The Theme of Londons To build a fire

Theme of Jack London's To Build a Fire

The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack London's 1910 novel, "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man's dwindling warmth and bad luck in his journey along the Yukon trail to meet "the boys" at camp. London associates dying with the man's diminishing ability to stay warm in the frigid Alaskan climate. The main characters predicament slowly worsens one level at a time finally resulting in death.
The narrator informs the reader that "the man" lacks personal experience
traveling in the Yukon terrain. The old-timer warned the man about the
harsh realities of the Klondike. The confident main character thinks of
the old-timer at Sulphur Creek as "womanish." Along the trail, "the man" falls into a hidden spring and attempts to build a fire to dry his socks and warm himself. With his wet feet quickly growing numb, he realizes he has only one chance to successfully build a fire or face the harsh realities of the Yukon at one-hundred nine degrees below freezing. Falling snow from a tree blots out the fire and the character realizes "he had just heard his own sentence of death." Jack London introduces death to the reader in this scene.
The man realizes "a second fire must be built without fail." The man's mind begins to run wild with thoughts of insecurity and death when the second fire fails. He recollects the story of a man who kills a steer to stay warm and envisions himself killing his dog and crawling into the carcass to warm up so he can build a fire to save himself.
London writes, "a certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him."
As the man slowly freezes, he realizes he is in serious trouble and can no longer make excuses for himself. Acknowledging he "would never get to the camp and would soon be stiff and dead," he tries to clear this morbid thought from his mind by running down the trail in a last ditch effort to pump blood through his extremities.
The climax of the story describes "the man" picturing "his body completely frozen on the trail." He falls into the snow thinking, "he is bound to freeze anyway and freezing was not as bad as people thought. There were a lot worse ways to die." The man drowsed off into "the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known." The dog looked on creeping closer, filling his nostrils with the "scent of death."
London's portrayal of the man does not initially give the reader the theme of dying, but slowly develops the theme as the story develops. The story doesn't mention death until the last several pages. The main character changes from an enthusiastic pioneer to a sad and desperate man. The conclusion of the story portrays the man accepting his fate and understands the old-timer at Sulphur Creek had been right; "no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below." Typically, short stories written in the early 1900's often conclude the story with a death or tragedy. London's story is no exception. This story follows the pattern by illustrating events leading up to and including death.

Thesis Statement- The significance of the words "dying and death" in Jack London's 1910 novel, "To Build a Fire" continuously expresses the man's dwindling warmth and bad luck in his journey along the Yukon trail to meet "the boys" at camp.

The TempestBringing it all Together

Bringing it all together

The Epilogue of the Tempest by William Shakespeare is an excellent -- if
not the best -- example of Shakespeare's brilliance. In 20 lines
Shakespeare is able to write an excellent ending to his play, while speaking
through his characters about Shakespeare's own life and career. Even
more amazingly, he seemlessly ties the two together.
In the context of the story Prospero's monologue makes perfect sense. He
has lost his magical power, so his "charms are o'erthrown, and what
strength [Prospero] have's [his] own, which is most faint." He is now
"confined" on the Island, for his other choice would be to go to Naples and
reclaim his dukedom, but he doesn't want to do that because he has already
"pardoned the deceiver" who took his position many years ago. Prospero
then says something a little strange, but it makes sense in the context of
the story, he ask us to "release [him] from [his] bands with the help of
your good hands." In other words, clap so that the sails of the boats his
friends are riding in will be safely returned and Prospero can be "relieved
by prayer" of the audience.
All of what Prospero has said is very nice cute, but the most interesting
part of this monologue is what Shakespeare himself is saying. "Now that
my charms are all o'erthrown, and what strength I have's mine own"
means, now my plays are over, and it's no longer my characters speaking.
The "Island" or stage Shakespeare is on is now "bare" and it is time for
"you" the audience to release Shakespeare and his actors from this play
with the "help of [y]our good hands." Shakespeare was not only being
released for the performance of the play, he was being release from his
career as a playwright. But there are more reasons to clap besides the
obvious reason that the play is over, Shakespeare could not allow his final
play to be bad, his project "was to please." He reiterates this point by
saying "and my ending is despair unless I be relieved by prayer", or the
clapping of the audience and it frees "all faults" and allows Shakespeare to
indulge the clapping and joy of the audience.
Finally, after we seperate the two different perspectives, we can step
back and see how Shakespeare magically works them together. The first
such pun is on the word "faint", in the third line. Prospero uses faint to
describe his strength, but Shakespeare makes it a pun on the pun he is
making! Let me explain, faint means light (amoung other things), which
means light hearted, or fun. As if you thought this wasn't confusing enough
already, you could put a pun on the pun on the pun! Again, let me explain,
faint can also mean hard to see, like the pun on the pun! That might be
pushing it a little, though. The thing about Shakespeare is anything is
possible. Another, less obvious but more significant double meaning is on
the word "please" on line 13. Prospero is literally saying his goal was to
make the people on the Island happy, Shakespeare is saying his goal was to
please his audience. Shakespeare was without a doubt is one of the greatest
authors of all time, this Epilogue clearly shows us that.

>>>>>this paper is not exactly polished, but there is A LOT of good interpretation, A quality, even at the college level<<<<<

The Story of Atalanta

The story of Atalanta

Atalanta was a goddess who wasn't wanted by her father. So her father took and put her in the forest to die. Her dad wanted a boy.
She was saved and raised by a bear. For many years she was raised by bears. Soon some hunters found her and returned
her to here father. Her father was happy, but soon got sick of her again. She said whom ever chould beat here in a foot race whould be here new
husband. If they lost they whould be put to death. Many lost. Intill one boy who asked help from the goddess of
another god. The god gave him 3 golden apples. Then was the race. The race started and he threw the first golden apple.
Atalanta went to pick it up. He was in the lead, but atalanta caught up. He threw the second one further. Atalanta went to pick it up.
He gained more space. The race was near end and atalanta was gaining on him. So he took the last apple and through it real far.
Atalanta went to get it. He won the race. They were wed. Soon they whould offend Zues though.
And be turned into lioness.