Pedro Morais

Mr. Owain Phillips

English 9A
20 September 2013
Can You Learn?
If you were stuck in a jungle, would you rely in your instinct or knowledge to survive?
Most people would rely on their knowledge rather than instinct. Instinct versus knowledge drives
To Build a Fire, by Jack London. In it, a man is traveling with a dog in the Yukon in a frigid
climate, about -75 C, and struggles to survive. The dog, on the other hand, uses his instinct,
knowledge, and knowledge he gained from man to survive.
One way the dog is able to survive is by using his instinct. A good example of this is
when the man uses the dog to check if the path was safe and the dog falls through the snow into
water. After getting up, the dog proceeds to shake the water off and bite out the ice that formed
between his toes, because if he did not, his feet would become sore and he would not be able to
walk. The dog did this, even though he did not know this. It merely obeyed the commands that
arose from the deepest part of his being (69). The dog does not know why he did that, but he
knew he should do it if he wanted to survive. This is because one of his ancestors experienced it,
and passed on that knowledge to his next generations. If it were not for instinct, the dog would
probably not be able to survive in the Yukon.
Another way that he is able to stay alive is by using knowledge that he gained throughout
his life. This is seen when the dog notices that the man is trying to make a fire, and even though
it was dangerously cold, he waited for the man to finish. He waits for the man because he knows
that "he depended upon him as the fire provider, and the fire was slow in coming" (73). The dog
uses his knowledge and waits for the fire instead of obeying his instinct and burrowing into the
snow. He did this because he knew that the fire would provide him the heat he needed. He also
knew he had enough time to burrow if the fire did not start. The dog discovered fire and started
to use it to be able to survive, and this shows that the dog also uses knowledge to live in the
unfriendly climate.
The dog also uses things he learned from man to aid in his own survival. He is able to
learn things from man and is able to incorporate them into his own style of being. The dog is
seen using things that he learned from man when he is waiting for the fire to start. The dog
waited because he had learned about fire, and it wanted fire (66). The dog learned about fire
from man and started to use it to survive. The dog is also seen using things that he learned from
man after his owner dies. He was taught that if things got dire, he had to go back to the camp and
he would get food and shelter. The dog is getting knowledge from man and using it as its own.
Instead of choosing between instinct or knowledge, why not use both? Why not try to
learn from other animals and do as they do? The dog, after all, uses his instinct, knowledge and
things he learned from man, to survive. Animals can visibly learn from humans, but do humans
learn from animals?