Character Analysis: To Build A Fire By Jack London
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Survival is a funny thing when it comes to humans, because many people think that when it comes down to that last minute their instincts will tell them what to do. What many people do not know is that humans are not any common animal we do not have instincts, we are taught everything. Humans do not know by instinct that certain spiders, berries, bushes, and snakes are poisonous, no we learned this by trial and error. Then we taught our young or shared the information around. In the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London the man showed not only ignorance, but that humans do not have natural instincts. The man showed us this by leaving when it was fifty below, leaving by himself, putting a fire in a bad spot, and not using his resources properly.
When this man left his camp he left even when he knew that it was below fifty. This man was taught a trick that if he spat and if the spittle made a crackle noise upon hitting the ground that it was at least fifty below. But when the man spat his spittle cracked before it even came close to the ground. This should have been his first sign to stay home. But he did not head natures warnings and instead he left, not only did he leave the little community that was there he left it by himself, he did…show more content… This way if anything happened in the extreme weather that they could help each other out. The man decided somewhere in his mind that the old man did not know what he was talking about even though he had been through this a couple of times in his long lived life. Also not only did the man not listen to his elder, he took it a step further and the only thing he took with him was a biscuit and a husky. This was a bad idea because if he would have taken or even barrowed a sled and dogs, he could have packed an emergency kit, some blankets, a thermos, first aid. Then the man made a fire under the