Instinct In Jack London's To Build A Fire

Imagine this, breathtaking cold, loneliness and uncertainty all wrapped into one. If given tips to survive, would you follow them or steer clear of that path? In Jack London’s short story titled “To Build A Fire,” a man is stuck in the great unknown. Not suitable for humans and in no way enjoyable. In Laurence Gonzales's short story titled,“Deep Survival”, there are twelve steps to any man's survival. If the man from “To Build a Fire” would have followed these steps, would his predicament have turned out differently?

In Jack London's “To Build A Fire” the story follows a man and his dog in the Klondike and their obstacles of trying to get to the boys which are his compatriots. The story revolves around the winter and how mankind reacts to the wild. The author uses nature to illustrate the poem’s tone by vilifying nature and using it as an obstacle.

he greatest plea for reason is its fairmindedness (Obejective views) but at the same time shows its lapse in weakness. With morals we associate the importance and consequences of our decisions along with morals so it is for this reason that ethics can not be purely objective. Without, the belief in an absolute moral code ethics regarding reason has to always associate with context therefore certain uses of reasoning can be better than others when talking about context. Through our previous example we use emotion to judge the severity of the crisis. In the U.S protestors of all sorts took the internet and the streets to protest the idleness of America. These protestors showed a ‘motivation’ for what they believed is right in a democracy where

Nature is always pushing man to his limits. When man heeds the warning signs that nature has to offer and those warnings of other men, he is most likely to conquer nature. When he ignores these warnings, nature is sure to defeat man. To build a fire is a prime example of this scenario. In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, an inexperienced traveler in the Yukon travels alone with his dog, even though it is ill advised to do so. The man is strong and smart but nature humbled him during his quest to reach his friends. The man’s inexperience with traveling in the cold subzero temperatures doomed him from the beginning, but his strong focus under extreme pressure and his keen sense of

Throughout history, man has survived by using his knowledge and instinct in the wild. In To Build a Fire by Jack London, the man only uses his knowledge to survive his trip to the Yukon, and the result of this is fatal. He did not know how to prepare for his journey because his knowledge of the frigid temperatures and conditions in the Yukon were not very sharp. On the other hand, his dog companion uses his instinct to survive and makes his way quite simply. He could sense that when his feet were wet that he had to get the water off as soon as possible, as well as sense the danger from the man when he tried to kill him.

Naturalism was a literary movement or tendency from the 1880s to 1930s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. Basically characters can be studied through their relationship with their environment. A lot of jack London’s work was based on naturalism, and “To build a fire” was no different. The story starts off with an unnamed man in Yukon (where he is foreign) where it is more than 50 degrees below zero. "The man's red beard and moustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled. Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice held his lips so rigidly

The power of nature is not something humans can overcome. Nature shows its power through harsh weather, and we must be smart about it. The message Jack London creates in this piece of writing is that pride cannot overcome nature; nature will have its way. The man shows too much pride to listen to others about the dangerous temperatures but only listens to himself as it costs him his life. In “To Build a Fire” Jack London shows us how dangerous it is to assume victory in the the battle of man v. nature.

To Build a Fire Jack London expresses the unforgiving conditions of nature by writing of a man who is roaming through the Yukon, with no company but a dog, and how in the end his stubbornness and Mother Nature’s brute weather conditions and nature’s inability to care for the man ultimately lead to his demise.

We, as humans, should follow our instincts. Humans are capable of many things, but just live anything else we come with advantages and disadvantages. As humans, were born to grow and learn. Humans have other humans to help them to learn. As for animals, they are born with what they know. What animals do that most humans do not do is follow their instincts. For example, wolves are keen experts at hunting and staying alive during winter. Birds use their instincts to tell when it is time for migration. Also, elephants use their ears to fan their selves to keep cool in high temperatures. Survival shows us good examples of humans choosing pride over instincts. For example, people pay large amount of money for small amounts of food. Another is that some humans will not ask for help even though they know that they need it. Now, these animals were not told to do those things to survive; it was their instincts. In some cases, humans do not make it through their situations because of letting their pride get in the way of their success. The difference between surviving and not surviving is whether or not we use our human instinct.

The biological approach focuses on the physiological causes of behaviour based on genetics, brain physiology and biochemistry. This approach also adopts the view that biology is adapted based on the environment an organism is in and therefore most behaviours serve an evolutionary purpose. Research is gained through a nomothetic approach that uses scientific methods. The psychoanalytical approach focuses on instincts, childhood experiences and the unconscious mind as motivators for behaviour. An idiographic approach is adopted from the case studies Freud used to develop his theory, however, Freud also attempted to apply general laws of behaviour using a nomothetic approach. There are several similarities within the two approaches: they both draw on nature and nature, are deterministic, materialistic and internal approaches. Additionally, both have practical applications in modern life. However, some differences between the two are that the biological approach accounts for external forces as well as internal whilst psychodynamic does not. The psychodynamic approach places greater emphasis on unobservable forces unlike the biological approach that primarily looks at observable structures – although often in animals rather than humans.

Jack London's To Build a fire begins with a hiker in the Yukon, setting out to test his abilities with his large loyal dog at his side. At the start of the story there is a hint that things will not go as planned because it mentions how clear the day was, and the lack of sun and lack of worry on the man's part seems to be a foreshadowing of events to come, the man was experienced and should have known better to take nature for granted like he was doing. The hiker also had been warned by an old native man that hiking in negative 50 degree weather could have dangerous consequences and yet the man chose to ignore the old man's warning. In the whole story the man brushes off the cold temperatures even when he begins to feel symptoms of frostbite, like his face becoming numb, his fingers and toes start to freeze and he even doesn't have anything to protect his face from the harshness of the arctic temperatures.

This alone doesn’t have much to do with naturalism; however, man versus nature is a very common conflict in naturalistic novellas, “The conflict in naturalistic novels is often "man against nature"…within” (Campbell). In this specific novella “intellect versus instinct” translates into “man versus nature” because the man possesses intellect while the dog possesses instinct. The man is not the most intellectual; however, he does complete a few intellectual acts, including: identifying his location using a map, using matches to build a fire, and reading the temperature using his saliva. On the other hand, the dog uses its instinct to survive through the adventure. It knew that it was too dangerous to travel in this weather when its owner called it after the initial fire.

It is agreeable that some solid, well-considered ethical philosophies person only change their mind by convinced reasons or proofs, meanwhile others make decisions based on feelings. It depends on application of different circumstances, beliefs, which will drive people’s certain actions, and behavioural ethics, which help answering how and why they have those ethical or unethical decisions. Some people followed reasonability set by their close ones or society, even though they have own well-intentioned standards, called conformity bias. Particularly, they are tendencies of having similar behaviours or actions with the group under influence of group norm despite the contrary to their own judgment (Asch 1956). Another possibilities could be influence

There are limits of rationality. “Rationality” goes hand and hand with “reason”. James Rachels, The Limits of Rationality, suggests that rationality is based off your full understanding of a subject. If you don’t fully understand the subject, how are you able to make a rational decision. In the reading, Rachels talks about how we are quick to judge based on the surface. Once you dig deeper, you fully think it over, you are more likely to have a greater view or understanding. The limits of rationality, are us as human beings, we are always able to question others, as if, our opinions or beliefs are greater. Then we hear them out and begin to process their beliefs and come to an understanding. We may not always agree with their views but that’s

Fire burns red hot, it’s a source of warmth and in some cases comfort. In the story To Build a Fire by Jack London, fire brings new feelings to a numb man every time he makes one. The man starts out calm and uncaring to his surroundings and the cold, but be the time of the last fire he built, he was panicking and distraught. As the fire thawed out the man’s fingers and toes it also thawed out his heart and made the man feel more than he ever wanted to. At the beginning of the man’s journey before he made a fire, he was undeterred by the cold, “But all this-the mysterious, far-reaching hairline trail, the absence of sub from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all-made no impression on the man” (London 302).