Regionalism in "To Build a Fire"

Jack London is one of the greatest American authors of all time, and more specifically one of the greatest Regionalism literature. He short story “To Build a Fire” displays many of the characteristics of this subgenre of Realism. There is a strong emphasis on the harshness of nature to man and how man must fight to survive and the main character is of a lower class. Also there is a simple language that is realistic to the characters and setting. These characteristics combine to create one of the best works of Regionalism literature from American, and simply a great short story.

Primarily, Regionalism has a focus on the setting, as that is the most important part of this genre of literature (Anderson). “To Build a Fire” opens with a description of a man traveling on the main Yukon trail (London 603). This description is very vivid to create and image and to allow the reader to understand the circumstance that the character is involved in. Throughout the rest of the story, the descriptions of the weather and conditions remain vivid and truly create an image of an unforgiving terrain that the man must traverse.

For most Regionalism literature, the protagonist of the story is an average, middle-class hero rather than some sort of super, extraordinary character (Anderson). This is just the case with the story of “To Build a Fire” as the protagonist is quite the common man. Clearly the man is not an expert on traveling on the trail, but quite the opposite. He has some knowledge of survival, but to no extent is he some sort of nature man that could survive under any conditions. The man states that he pays no attention to the frost bite that has began to develop on his extremities and on his mouth from the tobacco juice (London 605). He lacks natural survival instincts that could have saved his life, but as a common man he does not really know what to do in his situation.

Lastly this work uses language that is common for the setting and the character. This is one of the other important characteristics of Regionalism that makes the strong setting more effective because the vernacular used to tell the story allows the reader to relate even better with the character (Anderson). Although the descriptions of the settings are very vivid as mentioned earlier, the words used to complete these traits of the setting are simple and words that a common person would use. The man does not know specifics about the trees that surround him, but simple that they are “big spruce trees (London 605).” These simple descriptions are what keep the character believable and keeps their identity of a common, average person in tact.

Setting is in fact one of the most important parts of a literary work in the genre of Regionalism. Jack London’s story of “To Build a Fire” uses this to create a setting of a harsh environment that a man must traverse. The character of this story is an average person with no superhuman traits, which also indicates that this is a work of Regionalism. The language used to present this story is also connected to the setting and character to keep each of these things more realistic. All of these characteristics are common characteristics of Regionalism literature and Jack London uses them all very effectively, which is why he is one of the greatest authors and one of the founders of American Regionalism


Works Cited

Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds."regionalism." Encyclopedia of American Literature: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, vol. 3, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Online. http://fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1330&SingleRecord=True. February 16, 2011.

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 603-614.