types of realism: scientific realism and objective realism. Scientific realists embrace that the characteristic product of successful scientific research is knowledge of largely theory-independent phenomena and that such knowledge is possible (indeed actual) even in those cases…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story “how to build a fire” Jack London is trying to send a message. I think Jack London’s message in this story is to not take things for granted and to always come prepared. In this story a guy goes on a nine hour journey in the Yukon. The temperature is 50 below zero.He should arrive at this campsite at 6:00 to go camping with his friends. On this journey he dies because he can't bear the cold any longer.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Most Dangerous Game

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell the author presents many kinds of different conflicts and events in short story to enhance the mood. Examples of this can be seen in many places in the short story like man vs.. Man ; this is between the character of the story. This can also include two of the main characters and also between to enemies. Another example would be man vs.. Nature ;this is when a character fights the nature to survive. Also, man vs.. Self; this is when the person is not sure of himself what he want to do. These are used by the author in story to bring more interest in it. Also these are used to help build up every character in the story. The first one in the short story that shows up is man vs.. Nature which is the basic cause to the other in the entire story. In the story the reason do to why man vs.. Nature is first or comes is that because of the nature the character got in problem and ended up falling in the ocean looking for his pipe that had fell. The darkness makes it hard for him to see and then he ends up making him unstable and fell in the ocean too. But rainsford had surviving the natures test, but then in the story rainsford get to the island but is not sure of to where he really is because of the darkness and he describes it as the “moist black velvet”.Then as we move on in the short story rainsford faces man vs.. Self. Rainsford was secured of dead because he didn't’t want to face reality that to the islanders he is just a target and need to be treated like it to. That’s the main purpose why he is secured and is afraid to know what they will do to his body. But to islanded he’s just fish that got in there hands and they want to use it and will abuse it to if need it. Which makes a internal conflict because that’s what comes to his mind.The resolution is the story's final sentence: "He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided." That sentence tells us that Rainsford defeated General Croft in their…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Writers of realist fiction attempt to, as accurately as possible, show how things really are. They also seek to bring to light the conditions in society that have previously gone ignored. As compared with the works of romantic literature, characters in realist works tend to be dynamic rather than static. Also, "[s]ettings are more ordinary, plots are less important, and themes are less obvious" (World Book 16: 173). Realist writings focus more on developing their characters and less on the surroundings and…

    • 2216 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” the man in the story finds himself in a battle against nature and an indifferent and deterministic universe. This man started out believing that he could brave and survive the cold and that the old man’s advice about travelling with a partner was “womanish.” Although without a human partner, the man is accompanied by a dog. The dog represents nature and the opposition to the human condition which is the struggle to maintain a “veneer of civilization.” At the beginning of the story, it is obvious that the man has belief in his ability to survive the rugged, frozen terrain. The man contemplates the lunch that is under his shirt and even smiles thinking about the biscuits being smothered in bacon grease. Also, he continues to chew tobacco despite the effects that it has on his facial hair and lips. Meanwhile, the dog is aware of the seventy-five below zero temperature through its natural instinct and questions every movement the man is making that is not towards shelter or fire.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever since the beginning of time, man has been intrigued by the power and sheer beauty of nature. From, the mountains to the desert or even the cold of Alaska, stories of man fighting the dangers of the wild have been recorded. In Jack London’s short story, To Build a Fire, he tells a tale of an unnamed man and his dog fighting through the barren Alaskan wilderness. The man, unexpecting of the power of the cold, ignoring the warnings he has received, brutes his way through the wilderness to meet up with his companions at camp. London, typical to other works of his, demonstrates to the reader the conflict between man and nature, a conflict that man falls apart under the weight of the power of nature. The battle between the man and the Alaskan…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jack London's War

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The details provided reinforce the theme and characterization just as much as shown in “War”. In many of London’s writings, the setting is a character itself in both stories as they actively play large roles in the plot and fate of the stories. For example, London presents a naive newcomer believing he is prepared to take on the subarctic conditions in one of his other short stories called “To Build a Fire”. An analysis of it from Exploring Short Stories states “The setting denotes the time and place of a story as well as the social circumstances of the characters…[The newcomer’s] inexperience and lack of imagination do not allow him to prepare for the brutal cold.” (“To Build a Fire”). The setting here is presented to slowly weaken the main character and eventually does lead to his demise, while the setting of “War” stops the main character from killing the enemy soldier. The analysis shows how the setting in the author’s other writing is used to support its theme of man vs nature, parallel to the setting’s usage in “War”. Likewise, in “War”, London uses the presence of the stream in the rural setting to play a large role in the scout’s ultimate demise. When at the stream, the scout first sees the rival soldier yet is sensitized to the other’s vitality by the soldier’s humane action of simply getting water. In that moment, he identifies himself and the other man as…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tom Wolfe's New Journalism

    • 4521 Words
    • 19 Pages

    The four techniques of realism that he and the other New Journalists employed, he wrote, had been the sole province of novelists and other literati. They are scene-by-scene construction, full record of dialogue, third-person point of view and the manifold incidental details to round out character (i.e., descriptive incidentals).[18] the result…

    • 4521 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within literature, realism acts as a fictional story within a setting of historical events. Realism began as an artistic movement in the late nineteenth century. This type of writing can be seen in many authors. One author in particular is Bret Harte. Harte born in New York, moved to California in his late teenage years. While in California, Harte worked as a teacher, a miner, and an editor. Harte’s The Luck of Roaring Camp, a short story in which he wrote for a magazine he edited, pictures the realism of life in a mining camp but did so within an emotional structure.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays