A Man 's Best Friend

For the animals, living in such extreme environments is not difficult for they are naturally prepared for them. It could be argued that the men in both stories could have survived if they were well equipped, this contrasts the animals which are prepared, with out needing excess equipment to survive. Crane writes the seagulls in to the story making them comfortable in the environment which the men envy and despise. “The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dingey.” The dog in “To Build a Fire” is also contented in the extreme environment that it is in. A similar situation is when the man is beginning to freeze to death while the dog is warm and comfortable. “The warmth and security of the animal angered him. He cursed until it flattened its ears.” At any point the dog could dig a hole to shelter himself from the cold, and his thick fur, and natural instincts protect him. The stories also bring up the difference between the animals and man not only physically, but mentally in the way that the men use judgment and knowledge, but the animals have their instincts. London depicts this in his short story with the comparison between the dog and man. “The animal was worried by the great cold. It knew this was no time for traveling. Its own feeling was closer to the truth than the man’s judgment. The shark in “The Open Boat” does not need to learn to swim or need knowledge to survive.

In the story and film “To Build a Fire” written by Jack London and directed by David Cobham the man and dog have very different thoughts throughout the story but they both need each other to survive. For example in the film when the man tries to kill the dog, the dog thinks the man wants to play. Also the man is very cold and his imagination is getting the best of him and he is feeling that it is colder than it really is, but the dog knows what to do in this weather condition. The film and the story have very different parts on how the man and the dog thought.

The man represents the fraction of society that doesn't respect nature. He doesn't understand the power of nature because he is oblivious to it. On the other hand the dog was "told a truer tale than that was told to the man by the man's judgement." The man "did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold." "The was no keen intimacy between the dog and the man." The man and the dog are together because the man needs the dog, and the dog has no choice. They have no emotional connection between them because the dog is used as a slave. In one part of the story the man uses the dog to test the trail and make sure that it is safe. The dog has more inherent knowledge about the area, all of his "ancestry knew" about the cold and the dangers of extreme cold. He also had a warm "natural covering" to keep him safe from the weather. The man was not used to the cold. He "was without imagination. He was quick and alert to the things of life, but only the things, and not the significances." He also was stubborn for his neglect to take advice.

Human traits and characteristics like imagination, love, anger and revenge are projected by London into Buck’s character, a trait called anthropomorphosis, by using these human feelings and thoughts allowing the reader to better relate to Buck’s understanding and handling of certain situations. “At various points in the narrative, Buck is said to “imagine”, “decide”, “realize”, “know”, “divine”, “wonder”, and so on” (Auerbach 53). Further analysis of London’s narration by Auerbach of Buck is critical, claiming that while London is writing an animal tale, he is doing so more from a human perspective, rather than that of an animal. Unlike other animal tales written during the same time-period, London’s narration helps the story work as an animal story partly due to the way “Buck is put into a situation not in his control, then invested with a human mentality and morality to evaluate the situation, and then represented as reacting to that situation by way of “instinct”,”

In his novel, The Call of the Wild, Jack London wants us to see the step beyond the survival of the fittest to the complete adaptation to and domination of a once unfamiliar and unforgiving environment. Using a third-person, limited omniscient narrator, the cold, icy Yukon wilderness, and a journey from lazy farm life to the deadly work of a sled dog, we see Buck, a Saint Bernard/Scotch Shepherd mix slowly return to his ancestral roots. As Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states in her book The Call of the Wild: A Naturalistic Romance, “The book deals less with the concept of evolution than with that of devolution” (Courbin pg 57). London asks us to believe that happily domesticated farm dog, Buck, can not only survive life as a sled dog in the Yukon, but can become completely in tune with his primitive inner self, and ultimately thrive as a leader of a wolf pack.

Again, Hurston inspires fear in readers surrounding the dog by using the simile, “The dog stood up and growled like a lion.” The reader is already comparing the dog to a wild animal from word choice that Hurston uses earlier, so when Hurston flat out compares the dog to a lion, the fear solidifies in the reader. Now that the readers are really seeing the dog as a wild animal such as a lion, they feel the tone of fear even more due to the fact that large, wild animals such as lions are always taught to be an object of fear. Hurston also intensifies the fear by using the simile, “Tea Cake split the water like an otter.” Readers connect otters to being weak and powerless compared to the other animal used as a simile in the scene, a lion. Hurston comparing Tea Cake to an otter against a lion inspires fear in readers because how could an otter possibly defeat a lion and save his girl? The readers now feel the fear intensified because both Janie and Tea Cake’s lives are at risk up against the enemy that is the

The relationship between man and dog differs greatly between the two stories. A relationship between man and dog is quoted in To Build a Fire, “But the man whistled and spoke to it with the sound of whiplashes, and the dog swung in at the man’s heels and followed after.” In the quote above the man treats the dog as more of an object that should obey rather than a living creature. “He

The man in this story has had a long and difficult journey, filled with emotional and physical pain. The only company he had was a native dog who followed him everywhere he went. The cold air of the Yukon trail presented a major problem for the man as he fought off frost bite. Throughout the story he struggled against nature a lot. With ups and downs along the way, the weather was always against him as he thought of ways to survive. In the end, nature won.

One can express many different types of themes in Jack London’s, “To Build a Fire”. Though I feel strongly that London’s theme in the story is about that the environment shapes who we are because it shows that the man is not strong enough to live up to his environment. Allowing the environment to kill the man indicates that he is weak both mentally and biologically, while on the other hand the dog is stronger by surviving the same harsh environment. Instinct superior to reason is another theme that is highly portrayal able in London’s story. In order for the dog to survive and the man to die, the dog required instinct, of which the man lacked. The man did acquire reason and observance but not good enough to allow him to reach his goal

The common emotion these two dogs caused the narrator was embarrassment. In paragraph one, it talks about a Scotch terrier that had puppies out in the public. This states, “...my moment of keenest embarrassment was the time a Scotch terrier named Jeannie, who had just had six puppies...had the unexpected seventh and last at the corner of Eleventh Street and Fifth Avenue…” This would be quite embarrassing just due to the fact that it took place on a street corner. While the narrator’s dog was having its seventh and final puppy, there were people walking, biking, and driving cars. Lots of people would have seen this which would be a huge embarrassment to practically anybody. Also, in paragraph two it clearly states that the other dog, a large

In this short story, Henry Devereaux was being raised by two parents that always seemed to be unavailable. Both Henry's mother and father were English professors at a local university, but Henry’s father was also a well-known writer. As a child of two parents that seem to never be around Henry was lonely and wanted a companion. Henry wanted a dog, but his mother said a dog is not just given it has to be earned. As time went on Henry’s mother had given him a few things here and there that he needed to fix to better his chances of getting a dog, and because Henry wanted the dog so badly he was willing to fix it. Later on, in the story, Henry’s father went off alone to go and pick up a special dog for Henry.

In 1903, Jack London wrote his best selling novel, concerning the life of a sled dog that travels throughout Alaska, the Yukon, and the Klondike. Throughout this book Jack London uses personification to illustrate the dog’s viewpoint. London describes what adventures the dog encounters after being kidnapped from his Santa Clara Valley home to be taken to Alaska as a sled dog to help men pursue gold in the gold rush of 1897. Buck, is the name of this sled dog who experiences his primitive life style for the first time after many forays through Canada and Alaska. Due to the events in Buck’s life, he transforms from a domesticated, family pet to a primordial, wild beast.

The man knows the temperature is colder than 50 below; he has no experience traveling in such weather yet continues absentmindedly to meet ‘the boys’ at their camp in Henderson Creek. A dog followed at his heels, “It’s instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgement” (Anderson 28). The man was aware of the dangers of his trip, including thin ice skin hidden beneath pockets of sunken snow. Several times he avoids these traps wishing not to be delayed and even compels the dog to lead when he is unsure himself. The dog’s instinct screams no but the man shoves it forward anyway and the dog’s legs are soaked briefly before turning to ice. The dog quickly bites and licks at the ice to remove it from its fur. After a swift lunch and a small fire the dog again reminds the man of the dangers that lie ahead, “…it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold” (Anderson 30). Regretfully, the man saw no signs before falling through a pocket of snow and ice which left his feet wet. “He was angry and cursed his luck aloud. He had hoped to get into camp with the boys at six o’clock, and this would delay him an hour, for he would have to build a fire and dry out his footgear” (Anderson 31). Ignorant to his surroundings, the man’s fire is put out when snow falls from the boughs of the spruce above his fire. He finally acknowledged

First, I am going to analyze the dog’s relationship with the man. the man is on his way to meet the boys with his only companion, a wolf dog which represents the bond we have with nature. The dog relies on the man to provide warmth by fire and the man needs the dog for his instincts. I believe the that since it is a wolf dog it has both traits as a wild wolf and a domesticated dog. It is like a gateway between humanity and nature which allows us to be a part of it. The dog never left the man’s side because he needed him. The man however, the attempted to kill the dog to spare his life. The man also sent the dog across the lake knowing that the dog’s instincts could get him across. The man heavily relied on the dog for his survival and was willing to sacrifice him for the man’s

One of the most prominent facets of the man’s personality is his overwhelming arrogance. The man is a newcomer to the Yukon territory or “chechaquo”, and is inexperienced in the customs of the land. The man believes that he will be unaffected by the harsh conditions and does not seem to grasp the grave reality of the situation. This characteristic is displayed early in the story, when the man rebuffs the old timer’s warning advice and later mocks the old man and his caution of the danger of traveling in the freezing temperatures, especially without a partner. “Those old-timers are rather womanish, some of them, he thought” (1210). Despite the likelihood that the old-timer has spent his lifetime in the area, the man considers his advice to be weak and believes, arrogantly, that he is superior in his masculinity and abilities. Eventually, the man realizes that he should have listened to the words of the old man in Sulphur Creek. Further, the man’s arrogance is displayed again when he ignores the warning signs that the environment is not suitable for such a long solo trek. Despite the incredible cold, the man fails to comprehend just how miniscule he is compared to nature. “…the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all made no impression on the man” (1205). It is this arrogance that limits the man’s ability to grasp how insignificant his life is compared to the great power of