The short story “To Build a Fire” written by Jack London tells the story of one man's journey to find his fellow hikers' campsite in dangerously cold temperatures. The man's journey ends when Mother Nature gets the better of him and he perishes in the cold. Although it may seem that the main conflict, man versus nature, is what killed man, man's internal conflict, his pride and masculinity versus his humility is what is actually killing him . Nature, in reality, has just completed the blow while man's internal conflict is what really weakened him to the point of death. Without an understanding of the conflict, the real reason why the man died would elude the reader. Conflict is specifically defined as the tension between two opposing forces that exist in a story. The conflict can be external or internal. Outwardly, these conflicts can be seen as struggles between characters or can even be presented as a character versus a society or even against nature. Internally, conflict is usually described as a battle within a character and is fundamentally a mental conflict. These conflicts help create the intrigue of the story by forcing some characters to act while forcing other characters to counteract. All these actions ultimately create the plot of the story. The most important aspect of conflict is its resolution. Without the resolution, the theme of the story probably cannot be inferred. The resolution plays an important role in hinting at the theme of the story. Another important question to ask when dealing with conflict is not what type of conflict it is, but rather what is the conflict about? The answer to this question can lead to a better understanding of the characters as well as the plot and theme of the story. Overall, the conf...... middle of paper... really was. Without this understanding, man simply made bad decisions and froze to death. His pride and masculinity would have played no role without this understanding of internal conflicts. In conclusion, a lot of this story is hidden between the lines. Most readers will see that nature's main external conflict is killing man, but there is much more. It is important for readers to understand the literary element of the conflict because in this story, the internal conflict weakened man to the point of killing him and nature simply dealt the final blow. The man had serious difficulties managing his pride, his masculinity and his humility. The reader should realize this because instead of the man making bad decisions, you realize that the man made stupid decisions because he didn't want to give up his pride and masculinity. In the end, it cost him his life.