the man builds an emergency fire after he steps into a small spring under the snow and gets wet halfway to his knees. Jack London's short story exemplifies the theory of naturalism which holds that man is subject to natural forces beyond his control.
American novelist Jack London wrote a short story called <em>"To Build a Fire"</em> published around the early 1900s, about a man traveling across the Yukon wilderness having complications; the man falls into an underground spring under the thick snow and gets wet, which makes him build an emergency fire.
