Jack London Deep Survival Analysis
“Bad things happen. And the human brain is especially adept at making sure that we keep track of these events. This is an adaptive mechanism important for survival.” This quote by David Perlmutter, describes how the protagonist in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London did not follow three principles that would have saved his life. The three principles that the protagonist could have utilized from the story, “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales, in his situation that he encountered were: stay calm, think, analyze, and plan, and never give up. One reason the main character died is because he did not follow the trait of staying calm in the midst of danger (Gonzales 98). In his crisis, the main character did not pay attention to his surroundings
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In his awful situation, he did not think, analyze, and plan out the things that he needed to do in order to reach his destination successfully. For example, He did not properly think out his plan of fire and survival thoroughly. Running would not thaw out his fingers. Nor would it thaw out his hands and feet. (London 90). He did not have the proper planning if he was caught in the situation where he was not able to make a fire and be frozen to the point he could not feel specific parts of his body. Next, his analysis on his predicament was obscure and he should have paid closer attention to the dog. It knew that it was no time for travelling. 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 (79). Finally, the man could not help himself because he did not think as well as he should have in his type of situation. When trying to start his final fire before he left toward his boys as well as his trek to safety, he had done what he never wanted to do; cause the fire to go out because of his frigid frame and timid hands. A large piece of green moss fell squarely on the little fire. He tried to poke it out with his fingers, but his shivering frame made him poke too far, and cause the disruption of the nucleus and sent twigs and grasses scattering. He tried to poke them together again, but in spite of the tenseness of the effort, his shivering got away with him, and the twigs were hopelessly scattered once again (88). These actions helped the production of his
In his awful situation, he did not think, analyze, and plan out the things that he needed to do in order to reach his destination successfully. For example, He did not properly think out his plan of fire and survival thoroughly. Running would not thaw out his fingers. Nor would it thaw out his hands and feet. (London 90). He did not have the proper planning if he was caught in the situation where he was not able to make a fire and be frozen to the point he could not feel specific parts of his body. Next, his analysis on his predicament was obscure and he should have paid closer attention to the dog. It knew that it was no time for travelling. 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 (79). Finally, the man could not help himself because he did not think as well as he should have in his type of situation. When trying to start his final fire before he left toward his boys as well as his trek to safety, he had done what he never wanted to do; cause the fire to go out because of his frigid frame and timid hands. A large piece of green moss fell squarely on the little fire. He tried to poke it out with his fingers, but his shivering frame made him poke too far, and cause the disruption of the nucleus and sent twigs and grasses scattering. He tried to poke them together again, but in spite of the tenseness of the effort, his shivering got away with him, and the twigs were hopelessly scattered once again (88). These actions helped the production of his