What Happened To The Wolf Trail

All around us, nature envelops our world and gives society a constant thrill for adventure. The Alaskan wilderness has been described in John Muir’s journal as “a place that you should never go to as a young man because you’ll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live”. Many people, such as a Chris McCandless take this as a test of their bravery and curiosity and venture out into the foreign lands only to die by their foolish decisions. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild portrays Chris McCandless as being unprepared, stubborn, and carefree that eventually lead to his death.

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.

The illusion of free will is prevalent in this story because the man feels he can force his hand with nature, while the dog warns the man of the possible dangers ahead. Moreover, the dog in “To Build a Fire” is more in touch with reality than the man, as it signals to the man to stop and set up camp, “The dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire…...it was time to lie snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across…... so the dog made no effort its apprehension to the man” (1051-1052). However, the man full of ego decides to push ahead and ultimately fails. Furthermore, as the man nears his end, he tries to use the dog to survive by killing it and using its body heat for his survival, “the sight of the dog put a wild idea into his head……He would kill the dog and bury his hands in the warm body until the numbness went out of them…...his voice was a strange note of fear that frightened the animal” (1055). However, the dog sees through his trick and stays away from the man. Moreover, the man thinks he is brave for making the trek but it changes when the young man’s fire is put out by snow falling from a tree, “It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake…...It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out!” (1053). Thus, due to the freezing cold weather, the man succumbs

The Yukon is a treacherous place. It was for the man in this story to. He did not know the land. All he had to follow was a little trail made from sled dogs. If

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.

As the man travels on through the freezing temperatures he is remind of advice from and old wise man, he had been warned of traveling alone and the dangers that could come with someone making such decisions. The traveler was hopeful of making it back to camp by six o’clock, and an hour into his travels he is ready to stop and eat his lunch with pride in his traveling progress. However, an hour into his travels the arrogant man was more concerned with chewing his tobacco, than thinking of potential dangers despite his warnings, so he stopped for lunch, never sharing with his only traveling companion, his loyal dog.

We had started hiking at seven O’clock in the morning and got to the top at eleven O’clock. Most people hadn’t thought to hike in the morning when it’s cooler. We could tell, or hope, that the heat had gotten to them because some of them were really grumpy. On our way down we ran into the angry Canadian in the shale section. We named her this because she was wearing a Canada. We stopped and talked to them and learned that they had taken a different trail up than we had that had taken much longer. She was not happy it had taken so long. We saw at least twenty more people on the way down but none of them were quite as entertaining as the angry Canadian.

Before he can realize his mistake, “The snow fell without waring upon the man and the fire, and the fire was dead.” Not only has this man’s mistake cost him the fire, it doused him in freezing snow and now he lacks a means to warm his wet clothes and body. The man fails to create an effective third fire, thus depriving him and the dog of warmth. This makes lose control and he “turned and he ran along the creek bed on the old trail.” This event shows how far the man himself has fallen from confident hiker to a hysterical madman. Despite he renewed interest in living, he runs out of energy and falls to the ground, dying moments later.

From living in a California estate to being sold as a sled dog in the Arctic, he realized that the wilderness is a cruel, uncaring world where only the strong live and thrive. Buck endured the hard conditions and the freezing cold of the wilderness and the harsh treatment of his owners who disciplined the dogs with whips and clubs. The complete loss of his civilization was evident in his ability to flee from any moral consideration to save his life from hunger by stealing his master’s food. His determination not to give up was again demonstrated when another team of human masters forced him to continue their journey. Buck refused to move even under the rain of heavy blows, he had made up his mind not to give up. His instinct told him that there was danger ahead of them, and he was right.

The man was given advice from an “old-timer” that it is unwise to travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below zero but the man smiled and ignored the warning determined to make his journey (London 382). Because of his ignorance the un-named protagonist arrogantly thought of the “old-timer” as acting womanish, strongly believing that any man who was a man could travel alone (London 382). The man would rather listen to himself than the wise words of someone who is more experienced in this type of terrain. Because the man had no previous personal experience traveling in the Yukon in such cold, he was unable to determine the severity of the journey he was about to take. He did not understand how hostile nature can be and his disdainful attitude toward it’s forces exemplifies that. At the beginning of the story, cold made no impression on the man. “He perceived it as something weak that it was easy to overcome. Fifty degrees below zero stood for a bite of frost that hurt and that must be guarded against by the use of mittens, ear flaps, warm moccasins, and thick socks. Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero” (London 377). As the story progressed, the cold started to wear at the man, inching it’s

London introduces the only other companion for the man on the trip, the dog—a native husky with a heavy coat of fur, which has adapted to survive the dangers of the cold wilderness. Unlike the man, the dog does not have a “sharp consciousness of a condition of very cold such as was in the man’s brain,” but instead the “brute had its instinct” (London 630). London contrasts the man’s intelligence with dog’s instinct, which doesn’t use human measurements to show temperature. The man pities the dog who was depressed by the cold and knew nothing of thermometers. But, for the man temperature is just meaningless way of communicating coldness passed through his generations, since it does not affect the man’s judgment. The dog’s instinct, inherited knowledge from generations prior, is able to make the practical judgment that it should not continue in the harsh weather.

Soothed into a false sense of security, his awareness of his surroundings begin to fade and he unknowingly steps into a hidden spring, which wets him almost entirely. He now feels better because he has encountered an accident and he is alone and has managed to save himself from possible fatality. He attempts to rebuild the fire, aware that he will lose at least on of his limbs to frostbite. He is confident that this fire will succeed, which is also the only thing driving him to stay alive. He panics and drops his matches. Picking the matches up would've been a simple task if his fingers weren't useless due to frostbite. He successfully picks them up by using his teeth and he rips one match out of the pack. Because he is unable operate his hands,

When faced with extreme cold, the dog experiences "a vague but menacing apprehension that subdue(s) it". It wants nothing more than to "burrow under the snow and cuddle its warmth away from the air". When it falls through the ice on the river trail, the dog automatically knows what it must do, and cleans the ice from his feet and legs. It is equipped by nature with a thick coat to protect it, and it can sense what it must do to survive. The man, on the other hand, must struggle against nature in order to make it. He has to make choices, the most critical of which is his decision to set out into the Klondike despite warnings of danger. The man must rely on his own initiative and employ the trappings of civilization, and he is hindered both by

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

[1] As depicted in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” the Yukon proves to be a truly formidable wasteland. The barren environment is comprised solely of “unbroken white” (London 65), the sun refuses to shine, and, most saliently, the temperature measures 107 degrees below freezing. These factors render the Yukon a harsh place through which to travel, especially as a lone voyager like ‘the man,’ the story’s central character. Survival, however, is possible, and the man’s success in this wilderness hinges critically upon his ability to know more than just the facts of the Yukon. The man must imagine the consequences of his actions.