Journal 16 – Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” and London’s “To Build A Fire”
Read the following quote and discuss how it applies to the main characters in both stories. In the course of this discussion, address how each of the characters is both similar and different:
“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual character and the social condition of the time. Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life. Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granted a role in human affairs. Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“
In “The Blue Hotel,” the stranger’s ultimate downfall was his personality traits. He was very awkward and bad at socializing. Unfortunately, his situation requires him to be social which is the ultimate cause of his downfall. If the stranger would have been put into a situation that didn’t require social activity, he probably wouldn’t have been killed. His awkwardness and lack of social skills caused his death in the longrun. However, in “To Build A Fire,” the man’s social surrioundings had nothing to do with his death. There was no way that the man would have beaten nature in his situation. The weather conditions were simply too harsh for any human being to survive. The man’s personality and inherited traits didn’t have anything to do with his death. The uncontrollable weath conditions caused his ultimate downfall.
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