Literary Analysis Instinct vs Intellect
LITERARY ANALYSIS: “To Build A Fire”
Instincts vs Intellectualism
Vedika Gupta
How many times have you seen birds flying south for the winter? They have not read somewhere or haven't used a computer to know that they must fly to survive. It is their basic and primitive instinct. In Jack London's "To Build a Fire", we see how that man's intelligence is sometimes foolish. The man, who is walking in seventyfive degrees below zero weather, lets his learned behavior override his instinct, thus leading to his death. London's theme is, that no matter how intelligent society becomes, we as a species should never discard our basic instincts. My essay too, talks about this clash between instinct and intellectualism. As the story opens, the man clearly understands that the “day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray,” and still he insists on continuing his journey.The fact that the temperature is below freezing did not seem to bother him. He is ignorant of the cold.As he stands surveying the snow covered Yukon trail, “the mysterious, farreaching hairline trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all—made no impression on him”.The man spit on the ground to test how cold it was. His test taught him that it was colder than he had first thought, but he took it too light to react on. "That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head". Too many times, the modern man plods along oblivious to the reality that lies one moment or misstep away. Also,
“The man was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not their significance.Anything beyond that range requires not only intellectual reasoning ability but also instinct. The man sees that he is feeling the effects of the cold more and more as he goes along, but more than ever he pushes on. Several times he comments that the cold is making
Instincts vs Intellectualism
Vedika Gupta
How many times have you seen birds flying south for the winter? They have not read somewhere or haven't used a computer to know that they must fly to survive. It is their basic and primitive instinct. In Jack London's "To Build a Fire", we see how that man's intelligence is sometimes foolish. The man, who is walking in seventyfive degrees below zero weather, lets his learned behavior override his instinct, thus leading to his death. London's theme is, that no matter how intelligent society becomes, we as a species should never discard our basic instincts. My essay too, talks about this clash between instinct and intellectualism. As the story opens, the man clearly understands that the “day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray,” and still he insists on continuing his journey.The fact that the temperature is below freezing did not seem to bother him. He is ignorant of the cold.As he stands surveying the snow covered Yukon trail, “the mysterious, farreaching hairline trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all—made no impression on him”.The man spit on the ground to test how cold it was. His test taught him that it was colder than he had first thought, but he took it too light to react on. "That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head". Too many times, the modern man plods along oblivious to the reality that lies one moment or misstep away. Also,
“The man was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not their significance.Anything beyond that range requires not only intellectual reasoning ability but also instinct. The man sees that he is feeling the effects of the cold more and more as he goes along, but more than ever he pushes on. Several times he comments that the cold is making