Examples Of Arrogance In To Build A Fire

Aidan Shannon

Ms. Reaman

English 10

Research Paper

April 24 2023

Ego in “To Build A Fire” “Amidst cruelty arrogance has its role, but you gotta tread with extreme caution. Arrogance laid on the wrong person is an appalling human rights violation” (Naskar, pp. 2). "To Build a Fire" is a novel by Jack London that uses the ego of the Man to show the consequences within rapid decisions. The novel uses the Man along with a Dog to show the difference in viewpoints on certain situations we have in society. The Man is very quick and over his head with his decisions and refuses to take advice from anyone but himself. This is in juxtaposition of the dog who uses critical and in depth thinking to try and figure out a situation while also warning the

His deafness starts to show when, “The animal, depressed by the cold, seems to sense that something awful might occur because of the tremendously low temperatures” (Welsh, pp. 4173-4176 ). The Man can't see the fear in the Dog and becomes deaf to the whimpers and obvious danger and fear that is on display. The ego that has implemented itself inside the Man’s brain is something that is not only overlooked by the old-wiseman but himself as he struggles to get over his mental ego. Furthermore, the ego of the Man gets to his critical thinking when the author says “the Man does not at first think in terms of life versus death, or of the weakness of human beings versus the power of nature, but rather in terms of his own ability to solve any difficulties through the power of reason” (Historical Context: 'To Build A Fire”, pp. 3). The Man's ego travels across his thinking processes. This causes him to be unable to utilize critical thinking. He was unable to hone in on his basic instincts but instead tries to solve everything with “power of Reason”. The quick thought processes triggered by the Man's ego is a primary reason that resulted in his preventable death had he heeded the warnings and sage advice of the other

His mental and emotional health impacted his physical health which then caused his decline and inability to survive in the Yukon. The ego causes the deafness to any sort of warning or advice. Also his ego leads him to becoming flustered when finally realizing the danger he is in at once as it is now too late to save himself. Everything leading back to the mental aspect is a clear description on the importance of critical thinking and mental health not only in high pressure situations but in daily life. The expedition we call life shall not be overruled by our over abbundnace of personal worth but by how we use our person to create better situations for us and others. “Ego trip: a journey to nowhere”