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The man

The man is the main character and protagonist of the story, yet the narrator retains a judgmental distance from him. The narrator describes the man as “not able to imagine” and makes it clear that the man’s own actions and choices are what lead to his death. The man observes facts and numbers without understanding their consequences. To the man, it is simply “cold and uncomfortable, that was all.” He doesn’t think about how the cold might affect him or kill him. Part of this obliviousness is his lack of experience. The man is a newcomer to the Yukon, and this is his first winter there, so he has limited understanding of the danger it holds. He acts on what he has learned from his own experience, such as avoiding water hidden in the creek or chipping ice off the dog’s paws. However, he ignores the advice of others, like that of the old man on Sulfur Creek who tells him not to travel alone. The man is trapped in his own hubris, or overconfidence, and it leads to doom. He thinks he can use the knowledge and experience he does possess to make fire and withstand the cold. However, he doesn’t think beyond his immediate needs and succumbs to the extreme cold as a result.

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