In "How to Build a Fire" Jack London characterizes a man and his dog traveling a Yukon trail. The man sets off with his dog despite grave warnings from a village elder that traveling at -50 is extremely dangerous. The dog is the stronger and the instinctively smarter character in the story. The dog may not understand the reasoning behind its frailty, but it listens to its instinct non the less. The man with all his worldly knowledge really believes he is above nature, while the dog follows his instincts and out lives the man in the end.
The story begins with the man and the dog traveling in to the Yukon at dangerously low levels of temperature. The man knows that it is tremendously cold, but "it made no impression on the man." (London 223) The dog "knew that is was no time for traveling. It's instinct told it a truer tale than is told to the man by the man's judgment." (London 224) This line is a powerful foreshadowing of the terrible events to come. The dog listens to its instinct and feels or sub-consciously knows the danger it faces, while the man believes he is above the danger. "The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in the brain there was no sharp consciousness of a condition of very cold such as was in the man's brain. But the brute had its instinct." (London 224).
The man realizes that there is a possibility that he may fall through the ice; as such he puts the dog in front. After walking for a while the dog falls through the ice a few inches and gets its paws wet. The dog quickly begins to bite the ice from its feet without a real understanding of exactly what it was doing. "This was a matter of instinct. To permit the ice to remain would mean sore feet. It did not know this. It merely obeyed the mysterious prompting that arose from the deep crypts of its being." (London 227) The man knows the science of water freezing and the pain of frozen flesh; the dog only has its instincts that tell him to remove the ice right away.
Instead, we welcome the appreciation humbly and our instinct is calm at such moments. ... That's what the instincts are all about, nature. Instincts never depart from us. ... Hence, instincts never depart. It's just that sometimes we choose reasons over instincts. ...
Man by his basic nature loves himself. ... Self-preservation is a basic instinct and, I believe basic instincts lead to a basic nature. ... After basic survival was mastered, then man was drawn to pleasure which is another basic instinct. ... The nature of man prevents this from happening. ... Oppression is not a basic nature. ...
Human nature is unavoidable and often the source of evil. ... There were no parents there to enforce those morals, so the kids were left with nothing but there own instincts to live by. Because of those instincts, evil arose. ... The only thing to fear was man's own evil nature. ... When we are forced to rely on our instincts, the good is forgotten and the evil is revealed. ...
Others argue it is a mixture of both nature and nurture that decides human similarities and differences. ... Scientists believe that higher order animals have fewer instincts and because of this, our behaviors are determined not by instinct but by the environment (Davis, 2001). ... It is my belief that both nature and nurture together help shape human behavior. I believe that nature and nurture combined help us determine our path in life. Nature is simply what we are born with and can't control. ...
Perhaps it is in Frankenstein's nature to refuse the hideous Monster. ... The Creation constantly had to learn for itself and learnt a lot while Frankenstein was ill this makes the Creation's advances seem even bigger and shows the Creature's natural instinct to learn giving a case that nature is stronger than nurture. ... This is a natural instinct in the Creation to help and to pay back people in thanks, yet another time of nature poking through. ... He becomes wicked and the animal instinct for revenge shows. ... I believe that the creature was a victim of nature not nurtur...
According to Plato, by nature, human is a political animal. ... The need to exist within a functioning social system is a survival instinct. This instinct creates the immutable chain that binds any human being to a certain social organization. ... Among are the need to freedom, the instincts of survival and the urge to belong in social systems in order to gain different forms of security. ... As Plato stated, human nature will always be political due to the fact that nature has programmed us to be that way. ...
Through this, Golding implies that without rules or law, humanity will always revert to an inherently evil nature. He also clearly implies that people will lose most if not all of the common sense and logic that they possess, and uncover a brutal savage nature that relies solely on instincts to succeed. ... (Pg. 31) This is where we first begin to see how the need for survival and the instincts of the boys comes into play in relation to their actions. ... Jack is, in a way, the epitome of William Goldings's theme of human nature. ... Although Ralph is clearly susceptible to the impulses...
Human nature. ... The boys were put into a situation where they had to use their human instincts and human nature to survive. ... The human nature of a Pygmy is different then the nature of the boys on the island yet in a way very similar. ... You might say survival of the fittest is the human nature of all of us, or even that its in our nature to kill ourselves. I think there are different sections of human nature. ...
