© 2014 Shmoop University, Inc. All rights reserved.   Right
there in the third paragraph of "To Build a Fire," the narrator
tells us all about the "trouble" with the man, which is that he
is "without imagination" (3). Now out in the cold Yukon, you
probably don't think that having an imagination is going to help
you much. But the timing of the narrator's comment suggests that
this lack of imagination is a significant shortcoming that will
lead the man to make foolish decisions. As readers, we must
wonder what good it would do the man to think deeply about the
vast wilderness around him. After all, the guy's not a writer.
He just wants to go get some bacon! So why suggest he's foolish
for not having imagination? This is a question we leave to you,
dear readers.  Questions About Foolishness and Folly    1. How
exactly do the story's events support the claim that the man's
"trouble" is that he is "without imagination"?   2. Can you
think of how having an imagination might have saved the man?
What do you think Lo