Instinct In Laurence Gonzales To Build A Fire

An instinct is an unlearned, automatic behavior shown by all members of a species. Babies have an instinct to cry like how ducks have an instinct to follow their mother. In the story “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales, survivors remain alive by using their instincts. Gonzales states that he had found an eerie uniformity between most survival cases. Survivors no matter what race, culture, language, or decade went through the same patterns of thought and behavior (95). The story “To Build a fire,” by London Jack, describes a man that is unable to save himself in a desperate situation. He does not follow the steps that survivors do. The protagonist is unable to save himself because he fails to remain calm, take correct decisive actions, and

While on his journey, he was not cautious while carrying out tasks (Gonzales 97). For instance, the dog knew that it was brutally cold outside. When the man left the fire the dog stayed. The main character should have noticed the dog’s actions, but did not. He fell through the ice and soaked himself from the knees down (London 83). The dog is well suited for the environment and has instincts to stay at the fire. It was imperative that the man must make another fire and dry his shoes. If the man would have been cautious and observant he would have been aware of the springs. Also, while making the second fire he was not aware of the snow covered tree. He should not have built the fire under the tree, but in the open. The snow tumbled down, putting out his fire (London 85). The main character, again, was not circumspect of his surroundings. Lastly, the main character was thrown into panic, creating him to make wrong decisions. He planned to run to camp. This plan had one flaw; he lacked endurance (London 90). He used up the rest of his energy on a plan that was not thought through. Being cautious of his actions and turning big tasks into smaller ones could have saved his