Analysis Of The Dog's Instinct In 'To Build A Fire'

"To Build a Fire" follows an overly self-confident man and an instinctual dog who are traveling through the woods on a dangerously cold day. The reader learns of many instances where the man ignores the cold and continues traveling, blinded by his arrogance. There are many examples of the dog showing the reader the necessity of his instincts when faced with problems in the cold. The man is traveling without another person despite the others' advice, while the dog knows he should travel with the man for fire and food. This is only one example of the contrast between these two characters. Throughout this story, the dog shows how instinct is the driving force of survival, whereas the man shows how self-confidence hinders survival.
Though confidence can be helpful when venturing out alone in nature, the man is confident to a fault, and from

After the man had built one successful fire that was put out by snow falling from a spruce tree above them, he attempted and failed to build another (1819). He decided he would kill the dog to warm his hands by keeping them hidden from the cold in its carcass, and so he tried to lure it close to him by speaking softly to it (1820). The dog however noticed that this was suspicious, since the man only talked to the dog in a harsh way, and so he knew not to approach the man (1820). At this point, the man's confidence is not as prominent as it was when they began the trip. After his multiple failures of not paying attention to the climate around him and failing to build a fire to save himself, he is acting out of panic. When the man tries to call the dog to him in a softer tone, the dog takes this as a warning sign, since it is different from how the man had always acted before. The dog knows what to do in these situations, while the man is blinded by his confidence until it is too