Reasoning Vs. Instinct In Jack London's To Build A Fire
Intellectual Reasoning vs. Instinct
It has been said from Plato onward that man's reasoning is his highest faculty and makes him superior to animals. In the short story "To Build a Fire," by Jack London, man’s intellectual reasoning ability is regarded as “second class” to that of the survival mechanism that is embedded within humans and animals alike. This survival mechanism is sometimes referred to as instinct. If solely depended on, man’s intellectual reasoning may be clouded, imprudent and even detrimental, leading him to the wrong decision. Instinct, on the other hand, is a natural reaction pre-programmed into man for survival and cannot be altered by reasoning, making it superior to reason.
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 (650). 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, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of …show more content…
He knows if he walks on ice that is not frozen to the bottom he will crack the ice cap and break through it. Breaking through the ice will cause him to get wet. Under such an extreme, bitter cold temperature, being wet can be fatal. The man tries to compel the dog to go ahead. However, it hesitates. It will not go and stays back until “the man shoved it forward, and then it went quickly across” (653). The dog brakes through the ice and scampers back on land. Quickly, it begins to “lick off its legs, then dropped down in the snow and began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes” (653). This is not a matter of intellectual reasoning but rather
It has been said from Plato onward that man's reasoning is his highest faculty and makes him superior to animals. In the short story "To Build a Fire," by Jack London, man’s intellectual reasoning ability is regarded as “second class” to that of the survival mechanism that is embedded within humans and animals alike. This survival mechanism is sometimes referred to as instinct. If solely depended on, man’s intellectual reasoning may be clouded, imprudent and even detrimental, leading him to the wrong decision. Instinct, on the other hand, is a natural reaction pre-programmed into man for survival and cannot be altered by reasoning, making it superior to reason.
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 (650). 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, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of …show more content…
He knows if he walks on ice that is not frozen to the bottom he will crack the ice cap and break through it. Breaking through the ice will cause him to get wet. Under such an extreme, bitter cold temperature, being wet can be fatal. The man tries to compel the dog to go ahead. However, it hesitates. It will not go and stays back until “the man shoved it forward, and then it went quickly across” (653). The dog brakes through the ice and scampers back on land. Quickly, it begins to “lick off its legs, then dropped down in the snow and began to bite out the ice that had formed between the toes” (653). This is not a matter of intellectual reasoning but rather