Read this passage from “To Build a Fire.” Knowing how the story ends, what literary element or device is the author using in thi
s passage? When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire—that is, if his feet are wet. If his feet are dry, and he fails, he can run along the trail for half a mile and restore his circulation. But the circulation of wet and freezing feet cannot be restored by running when it is seventy-five below. No matter how fast he runs, the wet feet will freeze the harder.
All this the man knew. The old-timer on Sulphur Creek had told him about it the previous fall, and now he was appreciating the advice.
Foreshadowing is a literary technique whereby an author provides a hint of what is to happen later in the story. At the end of the story, "To Build a Fire," the man who sojourned in the Yukon trail died in the cold. Foreshadowing occurred earlier in the passage when the old-timer on Sulphur Creek gave the advice to travel with a partner. It was as if he knew in advance that the man could die from the cold if circulation was not restored when the temperature was seventy-five below. Unfortunately, when the man was being frozen by the cold, he recalled that advice.
