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Quote 1

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.

The story paints a picture for the reader of the Yukon and its vast, snow-covered terrain. It is isolated and shows little human impact except for the “thick dark line” of the trail. One can ascertain see the danger that the man faces in this setting, even if the man is unaware of it himself.

Quote 2

And again, in the air, before they could fall to the snow, the drops of water became ice that broke with a noise. He knew that at 50 below water from the mouth made a noise when it hit the snow. But this had done that in the air. Undoubtably it was colder than 50 below.

At this point in the story, the man is attempting to spit some water out of his mouth. Instead of falling to the ground, it freezes and breaks in a dramatic example of how cold it really is. This imagery not only brings the cold to vivid, terrifying life, it also foreshadows the deadly power of that cold on the human body.

Quote 3

He now received the full force of the cold. The blood of his body drew back from it. The blood was alive, like the dog. Like the dog it wanted to hide and seek cover, away from the fearful cold. As long as he walked four miles an hour, the blood rose to the surface. But now it sank down into the lowest depths of its body. His feet and hands were the first to feel its absence.

After the man’s feet get wet and he has to take off his mittens to build a fire, he finally starts to truly understand what the cold means to a human body. It is far beyond feeling numb or even slight frostbite, as he had imagined. The setting invades the man’s body and demonstrates how it is a dangerous and in many ways unsurmountable antagonist.

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