【正确答案】正确答案：Though the definition of "the frontier" has developed over time to include not only the "vast and howling wilderness" of the Puritans, but also the far reaches of cyber space, the essential notion of unexplored territory—of fresh starts and wide open spaces—has always occupied a central place in the American cultural and literary imagination. James Cooper depicted the world of the American frontier in his Leatherstocking Tales, in which he creates Natty Bumppo as a western hero who lives in a mysterious wild country and has a legendary career. Natty Bumppo is a typical frontier man. He is honest, simple, innocent and generous. His chief strength is adaptability. He adapts to the difficulties of the frontier and bridges the divide between white and Indian cultures. However, Cooper romanticized the frontier as a place of wild adventure where Americans lived beyond the reach of corrupt, restrictive society and tested themselves against nature. He intends to idealize, to mythologize, and to elevate the frontier in his romance. If Cooper had only depicted the routine and daily actions of the settlers and pioneers in their battle against the Indians and nature, he would not have won such fame abroad. Cooper interpreted the American experience and raised it to the level of an epic. He thereby created a frontier myth, using only the raw material of actual happenings as the foundation for his philosophical quest for the meaning of the frontier. Therefore, the rather prosaic and normal lives of men and women on the frontier are transformed into the idea that two worlds are in sharp collision. Two very different traditions are locked in conflict over the possession of the land, one primitive and the other civilized. Frontier could be a myth about the conquest to the wilderness; it could also be the tale of survival, persistence or even cruel destiny in the fighting with the wilderness. Jack London"s famous short story To Build a Fire centers on the wilderness in a more realistic way. This tale is about an unnamed man"s disastrous trek across the Yukon Territory near Alaska. London uses repetition and precise description to emphasize the brutal coldness and unforgiving landscape of the Northland, against which the inexperienced protagonist, accompanied only by a dog, struggles unsuccessfully to save himself from freezing to death after a series of mishaps. Involving such themes as fear, death, and the individual versus nature, To Build a Fire is a typically naturalistic work of fiction in which London depicts human beings as subject to the laws of nature and controlled by their environment and their physical makeup. Cooper is a romanticist at the beginning of the 19th century, while Jack London belongs to the realistic era toward the end of the same century. Approaching the same topic of frontier and wilderness, these two writers portray according to their respective philosophies of art and life, and show us completely different works.