London toys with a concept that is old as time itself, man verses nature, with which he weaves a conflict between two parties, one of whom has no interest in a battle. This conflict is set up immediately upon beginning the tale: “Day had dawned cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey” and “there was no sun or promise of sun” are set as the parameters to frame the story of a man heading against the unrelenting force of nature. The narrator of the story offers no judgement on nature nor on the man involved, but with simple observation of both, it places the reader in a situation fraught with tension. Nature, while unforgiving, has no quarrel with man or beast. It has no motive to murder. Every living thing exists within it, is sustained by it, and dies in spite of it. In all of recorded history, nature has never truly formed an attack against a man. Whether a man lives with it or dies against it, nature always wins. Regardless of this, as soon as the author writes “The trouble with him was the fact that he was not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in their meanings. Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to consider his weaknesses as a creature affected by temperature”, the reader instinctively understands that the man has made the unwise choice to fight against nature. Whether it be through lack of knowledge, wisdom, or sheer arrogance, the man has made the choice to suffer. He has chosen a fate that will unavoidably end at the mercy of nature.
              
This story indicates from the beginning that this adventure will not end well for the man. The entire plot-line and set up leans towards tragedy. The only question is: How far will London go with the tragedy? Will the man learn his lesson and return to civilization injured and wiser for the experience or will he pay the ultimate price for his arrogance?  As soon as the reader reads the line: “The man was shocked. It was like hearing his own judgement of death”, the question becomes a freight train towards a certain destination. Through a critical mistake of the man building his fire underneath a pine tree, nature is allowed to take its course. Unlike most stories of courage and fortitude, London takes a more realistic turn here and paints a picture of what happens when arrogance and inexperience tangles with Mother Nature. This sends the man down a path of desperation with a myriad of more and more impotent and futile attempts to delay the inevitable. Eventually the man accepts his fate, and then acknowledges the sage advice from the wise man from Sulphur Creek as his final thought. “Then the man dropped into the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known”. He succumbs to nature, and freezes to death. While his existence ceases, the dog, which is an amazing metaphor for instinctual life, soon realizes there is no more warmth or food coming from him, and moves on. Such as it does, life goes on. 
