To Build a FireShort Story by Jack London

Introducing the Short Storywith

Literary Analysis: Setting andConflict

Reading Strategy: Predict

Vocabulary in Context

VIDEO TRAILER

To Build a Fire

INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY

Should you trust your INSTINCTS?

An instinct is unlearned, automatic behavior shown by all members of a species, such as birds building a nest.

To Build a Fire

INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY

Should you trust your INSTINCTS?

Do people, like animals, have instincts?If they do, when are they likely to use them?Are a person’s instincts as good as, say, a dog’s?

To Build a Fire

INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY

The story “To Build a Fire” attempts to answer such questions.

Should you trust your INSTINCTS?

To Build a Fire

Click on the title to play the trailer.

To Build a Fire

To Build a Fire

Setting and Conflict

In some stories, the setting can create the conflict a character faces.

It can even act as the antagonist, or opponent, of the main character.

To Build a Fire

In “To Build a Fire,” the setting is the Yukon wilderness, and the main character must battle the crippling cold to survive.

The setting challenges him in other ways as well.

As you read, notice details about this harsh setting and think about the choices the setting forces the character to make.

Setting and Conflict

To Build a Fire

Predict

Predicting helps you become actively involved in what you are reading and gives you reasons to read on.

When you predict, you use text clues to guess what will happen next in a story.

To Build a Fire

To make sound predictions about what will happen in “To Build aFire,” use the following strategies:• Think about the

personality, actions, and thoughts of the main character when predicting how he will respond to his situation.

• Note passages of foreshadowing, or hints and clues about future plot events.

Predict

To Build a Fire

As you read, jot down at least three predictions and the clues you used to make them. Use a chart like the one shown.

The man will . . .

Predictions Text Clues

Predict

To Build a Fire

Jack London uses the vocabulary words in the box on the right in his suspenseful tale. To see how many vocabulary words you know, substitute a different word or phrase for each vocabulary term. Sample answers appear in brackets.

apprehension

conflagration

conjectural

imperative

intangible

peremptorily

reiterate

smite[strike, attack]

[fear and worry]

[repeat]

[involving guesswork]

1. intangible fear[cannot be defined]

5. smite in anger

2. conjectural answer

3. baseless apprehension

4. reiterate the command

[urgent]6. imperative action

[large, destructive fire]7. forest conflagration

[in a commanding way]8. peremptorily dismiss

To Build a Fire

apprehension n. fear and worry for the future

conflagration n. a large, destructive fire

conjectural adj. involving guesswork

imperative adj. urgently necessary

intangible adj. unable to be perceived with the senses

To Build a FireTo Build a Fire

reiterate v. to repeat

smite v. to inflict a heavy blow on; past tense—smote

peremptorily adv. in a commanding way that does not allow for refusal or contradiction