"To Build a Fire" tells the story of a man who struggles to survive during a journey in the remote Yukon in seventy below temperatures. The character is introduced on a cold, grey morning as he turns from the main Yukon trail and begins walking through the high banks. The trail is seldom traveled and leads through the timberland. The man looks at his watch and sees that it is nine in the morning. There are no hints of the sun. There are also no clouds, so it is a clear day. He is used to the lack of sun, as during his trip he has not seen the sun for days. The man looks back at the path he just traveled. The Yukon trail is a mile wide and is underneath three feet of ice.

There is white snow for as far as he...