To Build a Fire

1. Identify the point of view of the story.

2. What is the mood in the opening paragraph?

3. What is the tone of the narrator? How does he feel towards the subject
that he is presenting?

4. What is significant about the fact that the main character has no name?

5. Who or what is the antagonist in the story?

6. Discuss the personality of the man. What does he seem to think about his
own abilities? How does he behave in relation to his environment?

7. What are some of the mistakes in judgment that the man makes during
the course of the story? What is his fatal flaw? Describe the changes in
attitude that he undergoes during the story.

8. Discuss the “personality” and role of the dog in the story. In what ways is
the dog “smarter” than the man? What did the dog instinctively
understand that the man did not?

9. What is the relationship between man and nature in this story?

10. In this story, what is the difference between knowledge and instincts?
Use the chart on the back of this page to answer this question.

11. What does the man’s failure to “build a fire” symbolize?

12. What is the significance of the dog’s final movement towards

civilization at the end of the story? What does this suggest about the
dog’s relationship to nature?