The Yukon man first considered the possibility of dying when the fire was extinguished by the snow falling from the tree. Ivan Illich had known the death was approaching when none of the medications, or doctor's advice seamed to help his condition in any way. .
The Yukon man was able to build a fire after getting wet, and when he did so, he thought of the old-timer's advise as not important. Jack London conveys the man's thoughts in the following way: "He remembered the advice of the old-timer on Sulfur Creek, and smiled. The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought." Soon however, the Yukon man would find out how very useful would it be to have a companion. When his fire goes out and he is unable to restart it, he quickly realizes that the mistake will cost him more than just a lost toes and fingers. For the first time he considers the possibility of dying. He makes several attempts to warm up himself by running and moving his arms but to no avail. As the last attempt at saving himself he tries to kill the dog and use the warmth of the inside of the animal's body to warm his hands. After embracing the dog he finds out that the numbness rendered his hands useless; not even able to grasp the knife firmly enough to kill the dog. .
" A certain fear of death, dull and oppressive, came to him. This fear quickly became poignant as he realized that it was no longer a mare matter of freezing his fingers or toes, or of loosing his hands and feet, but that it was a matter of life and death with the chances against him.".
In Ivan Illich's case the events that lead to his death developed slower leaving the character to suffer longer and bounce with emotions that left him tired and bitter in the last months of his life.