To Build a Fire

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To Build a Fire

• Jack London

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Author Information

• Born John Griffith London in 1876.
• Suspicious of who his real father was and this
  showed up in many of his short stories
• Supported himself from age 13 on
• Worked in a cannery, was a coal shoveler, and was
  a hobo for part of his early years
• Jack London in the Klondike
• Photo 2

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Jack London continued

• Entered and left University of California Berkley
  due to money
• Observed Marx and Darwin, who also had an
  influence on naturalism.
• Looked for gold in the Klondike from 1897-1898
• Claimed to dislike his job and said he wrote only
  for money.
• Died in 1916 and was the best-selling American
  author at the time.

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Terms to Know

• Scientific Determinism the philosophical
  doctrine that every act or decision is the
  inevitable consequence of antecedents (things
  that came before), such as psychological or
  environmental conditions that are independent of
  human will.
• Things are already set in motion

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Darwinism

• A theory that explains the origin and
  perpetuation of new species, both animal and
  plant. It says that offspring vary and naturally
  favor the survival of some over others. Because
  of this, a large variety of animals and plants
  have emerged from original species.

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Social Darwinism

• Central to our short story
• A theory that inherent dynamic forces allow only
  the fittest persons or organizations to prosper
  in a competitive environment or situation.

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Yukon Trail

• Also called the Klondike Trail
• People, mainly immigrants, following the Klondike
  river to Dawson, Yukon (westernmost part of
  Canada) in order to search for gold.
• 1897

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A quick look at lit. movements

• Romantic Era (1780s-1840s)
• Writing revolved around nature and the artistic
  beauty of life.
• Stories have an easily identifiable protagonist
  antagonist.
• The setting is usually exotic and the time and
  place are often vague.
• Authors were very symbolic and imagination
  praised over reason.
• Example Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Continued

• Realism Era (1840s-1890)
• An age of realism and truth in literature.
• Also called the Victorian age because Queen
  Victoria reigned at the time.
• An age of newspaper, magazine, and modern novels.
• Some authors wrote of war and nationally loyalty,
  while others wrote of love.
• Example Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Continued

• Naturalism (1865-1914)
• -Literary device using scientific determinism.
• -Emphasis on the biological and has a theme of
  survival.
• -Draws from Darwin and Marx, Freud and Newton.
• Authors tend to be pessimistic and objective
  about presenting information.
• -Example see related authors

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Vocabulary

• Monotonously done in a boring, tedious, or
  repetitive way.
• Speculatively examining something theoretically
  or hypothetically
• Recoiled to pull back or jump back

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Related Stories Authors

• Londons other work
• The Call of the Wild (1904)
• The SeaWolf (1904)
• White Fang (1906)
• Other Naturalists
• Stephen Crane-The Open Boat
• Theodore Dreiser-Old Rogaum and His Theresa

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Reading the story

• See packet questions

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Quick Review

• What is the difference between Social Determinism
  and Social Darwinism?
• Quick Quiz

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Works Cited

• "Darwinism." Merriam-Webster. 12 Mar. 2008
  lthttp//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Darwini
  smgt.
• The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th
  ed. Vol. C. New York W.W. Norton Company,
  2003. 971-986.
• Reading Literature. Evanston McDougal, Littel
  Company, 1986. 333-347.