He is a newcomer to the Yukon Trail and underestimates the severity of the weather. The man believes that he can handle it at the beginning, but realizes later that it is too cold: “Once in a while the thought reiterated itself that it was very cold and that he had never experienced such cold” (714). The “old timer from Sulphur Creek” tried to warn him about the weather, but instead of heeding the warning, he laughs at the old man: “That man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country. And he had laughed at him at the time” (716). If he had listened to the “old timer” and stayed until the weather warmed a little he would have made it through the trail.
In both stories, The Open Boat by Stephen Crane and To Build a Fire by Jack London, the protagonist are not prepared for their struggle against nature and pays the consequences. Since both books open up in similar ways, the struggles of the main characters, survival is the hardest part of their journey when they tried to defeat death but failed their attempts of doing so. It’s human nature to want to survive when the odds are against you. In the in story “To Build a Fire” the author states the main character is the Protagonist. From viewers point of view the author clearly states that The Man was in weather “seventy-five degrees below zero.
A strong-willed Vincent miserably struggle for his survival. Tom started to build a fire or started to fight for his life. Obviously, “A man does not drown in twelve inches of water” but travel with wet socks down to twenty below zero really was a problem, he was to build a fire. Of course he could not
Chris thought that nothing could stop him from achieving his final goal, which was Alaska. Chris often refused money and help; he believed he could do everything on his own. When the glass is full of water, don’t add that one drop that will make the water spill. By analyzing this metaphor, the trip to Alaska; into the wild, is the one drop that spills all the water from Chris’s cup which represents Chris’s life. Chris obviously overcompensated with this trip to the wilderness of Alaska.
But did he fully understand how rocky the trail would be? According to Jim Gallien, “Livin’ in the bush ain’t no picnic” (Krakauer 5). These are words that McCandless seemed to take lightly. Having no control over what nature decided to do, Chris face several things that would have made anyone else give up on what it is they set out to do. First, a flood came, forcing him to leave his car behind.
The Inuit, that inhabited Northern America within the Artic region, are almost pure hunters due to the fact that there is hardly any edible plant life. They used their surrounding environment such as snow, ice, and animal skins for all of life’s necessities to survive. The snow and ice provided housing for them while animal skins could be used for clothing. Tools and weapons would be formed from that of animal bones as well as used to hunt and fish for their food. The climate in particular, periods of 24 hour darkness, dictated the survival methods and movements for the Inuit people and left them with hardly any foraging capabilities.
There is no glory, it is impossible that soldiers sacrificing themselves to attend the whole of war. Harrison despites in the novel that illustrate behavior, survival at any time, thoughts of the soldiers of others; make the reader consider deeply what the ideas the Harrison presents. There is no heroism in the war causing the soldiers have no stake to devote their life, even though they have no experiences to attack in the first bombarment. For axample, in chapter 2 the narrator sign ‘I can find nothing to appease my terror’. Even though the narrtor do not believe in God but also begins to pray”God-God-please.” The soldiers just crawl over in the trenches and finding the safe places even there is no place to avoid the bombarment.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer develops many questions in a reader’s mind, one of them being: To what extent is community essential to happiness? The “Super tramp” Chris McCandless answered these questions for the reader through his journal, documenting his journey. Though Chris McCandless was an educated man, he took off on his own with a lack of warning to anyone. Was this decision a display of his unhappiness due to the lack of connection he had with other people or the happiness in his decision to go on a quest to find himself? Chris believed that by going off on his own in the Alaskan wilderness he would change himself; finally know what his purpose was in life.
Buck has never had to endure the vicious North. While at Judge Miller's, Buck never worries about his next meal or shelter; yet while in the frozen Klondike he has death at his heels. “A chill wind was blowing that nipped him sharply and bit with especial venom into his wounded shoulder. He lay down on the snow and attempted to sleep, but the frost soon drove him shivering to his feet. Miserable and disconsolate, he wandered about among the many tents, only to find that one place was as cold as another.
Only on rare occasions would he make a dull remark about the abnormal weather, "It's only the heat, he thought to himself, I'll be fine once it rains." (46) His numbness and ignorance towards the world around him symbolizes that of modern-day humans, making Snowman a solid representation of the general population who disregard the environment & climate