The short story "To Build a Fire" written by Jack London tells the story of a man's journey to find his fellow hikers' campsite in dangerously cold temperatures. Man's journey ends when Mother Nature gets the better of him and he freezes to death. While it may seem that the main conflict, man versus nature, is what killed man, it is man's internal conflict, his pride and masculinity versus his humility that actually kills him. Nature, in reality, has just finished its blow while it is man's own internal conflict that weakens him to the point of death. Without an understanding of the conflict, the true reason why the man died would escape the reader. Conflict specifically is defined as the tension between two opposing forces that exist in a story. The conflict can be external or internal. Externally, these conflicts can be seen as fights between characters or can even be shown as a character against a society or even nature. Internally, the conflict is usually described as a battle within a character and is fundamentally a mental conflict. These conflicts help create the plot of the story by forcing some characters to act and also forcing other characters to counteract. All these actions end up creating the plot of the story. The most important aspect of conflict is resolution. Without the resolution, you most likely cannot deduce the theme of the story. Resolution plays an important role in suggesting the theme of the story. Furthermore, an important question to ask when dealing with conflicts is not what type of conflict is it but, instead, what is it? The answer to this question can lead to a better understanding of the characters, but also the plot and theme of the story. All in all, the conf... half of the paper... really was. Without this understanding, the man simply made bad decisions and froze to death. His pride and masculinity would not have played a role without that understanding of internal conflict. In conclusion, much of this story is hidden between the lines. Most readers will see the main external conflict of nature 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 death and nature simply dealt the final blow. The man had a serious struggle with his pride, masculinity and humility. The reader should realize this because instead of the man making bad decisions, they realize that the man made stupid decisions because he didn't want to give up his pride and masculinity. Ultimately, this cost him his life.