# The Cremation of Sam McGee explained — Songs of a Sourdough > Chapter companion for Songs of a Sourdough by Robert W. Service. ## What happens The narrator recounts his harrowing journey to fulfill a dying promise to his friend Sam McGee, who begged to be cremated rather than buried in the frozen Yukon. After Sam dies from the cold, the narrator transports his corpse across the treacherous Dawson trail, eventually burning it in the furnace of a derelict steamer on Lake Lebarge. When he opens the furnace door, he finds Sam alive, warm, and smiling, asking him to close the door to keep out the cold. ## Themes in this chapter ### Hardship and Survival The narrator endures extreme cold, starvation, and psychological torment to fulfill his promise, while Sam's miraculous survival in the furnace defies death. ### Loneliness and Despair The narrator's journey with Sam's corpse is marked by isolation, horror, and a sense of being haunted by his promise, reflecting the profound loneliness of the Yukon. ### The Call of the Wild Sam's inexplicable pull to the gold fields despite his hatred of the cold echoes the irresistible lure of the wild and the promise of fortune. ## Character check-ins ### Sam McGee Sam is the narrator's friend who dies from the extreme cold and is later cremated, only to be found alive and warm inside the furnace. ### Cap Cap is the narrator who promises to cremate Sam's remains and carries out the grim task, eventually discovering Sam alive in the furnace. ## Key lines > There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; Under the midnight sun, gold miners do bizarre things. _Opening lines set the tone of eerie, supernatural events in the Arctic._ > It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone. Yet ’taint being dead, it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; The cold has seeped into my bones; I'm not afraid of dying, but I dread being buried in the frozen ground. _Sam explains his fear of a frozen burial, motivating his request for cremation._ > And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door. It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm— Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.” Sam sat calmly inside the roaring furnace, smiling, and asked me to shut the door because he was finally warm for the first time since leaving Tennessee. _The climax reveals Sam's miraculous survival and his contentment in the heat, a darkly humorous twist._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_a_sourdough_se/chapters/the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_a_sourdough_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_a_sourdough_se/chapters