3 - Khiem D. : Cryophobia: an analysis of the Cold

 

Cryophobia: An Analysis of The Cold

The cold is something we often take lightly, a constant in life, an absence of energy in physics, a force of preservation. To Build A Fire by Jack London is a 16 page book about the cold, and a man slowly dying as a product of his hubris, one we share much too often. As strange as it sounds the story is one of horror, not of a being but of a concept, one we can learn from. “Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that was all,” only two pages in, our protagonist, trekking in the Yukon is presented with an obstacle to which he brushes off, mind you blood freezes at 31࿁ F, yet he presses on. Then another presents itself, clear and life threatening in the environment, his leg falls through the ice, yet once again he brushes it off believing in his experience, his ability to build a fire. So he would successfully, even had time to gather some extra kindling as well, then like a malicious entity yet, the heat from the fire would cause snow from a branch over the fire to fall, smothering it immediately. Once again the man is not phased and quickly cobbles together another fire, but as he goes to light it he would find that his hands had frozen shut. As the situation closes on him he would fiddle with it until he would light all of them, every red nip of the matches blaze alight as he clasps them. In that moment relief set in, even as his hands could not feel, even if he knew his flesh burns, he had survived and he plops it in the kindling. Fire, his saving grace, but in his hurry he would make his final mistake, in clearing some wet plant from the fire he would, with shivering trembling hands knock it too much, and like that his fate was sealed.

There is more to the book relating to his thoughts about murdering his animal companion to warm what little remained, but he as his energy drained, he would fall asleep, but if it hadn’t been made clear the lesson is one of overconfidence. In the face of what seems to a malicious entity, the cold is frighteningly unrelenting, unphased, and grimly omnipresent. From what we know, when the final star dies in the universe, the only one left will be the cold, the absence of. It is one of great interest just as much as the main character as it holds such a hold in horror from the enclosed Overlook Hotel from the shining to the research center in The Thing as it does not discriminate, it will trap both monsters and men, truly harrowing as it is absent from mind. A character with no face, just on par with the protagonist of this horror story, acts in many ways, and like our protagonist demonstrates, should not and will not be ignored. 

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