In this passage from "To Build a Fire," Jack London
describes the setting for his story. Read the passage;
then, answer the question.
The man looked along the way he had come. The Yukon
lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice. On top
of this ice were as many feet of snow. It was all
pure
white. North and south, as far as his eye could see, it was
unbroken white. The one thing that relieved the
whiteness was a thin dark line that curved from the pine-
covered island to the south. It curved into the north,
where it disappeared behind another pine-covered island.
This dark line was the trail-the main trail. It led south
500 miles to the Chilcoot Pass, and salt water. It led
north 75 miles to Dawson, and still farther on to the north
a thousand miles to Nulato, and finally to St. Michael, on
Bering Sea, a thousand miles and half a thousand more.
-"To Build a Fire,"
Jack London
Read the passage carefully. Choose a personal
connection to the text that a reader could make.
O This reminds me of how bitterly cold it was in
northern Minnesota in the winter.
O This reminds me of traveling to an island in the
Caribbean on vacation last year.
O This reminds me of a book I read about fishing in
the Bering Sea.
O This reminds me of a review I read about a movie
set in Alaska.