Stephen Cranes The Open Boat and Jack Londons To Build A Fire Essay

Stephen Cranes The unmortgaged boat and Jack Londons To Build A FireStephen Cranes short story, The Open Boat speaks directly to Jack Londons own story, To Build A Fire in their applications of rude(a)ism and views on humanity. Both writers are demoralized in their views of humanity and are acutely aware of the natural world. The representations of their characters show humans who believe that they are strong and can ably survive, but these characters some times overestimate themselves which can lead to an understanding of their own mortality as they face down death.In To Build A Fire, the main conflict throughout is man versus nature although it would be inaccurate to say that nature goes out of its way to assault the man. The fact of the matter is, nature would be just as cold without the mans presence heedless of him beingness there .The environment as a whole is completely nonmaterial to the man, as it oftentimes is in naturalist literature. The bitter environment does not aid him in any way, and it will not notice if he perishes. In the same way, the mark does not care about the man, only about itself. Ironically enough though, as the man was dying he was getting upset toward the dog because of its natural warmth, the instincts that it had, and its survival skills and those were the elements that the man lacked for survival. It is ironic that the man had to die in order to find out that mans fragile body cannot survive in natures harsh elements, regardless of a humans natural over-confidence and psychological strength.The protagonist of the story, who is purposely not given a name, as the idea that the environment will receive his fate rather than his free will. The Man is forced to accept that he is not invinc... ...nd they are simply along for the ride.Stephen Cranes The Open Boat and To Build a Fire by Jack London are both naturalistic tales that portray the universe as a somewhat indifferent being that could not care less for the any of th e men in either story. The irony is biting, yet completely subverts the ideals and values that humanity generally holds of being superior and invincible in the world. Works CitedGurian, Jay. The Romantic Necessity in Literary Naturalism Jack London. AmericanLiterature 112-20. Print.London, Jack. To Build a Fire, by Jack London. The World of Jack London 2012. Web. 02May 2012. .Pizer, Donald. Jack Londons To Build a Fire How Not to Read Naturalist Fiction.Philosophy and Literature 34.1 (2010) 218-27. cast off Muse. Web. 1 May 2012..