The man was also warned at the beginning of the story, that when it gets too cold, one must be accompanied with a partner. Ignoring the man at the creek, the main character goes off to do his own thing. The man in to build a fire, possesses great pride in himself, is ignorant of those around him, is selfish, stubborn, and has elicited sympathy from the audience since his fate was in such danger. At the beginning it may seem as if the man knew what to do and what not to do during the cold winters of Alaska. Yet, it was only pride that made him look this way.
The dog is reluctant to leave the fire, but the man assumes he'll be fine after the brief warm-up. The dog knows to shrink away from the man when the man has decided to burn the dog. His instincts warn him of the danger; instincts the man has been ignoring in himself. Finally, the dog knows that he can survive by curling up and using his own body heat, while the man makes himself worse by fighting with the fire.
It knew that it was no time for traveling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man’s judgment” (610). This quote reveals that the dog’s depressed attitude is a sign of its instincts that it is too cold to travel, despite the man’s self-assuredness that they will be fine and make it to the boys by six o’clock. Another example of the dog having superior knowledge about the dangerous weather is when “the dog dropped in again at his heels, with a tail drooping discouragement, as the man swung along the creek bed... the man held steadily on. He was not much given to thinking...” (611).
Raskolnikov wonders why so many crimes are committed so poorly. He concludes that criminals go through a failure of the will. He endeavors not to let anything prevent him from carrying out the crime in complete control of his reason and will, which is a huge sign that his psychological and intellectual mind are working together, instead of battling like most people’s. However, both reason, and will fail him during some parts of the murder. He does have the good sense to clean his axe and boots, but he leaves the door open as a sign that he isn’t thinking clearly.
The narrator attempts to reassure his audience he is of sound mind. For example, the narrator says “If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body.” Another irony in the story is that the narrator refers to how he loves the old man and was never so kind to him as he was right before the murder. This is ironic because he loves the old man by the systematically plans to murder him. Poe uses imagery throughout the story by referencing the clock and time as a way to describe how slowly he moved. The narrator says “A watches minute hand moves more quickly than did mine”, the narrator sees himself as a clock, counting down the old man’s
Reasonable Eccentric Behavior of Dorian Gray . In the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray is a handsome and proper man, but on the inside he is full of madness, guilt and misery. Initially he’s a melodramatic and petulant young man , but after realizing his true morals –his life skews toward the futile side. Instead of fixing his life, he lives for the pursuit of pleasure which makes him indifferent. Although his actions are very insane, they can be seen as rational to reader considering hedonism.
Psychoanalytical Analysis of “The Tell-Tale Heart” Edger Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” shows a narrator being driven mainly by his ego. The narrator starts out by claiming that he in not mad and continues to make this claim throughout the story using a logical approach. As his story continues though it clearly shows opposite of it what he claims, but the narrator seems to refuse that he is insane and uses many arguments to prove it. The narrator is fixed on doing his crime with extreme caution, but in the end, his ego causes him to confess his deed. When one first reads “The Tell-Tale Heart” they are inclined to feel that it his id not his ego controlling him, but when you look closer more evidence seems to point to the fact the his ego is more in control.
He is really upset about his mother and his uncle, but also his father dying. His way of coping with his thoughts about them is to act suicidal, “His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (I ii 132). Even though he doesn’t want to live anymore and is thinking about suicide he thinks about it and realizes that he can’t kill himself because it is a sin. No matter how depressed and how much he doesn’t want to live, he still considers whether it is a good thing or bad thing to do. Aside from Hamlet’s depression, he shows that he is very determined and brave.
“To Build a Fire” Literary Analysis Essay The story of “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, is a tale of the battle between nature and humans. Yet, the reader asks, “Does this short story reveal the true challenges of humans as they travel in freezing temperatures and terrain?” Any knowledgeable person would know (in their right mind) that it’s not smart to go out into fifty below zero temperatures, but others, like this man, seem to think they can withstand it. The obstacles are present to detour him from his walking adventure, but he continues to ignore them because he believes nature is something he can accomplish. Starting on his journey, the man encounters many instances that should have deterred him from continuing on. The beginning of the story notes the weather: “There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky” (609).
On page 62, Beatty says, “Don’t let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world.” Using words such as “drear” and “torrent” makes Bradbury’s diction distinguishable from other authors, while also being captivating. Also, his regular use of contradictions to show conflicting emotions is fascinating. For example, in Something Wicked This Way Comes, the father of a protagonist was debating whether or not he should follow his son, thinking to himself. “I’ll go there, thought Charles Halloway, I won’t go there. I like it, he thought, I don’t like it…Charles Halloway saw but chose not to see,” it says on page 41.