Naturalism In Jack London's To Build A Fire

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Jack London’s message in the writing “To Build a Fire” is to never underestimate the power of nature and following Experience would actually show someone that instincts should be trusted over ego and pride. London is known for being a Naturalist, naturalists are people that practice nature in literature or writings, naturalists believed that one’s surviving methods highly involve using one 's instinct. London’s “cautionary realist/ naturalist” text in the story “to build a fire” advices methods on the survivals of nature 's forces, this is a highly appropriate advice considering our struggle against disastrous natural phenomena such as global warming, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other geologic processes.
London’s …show more content…

An example of symbolism that reveals the importance of instinct in survival is “the dog howled loudly. And still later it moved close to the man and caught the smell of death. This made the animal to back away. A little longer it delayed, howling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky. Then it turned and ran along the trail toward the camp it knew, where there were the other food providers and fire providers” (79).This indicates that the dog used his instinct to survive well as the man used his experiences. The man has never experienced these types of weather before how is it possible to use experience when there is none. The man’s survival was his instinct same as the Dog. That’s why the dog survived. The instinct of the dog was to find a place where there is fire and there was until the man died. Then he started a journey to find a new place with …show more content…

There is a huge difference between instinct and intellect. London’s reflection upon the current state of our world/society/culture and how we can face situations such as global warming, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other geologic processes as a species is the use of instinct and less use of ego and pride. The man’s use of intellect than instinct was one of the biggest mistakes. Intellect is inferior to instinct when there is survival tied to it. The idea that London’s “cautionary /naturalistic” proposal is appropriate for the survival of the human race now even though the story was written 100 years ago. We the people are acting as the man, we are ignorant of the changes in our surroundings, we are defying nature, and we are against nature by polluting nature. We are surely acting same as the nameless man. This advice, is appropriate in so many ways even animals used their instinct to survive though evolution. As if the conflict Man Vs Nature explains man can’t win a fight against nature. London, believes as a naturalist that humans should use their instinct, their wisdom as a base for survival because their surviving skill is biased by experience and neglect. When it comes to survival London is saying instinct is superior to the intellect. He warned people, of what could bring them to their end if they don’t use their

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