Natural Instinct

“To Build a Fire” (link) by Jack London is a great example of London’s dark, transcendentalist style; the elements of the story and careful diction all lead to a portrayal of the philosophy that nature is a harsh mistress and life is harsher still.

One of London’s prominent strategies in this short story is his descriptions of the landscape. London characterizes the scene as “exceedingly cold and grey” which leads straight into the idea that this will be a less than happy story. Within this first paragraph London goes on to mention that “There was no sun nor any hint of sun”. The sun typically signifies life and warmth, and is an indicator of the start of a new day. But instead of this new beginning the main character, a first time Yukon traveler, is greeted by darkness and grey. These will help set the tone for the events that soon unfold for the novice wanderer.

An equally integral part of the narrative is the “big native husky” that follows the man around. This dog is used as a symbol for everything that the inexperienced traveller is not. The traveller believed that the temperature did not matter, that he was a man and he could brave the 50 below 0 weather, when the sad truth is that he could not. The dog on the other hand has the natural instinct of an animal, it knows “a truer tale than was told  by the man’s judgement.” In the end it is easily seen that the man’s poor judgement and choices led him to his death, while the natural instincts of the dog kept him alive. A prominent example of this is the difference in how they each respectively handled getting wet in the freezing weather. When the dog falls through some ice into the cold water he immediately makes the effort “to lick the ice off it’s legs” because it “was a matter of instinct”. The dog is able to survive his brief stint with the water. On the other hand though the man’s own fall through the ice is not so fortunate. After he falls through he makes a fire and warms himself, but he does not possess the same instinct and natural prowess that the dog does. No, instead he “built the fire under a spruce tree” which soon loosed it’s payload of snow and snuffed out the fire. In short the man did not survive his own encounter with the ice break. London introduces an interesting point in this story, that even though a man might be taught the essentials of survival in the woods and seem ready for everything, he can never be as prepared for nature as a creature of nature will be. The dog is part of that environment and because of that he is more knowing than the man, his survival is due to the fact that he realizes the harsh ways of the wild and dares not underestimate the dangerous of the world. The man tries to defy nature but nature is not so easily tricked

Domestic Troubles

Cat by J. R. R. Tolkien

The fat cat on the mat

may seem to dream

of nice mice that suffice

for him, or cream;

but he free, maybe,

walks in thought

unbowed, proud, where loud

roared and fought

his kin, lean and slim,

or deep in den

in the East feasted on beasts

and tender men.

The giant lion with iron

claw in paw,

and huge ruthless tooth

in gory jaw;

the pard dark-starred,

fleet upon feet,

that oft soft from aloft

leaps upon his meat

where woods loom in gloom --

far now they be,

fierce and free,

and tamed is he;

but fat cat on the mat

kept as a pet

he does not forget.

Leave it to Tolkien to explore the inner workings of the classic domestic cat, to take a deeper look at something as seemingly trivial as the calm life of a house cat. A first reading of this poem may sound light hearted and generally silly, due mostly to it’s twisting rhyme scheme, but look again and you will see that the poem isn’t merely a cute homage to the lazy cat sitting on the porch. Instead Tolkien explores the tamed nature that domestic life has forced onto the cat, ruminating on the contrasting shared history of all cats to live a life of cunning and exhilaration in the wild. It might seem amusing that Tolkien glorifies the spirit of felines in this way, but the longing of a docile creature to experience adventure is something that is shared with everyone. 

Tolkien opens up the poem by describing the “fat cat on the mat” who lies around each day in a seemingly happy dream state. It’s important to note that the cat “may seem see to dream” and is not in fact necessarily dreaming. Instead the perception of the cat is that he wastes his days away in joyful imaginings of tasty treats and comfort. But Tolkien breaks this perception in the fourth line when he introduces the concept of freedom. He goes on to describes the free roaming cats as “unbowed” and “proud” which are both in direct contrast to the previously mentioned cat whose head lies on the floor and his body remains immobile. These wild felines are “lean and slim” they don’t spend lazy afternoons napping on the couch, they move about the world without restraint or regret. What Tolkien is getting at here is that it’s only natural to enjoy the freedom of the wild over the comforts of domestic living. This isn’t a trait that is reserved solely for house cats though, it’s seen throughout life and literature. When Chris McCandless chose to find himself, like so many other transcendentalists, within the trials of nature he gave up the easy way of life he enjoyed at home. Like those before him, he would rather risk the perils and uncertainties of nature than to enter the stagnant life of the suburbanite. Likewise, the cat has the same feeling inside as the young adventurous McCandless. Both belong to a caged society, while in their hearts they yearn for something with more substance. 

The final lines of the poem wrap it all together by returning to the “fat cat on the mat”. Tolkien writes that although the cat remains inside the home as a pet, he has not lost his inherent lust for adventure and primal instinct to roam freely upon the earth. The cat “does not forget” that it’s ancestors lived a more rewarding life, it recognizes the sacrifice that it has made by living domestically. It is not uncommon to feel this way at one point in life, few have acted on the feeling but regardless many have felt discontented about their lazy lives as the cat in this poems feels and reminisces on. It remains the choice of the docile dreamer to get up and find the adventure that they wish to experience, to free themselves of urban comforts and try their hand at a more fulfilling but trying existence in nature.