"To Build A Fire" Essay

As the cold bit at his muzzle he knew it would not let, while the man who talked by whip trudged mercilessly ahead. Even as the cold blew around him forming his icy, frozen bed, his paws skirted over the snow as he walked dutifully behind this man. Knowing it was cold, too cold for the man to survive, he still walked on over the unforgiving ice. The dog knew better; he knew to just hunker down and get warm, but the man didn't listen and still, he moved on. The dog was much smarter than this man, that much was clear, as they kept on walking while the man's death neared.

The dog in the story "To Build A Fire" by Jack London is much smarter than his companion, the man. Jack London's story is about a man who imagination forgot and his dog as they attempt to cross the icy, barren landscape to get to the nearby camp by six o'clock in seventy - five degrees below zero. The dog knew this was a bad idea when it thought, "It was not good to walk abroad in such real cold". With the cold slowly getting to be more and more of an issue, the dog wanted to hunker down and get warm. Snow, ice and the real, hard - core cold, the brute knew this was a bad idea and was very smart to know so.

As they walked throughout the day, the man began to change. Acting strange and deranged, he ran over the ice with the dog at his heels, but even he knew he was losing his war with the cold. Thrice he fell, twice he got up; for the last time he just didn't have enough. He was frostbitten and cold, as visions danced in his head. As the old man’s’ words rang out in his mind as his eyes began to close, he knew he had lost his war with the cold. The dog lay there all the while, all warm and cozy in its fluffy fur coat, he knew who was the smarter one now, as he walked off to get warm from the cold.