Central theme

I would consider The Individual versus Nature as a major theme. Closely related to the issue of survival in the wilderness is "To Build a Fire"'s theme of the individual versus nature. According to the story, the "trouble" with the man is that he is "without imagination" and therefore never speculates about "man's place in the universe," his "frailty in general," or the fact that people are "able only to live within certain narrow limits of temperature." Yet during his trek the man is confronted again and again by his weakness as a lone individual against the formidable power of nature in the form of the brutal cold. Each time he removes his gloves, the man is surprised at how quickly his fingers are numbed. He is also startled at how fast his nose and cheeks freeze, and he is amazed when his spittle freezes in midair before it ever hits the snow. When the man stops for lunch, his feet go numb almost as soon as he sits still, a fact that finally begins to frighten him. Even the dog—who is half-wild and thus closer to nature—feels "depressed" by the cold. Thanks to its natural instincts and its dense winter coat, the dog survives the extreme temperature long enough to head for camp, where it knows it will find food and warmth. Without fur or instinct, the man is too frail on his own to withstand nature- or "the cold of space"—as it presents itself in the Klondike: "The cold of space smote the unprotected tip of the planet, and he, being on that unprotected tip, received the full force of the blow."