Where the Trail Forks is a late 19th century work of literature and is fiction. London's main purpose in this text is to entertain his readers by revealing to them an exciting fictitious event. London ties his story in with naturalism by describing natures terrain and landscape in many instances. Throughout the story there are many encounters with nature itself as well as wild animals such as dogs. Jack londons diction in this piece can be related to the diction reflecting the time period this work of literature was written. The way the sentences are constructed also reflect back on his time period using terminology that is less common in todays society.  The tone of the story starts off London sets the stage for the setting by starting the story in a forest full of snow covered pine trees with a handful of men waiting by a campfire protecting their food from a pack of hungry, wild dogs.