to build a fire short story by jack london introducing the short story with literary analysis:...
TRANSCRIPT
To Build a FireShort Story by Jack London
Introducing the Short Storywith
Literary Analysis: Setting andConflict
Reading Strategy: Predict
Vocabulary in Context
VIDEO TRAILER
To Build a Fire
INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY
Should you trust your INSTINCTS?
An instinct is unlearned, automatic behavior shown by all members of a species, such as birds building a nest.
To Build a Fire
INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY
Should you trust your INSTINCTS?
Do people, like animals, have instincts?If they do, when are they likely to use them?Are a person’s instincts as good as, say, a dog’s?
To Build a Fire
INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY
The story “To Build a Fire” attempts to answer such questions.
Should you trust your INSTINCTS?
To Build a Fire
Click on the title to play the trailer.
To Build a Fire
To Build a Fire
Setting and Conflict
In some stories, the setting can create the conflict a character faces.
It can even act as the antagonist, or opponent, of the main character.
To Build a Fire
In “To Build a Fire,” the setting is the Yukon wilderness, and the main character must battle the crippling cold to survive.
The setting challenges him in other ways as well.
As you read, notice details about this harsh setting and think about the choices the setting forces the character to make.
Setting and Conflict
To Build a Fire
Predict
Predicting helps you become actively involved in what you are reading and gives you reasons to read on.
When you predict, you use text clues to guess what will happen next in a story.
To Build a Fire
To make sound predictions about what will happen in “To Build aFire,” use the following strategies:• Think about the
personality, actions, and thoughts of the main character when predicting how he will respond to his situation.
• Note passages of foreshadowing, or hints and clues about future plot events.
Predict
To Build a Fire
As you read, jot down at least three predictions and the clues you used to make them. Use a chart like the one shown.
The man will . . .
Predictions Text Clues
Predict
To Build a Fire
Jack London uses the vocabulary words in the box on the right in his suspenseful tale. To see how many vocabulary words you know, substitute a different word or phrase for each vocabulary term. Sample answers appear in brackets.
apprehension
conflagration
conjectural
imperative
intangible
peremptorily
reiterate
smite[strike, attack]
[fear and worry]
[repeat]
[involving guesswork]
1. intangible fear[cannot be defined]
5. smite in anger
2. conjectural answer
3. baseless apprehension
4. reiterate the command
[urgent]6. imperative action
[large, destructive fire]7. forest conflagration
[in a commanding way]8. peremptorily dismiss
To Build a Fire
apprehension n. fear and worry for the future
conflagration n. a large, destructive fire
conjectural adj. involving guesswork
imperative adj. urgently necessary
intangible adj. unable to be perceived with the senses
To Build a FireTo Build a Fire
reiterate v. to repeat
smite v. to inflict a heavy blow on; past tense—smote
peremptorily adv. in a commanding way that does not allow for refusal or contradiction