In the story "To Build a Fire," there is a man who is walking in the Alaskan wilderness. The man had been told to never go out into the wilderness by himself, especially if the weather was so cold. But the man did not listen and he makes the trek anyway. After awhile, the man starts to get very cold and he realizes that he may be in danger. So he decides to stop and make a fire next to this tree. He makes the fire and starts to take off his boots to warm his feet, when all of a sudden, snow falls from the tree and puts out the fire. Unable to get warm, the man actually considers killing his dog so that he can stick his hands in the warm body, but he does not have enough strength to do so, so the dog is let loose. In the end, the man is not able to go on and dies in the cold all by himself.
I think that this story relates to Emerson and Thoreau because it has a lot to do with naturalism. Emerson's philosophy was that if you went against nature, it would work against you instead of helping you. Both Emerson and Thoreau respected nature a lot and were strong believers in it. The man fought against nature by going out on that journey despite of the weather. By doing this it showed that he did not respect nature very much and in the end it ended up killing him. I really liked this story just because I feel like stuff like this happens in real life. People hike alone or do not think about all of the dangerous things that can happen to them if they are not prepared for anything. Other than that it was kind of depressing because he died in the end and all alone in the vast Alaskan wilderness, when he could have lived if only he would have listened.
"To Build a Fire Summary." Study Guides & Essay Editing. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.
"Famous Emerson Quotes - Philosophy Paradise." Philosophy Paradise. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.
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