London’s use of setting in “To Build a Fire” In “To Build a Fire,” Jack London uses many details of setting to illustrate the gravity of the protagonist’s situation. The story is a detailed description of the dangers of intense cold and the stages involved in the process of freezing to death. The man in “to build a fire” is a very dogmatic and arrogant person who believed in his own abilities and …showed first 75 words of 649 total…

…showed last 75 words of 649 total…after the fire is put out, leading to the climax of the story when the man begins his realization that death had found him. In this way, London uses setting to show the extent of the man’s situation and the death that will surely follow if you underestimate it. The events of the story, the unrelenting cold, and the man’s final death are all tied together by London’s expert control of setting.