First Writing Assignment The interesting American short stories that are Jack London’s “To build a fire”, it is about the man who travel with his dog in the freezing temperatures and danger part of the world. John Updike’s “A&P”, a young man who chose to defend the honor of an anonymous customer and stood up for what he thought was right. Both stories refer to naturalism of human. In this essay, comparing for theme these two stories have similar theme. Also, there are different points in the similar theme.
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.
Before they could make a volunteer exit, a wave upends the boat and dumps them into the icy sea. The strongest man, the oiler, tried to swim ashore. Rescuers find him “face downward”(370) in the shallow water. In “The Open Boat” Crane clearly demonstrates that nature is totally indifferent to the predicament of these men, and to make it through the plight of
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).
But at the start he got bullied and he was scared to join in with some of the boys. Coincidence and parallel incidents are used in the story to make it seem that the course is controlling everything. Stanley is able to break the family curse because he carry’s zero up the mountain and drank the water from the hole he dug and sang the song. Another coincidence is that Stanley drops the spade back down the mountain and has to waste time by going down to get it. In this story Stanley had behaved really well.
And although “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are written in different styles, they equally exemplify the power of nature set against man through the characters struggles for survival in addition to lose of hope. The stories express how nature never chooses sides, therefore is always apathetic to man. In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” the character is traveling along the Yukon trail with the weather below zero degrees. On his journey he encounters an old timer who warns him about traveling any father if the weather was below fifty, yet he ignores his warnings and chooses to continue. He could have easily avoided the situation unlike the crew in “The Open Boat” who were already in that situation.
This man definitely makes presumptuous claims when he disregards the advice given to him by the old timer at Sulphur Creek: never to travel alone when the temperature was more than 50 degrees below zero. However, the dog is relying on his instincts. The dog knows that it is too cold to be out. He knows to bite away the ice from his fur after being in the water, though the man does not know to keep his glove on. The dog is reluctant to leave the fire, but the man assumes he'll be fine after the brief warm-up.
. Tyler “is dropped alone onto the frozen tundra, where he begins his mission to live among the howling wolf packs and study their waves” (http://www.amazon.com/Never-Cry-Wolf-Amazing-Arctic/dp/0316881791). Because he is without any survival skills and unsure of where to go and start, his adventure almost ends before it even begins. He is attacked by wolves, but fortunately a travelling Inuit named Ootek sees and rescues him. At first, Tyler just tries to survive in unknown environment.
Nat Swanson is an outlaw who is not just self-sufficient in many areas of desert survival, but also prefers to be alone, except with a Indian dog that follows him around; a personality which resulted from the decision he made when he was fourteen to work only for himself, after the slaughter of his entire family when he was only eight. We first learn of his initial tendency to isolate himself from others at the beginning of book, where he happens upon the upturned wagons of the ambush survivors. This is when he sees the face of a woman peering out from beneath the wagons, but chooses not to rescue her and resumes his journey to California on horseback. The following night he has nightmares induced by memories of the face, as indicated in the passage, “Swanson knew he had been dreaming… he knew it had something to do with the woman at the wagons.” As a
He could also imagine himself in predicaments that could affect his life and perhaps make wiser choices. Second, the man refuses to see the warning signs his experienced canine is relaying to him. “It experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man’s heels, and that made it question eagerly every unwonted movement of the man as if expecting him to go into camp or to seek shelter somewhere and build a fire,” (127). The man is cocky about surviving whatever nature throws at him, so he ignores the dog. The dog’s instincts tell him not to travel, but he is forced to continue or receive a whipping from his traveling companion.