To Build A Fire by Jack London-Setting Analysis

Hi guys! How’s life? I hope you guys had a great day today J okay then, now I’m gonna talk about one of reports I made for Introduction to Prose, and this is my analysis of To Build A Fire, a short story written by Jack London. 

This story is about a man who goes on traveling in Yukon, a place in the Canada Territory.  This place is extremely cold, snowy and icy all the time and he’s only accompanied by a Husky native dog while he’s travelling. The purpose of his journey is to get to the boys’ camp. I do not really understand for what he wants to get to the boys’ camp and meet them there, but I believe it only a purpose that represents human’s purpose in the world when they live. But unfortunately, because he doesn’t have any well preparation, he dies at last in the cold place such Yukon. As we know, Yukon is included as the coldest place in the world, and less than eight people live there. The temperature is more than sixty three below degree. The man actually has been warned by other people that there’s no man can travel alone in such place after fifty below degree, but he doesn’t listen to the advice he gets. Along his journey, he gets a lot of bad thing experiences such as falling into the ice, getting numb, and having failed to build a fire. At last, as I said before, he dies because of his unwell prepared and his foolishness in traveling alone in such place. 

Why I said that he dies only because of his foolishness is that the man actually knows about the dangerous condition in Yukon, but he only knows, he never understands what it means. Here, in this story the man actually represents man in common, we, as human. Here, if we analyze the story, the man in this story is without name, so it represents us as human. We think that we have power to face the nature, the world, even in the wildest place and in the most dangerous place like Yukon in this story. However, we, as human are only a little thing if we’re compared to nature itself. He tries to travel alone in the cold place like Yukon, only with a dog; though some people have warned him not to travel alone after fifty below degree in such cold place. Then he feels that, only with his fool he can fight against nature. He also doesn’t think about the dog that actually has better instinct that he does. This dog is used to remind us, as human being, that sometimes animals have e better instinct than we have. Sometimes they know more about danger, like in this story told. Furthermore, as I said before that the purpose of the man in this story is to get to the boys’ camp. The boys’ camp represents the purpose of life of human being. We, as a human, of course have a dream to achieve, right? And Yukon here represents where we can get our achievement or dream.

In my report actually I’m asked by my lecturer to focus on the setting of the story, how it plays the role in this story and how it influences the story. Here my analysis of To Build A Fire by Jack London :)

 Nature Proves Its Power

In my opinion, this story represents how the foolishness and egoism of a man face against the nature. In this story, nature here is represented by a place named Yukon in which the condition is extremely dangerous and the weather is very tremendously cold. We can see that the man never gets any knowledge about Yukon which is considered as the coldest place in the world with its (at least) 70 degrees below zero. He only guesses the temperature in Yukon for example, and he doesn’t have any preparation. And talking about the foolishness and the egoism he has here is that he never listens to what other people say about that place. He also never tries to imagine what condition he might face when he travels alone, only with a Husky dog that is although in a very cold place, it can adapt with it.

If I focus in the setting here, it’s clearly seen that the setting influences a lot to the main character, the man. Imagine if the man was not in such condition, not in a such cold Yukon, maybe he will not get so mad and do such crazy things or loss his hope when he’s travelling. At first, he’s really sure that he can get to the boys’ camp safely without any companion but the dog. He is at first also sure that the temperature is only 50 degrees below zero, but in fact the dog knows that it’s more than that. It is 75 degrees below zero. This very cold place plays a role to the man’s belief. Then as the time goes by, the man starts to be unsure of his belief and he starts to loss his defenses. He thinks about what the old-timer says, that is true about the weather and the advice that that there’s no any man can go travelling alone in such place after 50 degrees below zero. He’s also freighted because of the numbness of his hands. Moreover, he thinks about killing his dog to make him warm. This place, with its dangerous condition, forces him to think madly and do something crazy when he feels that he’s forced by the nature. I think it won’t be the same if the setting of place isn’t in Yukon, in Egypt for example. Next, he starts to think of death. The boys’ will find his body, whereas he also thinks about getting to the boys’ camp safely with any ways. We can see that the man feels afraid of the place after he falls to the broken ice. He starts to feel cold and numb. He tries to build a fire several times, but the last one is unsuccessful attempt. It feels like as if the place, nature, is trying to prove its power. It‘s trying to frighten him by all the accident he gets. He’s like someone who doesn’t have any destination after this cold place punishes him by making his body getting colder and his hands getting numb. His hands can’t clutch anything.

Maybe the man will survive if he’s not alone in Yukon, maybe he can survive if he’s well-prepared. Maybe he can get any help from people if he isn’t in Yukon since Yukon only has eight people living there (based on information from a source). But all are only ‘maybe’, the setting can’t be changed. Yukon proves its power to him, proves that what the old-timer says is true. At last he admits it he is lose. He dies because of his foolishness and egoism battling with the power of nature. Finally he says, “You were right, old hoss, you were right” as the sign of regretting his act.

  

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Well guys, I know it isn't perfect yet since I know there are still maybe a lot of mistakes on my analysis. I hope somebody puts any comments, critics, or whatsoever on my post here. Thanks! :)

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant-Characters and Characterization Analysis

Hello guys! this is my promise to you anyway hahaha. In introduction to Prose, my lecturer asked us to read a short story entitled The Necklace that was written by Guy de Maupassant.This short story actually tells about a woman named Mathilde who is beautiful, but she marries with a poor man who works as a clerk in the Ministry of Education. She can't accept her fate that she's not the rich, yet she wants to be looked so, so when there is a party which is from Ministry of Education where her husband works, she asks her husband to buy her an expensive dress.Well, her husband finally gives her money, much money even though he can't afford it.But to make his wife go to the party, he gives her money to buy a beautiful and expensive dress. However, she thinks that only dress is not good. She wants to wear jewels, and she asks her husband, yet her husband asks her to use flower. She doesn't want to do it, so her husband commands her to borrow any jewels to their rich neighbor named Madame Forestier. She finally borrows a superb diamond necklace and wears it in the party. In the party, she's very happy because she becomes the center of the attention. She looks so beautiful as if she was as rich as other people in the party with her expansive dress and her diamond necklace. When the party is over, she goes home with her husband. Then after arriving at home, she realizes something! The necklace is not her neck, it's gone! she really worries about it. She tells it to her husband and they looks for it all day long, all weeks long but finally they can't find it. At last, they have to borrow some money to buy the new one which is exactly the same with the one which is lost. After that, they give it to Madame Forestier and she doen't know that the necklace isn't hers. For tem years, they live poorer because they have to pay for the debt. And at last, Mathilde meets Madame Forestier and tells her the fact about the necklace. Can you imagine what she says? She says at last that actually the necklace Mathilde has lost is only an imitation!

For me, this short story is so great! here the analysis that focuses on the characters and the characterization that I made for my Introduction to Prose lesson :)

What You See may be A Fake

The theme of this short story is very common nowadays. It is about pride, social class and prestige. What will be needed by people, of course, will influence their actions and it’s proven in this story. First, we go to the characters this story has, they are Mathilde (Madamme Loisel), Mathilde’s husband, and Madamme Forestier. The writer describes those characters directly through the dialogue they have and also through the direct description the writer gives such as the appearance of Mathilde. She is a very beautiful and physically perfect woman, but unfortunately she marries with a man who isn’t rich, poor I guess.

If we focus on the characterization, it is clearly seen that the personality of the characters influences the story a lot. Mathilde, who is very sad being married to a poor man and not with the wealthy one, wishes that she could have better life, better dinner and better clothes. She also imagines about having glamorous jewels. It seems to me that she can’t accept her condition, her husband condition and their economical life condition. However, after reading this story, for me her husband is also very pleased to ‘help’ Mathilde to become more ‘ambitious’ with her wish. He gives her much money only to buy a beautiful dress, yet he consciously knows that he can’t afford it. He also gives the idea of borrowing jewel from Madamme Forestier. In my opinion, he also ‘opens the gate’ of their suffering at the end.

In this story, Mathilde is very ambitious to be looked as the most beautiful and the richest woman by other people in the party. She also wants to be looked like others who have high pride and social class in the society, so she buys an expensive dress and borrows Madamme Forestier’s superb diamond necklace. I can understand how social class becomes so important in human and society’s eyes. It’s clearly seen that she wants to cover up her real identity as a poor in front of many people in the party. It is done for the sake of her pride I guess. By wearing beautiful and expensive dress, also very splendid diamond necklace, she has successfully hidden her identity though only for few hours. Her actions and those things she buys and borrows make her prestige, pride and independence increased. In addition about social class, pride and prestige also lies on Madamme Forestier. Why doesn’t she tell Mathilde that the necklace is only an imitation? Why doesn’t she tell her before giving it to Mathilde so that Mathilde and her husband do not have to be suffering for 10 years only for paying the debt they borrow to buy the real one? It is crystal clear that Madamme Forestier also wants to be looked rich in Mathilde’s eyes especially. I can see that she also puts very high concern in her pride as a rich woman who has pride, high social class and prestige in society.

It seems to me that Madamme Forestier’s act makes Mathilde suffering, and Mathilde act also makes her husband and her life also turn into worse and worse. Imagine if Mathilde can accept her economical condition, imagine if Madamme Forestier tell her before that the necklace is only an imitation, I think the story will not be the same. The last point is that the openness of each character does not exist. Let’s take an example of what isn’t said by Madamme Forestier about the imitation necklace to Mathilde and about the losing of that imitation necklace that isn’t told by Mathilde to Madamme Forestier. In brief, their characterization of each character plays important role in forming and changing the plot of the story.

Little Things about My English Language and Literature Study Program :)

Hello guys! how are you this day? only want to share a little bit about my day well, actually I didn't have a really good day today :( But today I don't wanna discuss about my bad day since I have a better topic to discuss in my very first post on my blog :)

As I said, no actually I wrote it, I'm studying English Language and Literature. Now I'd like to share to you about that major such as what I'm doing in this unfamous major hahaha I know it because in Indonesia I think there are only a few students who are consciously take English Language and Literature as their major in university. And what the lessons I'm learning in this major are also; even though different universities have different concern in the curriculum :)

Well I'm studying in State University of Yogyakarta or UNY as people know and now I'm still in the 4th semester so I haven't got all of the subjects. But it's okay because I'll share as much as information I get till now. 

in English Language and Literature, especially in my university, I learned some basic lessons in the first semester such as Writing 1, Speaking 1, Reading 1, Listening 1 and Structure 1. The additional subjects are Pronunciation and Book Report 1 . I think you've known about the five basic lessons from Writing 1 till Structure 1, right? so I don't wanna tell you much about it :p now we move to Pronunciation and Book Report 1...In Pronunciation I learn how to pronounce a word in English well, such as 'book' which is pronounced 'buk' for example. I am taught to pronounce words in English well. In Book Report 1, I am asked to read any novels, popular or classical ones, original or simplified ones. I still remember that my Book Report 1 lecturer asked me to read 4 novels and later on my next posts I'll share about them to you all :) oh well, after reading them, I have to make the reports about the novel I have read. In that report, I write about the title of the novel, the characters and the characterization, the setting of time and place, the summary and also the comment for the novel. I find it's interesting since I like reading novel. And this Book Report 1 actually 'asks' you to be in reading habit, well at least it's the beginning. Hell yeah...if you wanna take Literature as your major, you have to love reading so much I tell you! hahaha so, back to Book Report, after making such report, then I'll be interviewed by my lecturer. The purpose is that she wants to know whether or not we read those novels, or we only copy and paste it from internet. And you know what, she will know whether we read it or not from your answer when we're having interview with her. I don't think it's an interview since I feel that I was comfortable when I was being asked many things about the novels hahahaha...

Now we move to the second semester. In the higher semester of course you'll get something more, right? more difficult, for instance. In this semester I experienced it. Writing 2, Reading 2, Speaking 2, Listening 2 and Structure 2 are still given and they are continued until semester 4 you know :)

I also have Translation, Phonetics and Phonology, Book Report 2(again. but it's only until Book Report 2 hahaha), and BCL 1 (British Culture and Literature 1). I find it interesting in Book Report 2 because my Book Report 2 lecturer asked us to read three classical novels and one drama. The rule is still same, we read, and we make the reports for all novels then the lecturer will interview us. In Book Report 2, I read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and the drama is A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen.. do not worry I'll share them to you all later on my next post :) be ready for that ya hahaha..Well, let's continue our discussion then :p. Phonetic and Phonology is a difficult lesson since yeah it's too theoretical I guess. It's actually the theory form from Pronunciation. and I didn't get the best mark on this subject hahaha well that's okay anyway at least I tried my best on this difficult subject. And in Translation. as you know I believe, I am taught how to translate Bahasa Indonesia into English and English into Bahasa Indonesia. But unfortunately I think my Translation lecturer didn't give us very good teaching, so for me I didn't get anything from this subject...and now is BCL or British Culture and Literature! This subject is so interesting I can say! why? the reason is that we will get much information about British! well, I'll tell you a little bit. In BCL 1 we learn not about the map of British, the location of England, Scotland, Ireland and Welsh since we can get it from the internet. We also do not learn about the food and the beverages in British, the habit of English because we can browse on the internet. In BCL 1, I learn about how British was form, the history of British and also the literature. I get something I do not know and I know something that I don't know much and well before I get this subject. interesting, isn't it? :)

Wooow now we move to the third semester. I feel that this semester is much more difficult that the previous ones :( this semester is so dark, gloomy, and the worst I think...oh my God why am I talking about it? :p well well well, in this semester Writing 3 until Structure 3 are still taught. The additional subjects, and I believe more difficult, are Lexico-Grammar, Introduction to Linguistics, Introduction to Literature, Introduction to Translation Studies and Semantics. I found those subjects are so damn horrible only by seeing their names. Oh my God are you crazy? Lexico-Grammar, what the hell is that? hahaha. okay then I 'll explain them a little bit. In Lexico-Grammar I learn form which the sentences are form. Yeah, to master Lexico-Grammar, you must master Structure first because in this sucbject you will be identifying the smallest part of the sentences and the names are different from taraditional grammar. difficult? yes! but actually I found it challenging and interesting hahaha... Next is Introduction to Lingusitics. I learn Phonetics and Phonology again, Morpheme, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics, Sosiolinguistics, and woooow still so many! in Semantics, I learn about the meaning of the word, the meaning of a sentence and the meaning of a sign. in Introduction to Translation well I'm sorry to say that but honestly I didn't get anything since again and again my lecture was too smart to teach us -___- Well, readers, BCL 2 is still taught in this semester, but the focus is more in the English literature, not the history since it has been learned in BCL 1. The literature itself was about the writers in English literature, the novels, the drama, for example. We also talk about some greatest writers in English literature such as Shakespeare, Christoper Marlowe, Chaucer, John Milton, and soon an so forth.. interesting, very interesting for me :)

Well readers, as I said before that I'm still in the fourth semester, I only can tell you about it. In this semester I find it more challenging because I have to choose for the concentration. Yeah, in my major and in my university, we have to choose one concentration in the fifth semester. There are three concentrations: Linguistics, Literature or Translation. Wow I haven't made up my mind actually :(

I think that's all for this section, later I'll post some of my Book Report reports for you. I hope all I share for you is useful :)

Small Introduction-Very First Post

Hi! Wow it's been a long time I waited for having you know a blog. Hahahaha. I know maybe I'm so too much, but actually yes I really wanted to have a blog but I just could make it few weeks ago with a help from my friend. She says that I can write anything on my blog, but to make my blog useful and interesting for others, I don't wanna post any diaries on my blog. Yeah maybe some of my experiences I have, with the purpose of sharing. Not some posts about my grief, my sorrows or whatsoever. Wow, interesting I guess!
Well, to begin my very first post, I'd like to have a small introduction and well not really important I guess but it's okay because Javanes says that "tak kenal maka tak sayang" hahaha. Okay, I'm Tiara Dewi Panduwati, just call me Aya or Tiara or whatever as long as it's not Pandu or Wati. Pandu is I think a boy name then Wati is a very common name! Hahaha. I'm studying in one of the public universities in Yogyakarta, State University of Yogyakarta if you've once heard about that university HAHAHA. And... What else? Well, I'm majoring in English Language and Literature and to be honest, the reason why I wanna have a blog is that I wanna improve my writing skill since I think this activity is in line with my major and my need :) and I'm a Javanese but ironically I can't speak Javanese fluently :(
Well well well that's my little introduction for you all guys if you happen read my post.. Later I'll post some thinga I promise something useful and interesting, well at least a bit interesting hahaha :)