To Build a Fire Characters

The narrator says early in the story that the man is a chechaquo, which is a Chinook word for "newcomer." But that's not all. Apparently, the "trouble" with this guy is that he's "without imaginati...

This dog is described as a "big native husky, the proper wolf dog, gray-coated and without any visible or temperamental difference from its brother the wild wolf" (6). The wolf dog acts as a foil t...

This old guy once told the main character about how cold it can get in the Yukon wilderness—a tip that our man promptly ignores. In fact, when the main character first recalls this old man's advi...

Much like the old-timer from Sulphur Creek, the boys at the mining camp on Henderson Creek have a strong presence in this story without ever being seen or heard from. They represent a warm fire and...