Jack London’s To Build A Fire reflects the principles of Naturalism in American Literature by depicting determinism, environment, and social and cultural influences. This work reflects London’s deep interest in the natural world and the primal forces that he believed governed it. The story was written in the tumultuous social times during the turn of the twentieth century where a naturalist school of thought emerged. 

During the story a native dog plays a key character relying on his ancestral instincts. “The animal was depressed by the tremendous cold. It knew that it was no time for traveling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment.” The dog remains alive at the end of the story, whereas the man dies. This shows that the dog was stronger in its natural environment unlike the man.  The man’s arrival at death also depicts the natural order of Naturalism. 

The man’s determination to stay alive is a major Naturalism theme of the work. “As he so held it, he became aware of sensation in his hand. His flesh was burning. He could smell it. Deep down below the surface he could feel it. The sensation developed into pain that grew acute. And still he endured it, holding the flame of the matches clumsily to the bark that would not light readily because his own burning hands were in the way absorbing most of the flame.”  Over and over he pushes that thought of death to the back of his mind determined to reach camp to be with the boys. 

At the end of the story the man states “You were right, old hoss; you were right,” the man mumbled to the old-timer of Sulphur Creek.” Relying on his social and cultural biases he fails to listen to the man that knew more about the environment. Among this work key traits of Naturalism are present with determinism, environment, and social and cultural influences. 
London, Jack. “To Build A Fire.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine, Norton, 2022, p 1090 1096 1099.