![]() ![]() But elsewhere in the genome, there are a few genetic scraps that make a powerful difference. Dogs and wolves share 99.9% of their mitochondrial DNA-the DNA that’s passed down by the mother alone-which makes the two species nearly indistinguishable. Especially, this short story of Jack London, is very useful sourse for Human-Animal Studies, Deconstructionist and Psychoanalytic approaches.It was only by the tiniest bit of genetic chance that our cross-species union was forged at all. As the dog reluctantly follows the man across a frozen river, the dog is more cautious than the man.Ĭonsequently, as an example of naturalist movement short story, it contains elements of binary opposites that can be examined from different point of views. While the dog wants to stay by the fire to keep warm, the man is determined to keep moving. The judgment-versus-instinct theme is evident when the man builds the first fire. Throughout the story, London hints that the dog has more knowledge feeling of survival than the man. And these sentences are examples that supports my idea: Sometimes feeling can be useful more than knowledge. As I said above, nature is the dog’s habitat, the dog feels more than the man knows in nature. When he uses foreshadowing, he also shows the dog’s instinctional behaviours that opposes to the man’s knowledge. His saliva freezes over his mouth because of the dangerously low temperature, the man falls through ice, the man builds his fire underneath a tree and snow falls off the tree, extinguishing his fire, and, finally, he can't clutch the dog to hold it down to kill it. Starting from the moment the old timer from Sulfur Creek advises the man not to go on his journey, bad things begin to happen to the man. ![]() London uses foreshadowing throughout the story leading up to the man's eventual death. Margaret Ashmun explains the foreshadowing with these sentences: It is possible to see foreshadowings from the beginning of the story with close reading. The last concept is knowledge versus instinct. Nature was the dog’s habitat, therefore he should have listened the dog, to survive. Thus, for this story we cannot say that the relationship between the man and the dog is good. He establishes superiority on the dog considering that it is not a human being. He is as a gentleman(!) sends the dog before him considering that if something would happen, the dog can die. From perspective of Human-Animal Studies, the protagonist and the dog relationship is important. The concept of (hu)man versus animal is another issue in the story. It means everyone has id that directs their behaviour according to the situation. He would be someone that we know or may be us but having no name, enables it to be everyone. If he had a name, he would have an identity. And, the importance of given no name to the protagonist, comes from the idea of generalisation. Desire for surviving in cold weather, fear of death and in order not to die he tries to catch the dog and kill it. And the second one is id of him makes him think to kill the dog. His arrogance causes the situation that he is living in. ![]() First one is the protagonist’s ego that makes him think that he can manage with the weather. We can give two examples from Psychoanalytic perspective. After he dies, the dog turns back to the camp that they come from. However, he cannot catch the dog because of being numb. He finishes all of his matches in order to build a fire and thinks to kill the dog to warm himself. The weather grows colder, he gets numb and he starts trying to build a fire. The protagonist and dog starts to travel. Although an older man warns him, the protagonist thinks that he could manage with the weather. The man, protagonist of the story, wants to meet with his friends and starts to travel in a weather which is below minus degree. The story is basically about a man and a dog in Alaska. And, these oppositions can be analyzed from perspectives of Human-Animal Studies, Deconstructionist and Psychoanalytic. ![]() These are man verus nature, (hu)man versus animal and knowledge versus instinct. Although his simple language, Jack London tells his "no named" protagonist’s story in nature very well. This is why, it mainly shows the confliction between man and nature. This short story is an example of the naturalist movement. "To Build a Fire" is a short story which was written by American author Jack London. ![]()
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