What language is used that helps the reader to comprehend the conflict facing the man as he travels in the Yukon?

The initial incident or narrative hook of "To Build a Fire" is the newcomer's realization that it is much colder out that he thought when he left the warmth and safety of the camp.

London maintains an air of neutrality with his prose, objective and reportorial. He focuses mostly on the narrative and little on the man's interior world and history--indeed, we never even know the man's (or the dog's) name. He is less an individual and more a representative of all humanity, especially humanity up against nature. Also in keeping with the naturalist tradition, the man is obviously not a member of the upper class. Like "the boys," he hopes to strike it rich by prospecting for gold, as did many during the Yukon Gold Rush in the late 19th-century, or even by selling logs.