Close Read Activity: “To Build a Fire,” By Jack London
Group Names: ____________________, ______________________, _____________________
Paragraph
#
1
Line #s
Question
1-3
3
23-24
What mood is created?
Which words create the mood?
Why is this information included?
3
27-30
8
82-84
12
132135
170172
225230
20
234
Paraphrase the sentence beginning
with: “It did not lead…”
Explain how these sentences support
the essential question: “what is
success?”
What is the difference between the
man and the dog?
According to London why is it that the
man “did not know cold”?
Explain how these sentences support
the essential question: How do we
construct identity through our actions,
interests, values and beliefs?
What are the “wires”?
21
21
237239
239
Rephrase one of the similes used in
these lines.
Define: conflagration
22
242
25
271273
280282
289290
Discuss with group: What is the
difference between fault and mistake?
What resiliency trait is shown in these
lines?
Why are the excruciating aches “hailed
with satisfaction”?
What are the “wires”?
15
20
26
26
Answer
………………………………………
29
314318
31
345347
354355
359361
380
32
32
34
36
38
Entire
Story
Entire
Story
411413
421422
Compare this information with
paragraph 17, lines 191-end of
paragraph. Why do you think London
was so specific in paragraph 17?
What do you think “peremptorily”
means based on context clues? Explain
Why is the man unable to kill the dog?
Why does the man have to use his
eyes?
London wrote, “Sometimes it pushed
itself forward…” What is the “it” he is
referring to?
What is an anesthetic? Why is sleep
compared to “taking an anesthetic”?
How often do you test limits or act
against the advice of adults?
What essential question applies here?
What is London’s purpose of killing off
the man?
Do you think there was something about
“the man” that doomed him? Which of his
character traits, if any, would have needed
to be different for him to have survived his
ordeal?