Who are the main characters? A man and his dog

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? I know the Klondike region is famous for the Klondike Gold Rush. I also know this is a remote wilderness with danger lurking everywhere.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined? I can imagine the isolation of being in such a remote location. Combine this isolation with the cold and I imagine how your mind can play tricks on you. I imagine how being alone except for a dog that cannot speak back to you means you are the only voice you hear, you are your only trail guide, and your decisions are the only voices of reason that you hear when your surroundings are unreasonable.

What do you think about what you read? I kept thinking about the author’s descriptions of the cold and the affects it was having on the man’s ability to think clearly. I kept hoping that the man and the dog would work as a team to find their way to safety. I kept wondering how hard it must have been for the man to try and keep his head about him when he kept making mistakes that had major consequences (stepping in the water, making the fire under the tree, etc.). This was not the time to beat yourself up but at the same time you can’t help but be mad at your lack of clarity. Again, I think of the cold as a reason for this inability to think clearly.

How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? The deeper I got into the mind of the man the more concerned I became for the dog. I was concerned that the relationship was one of a master and a slave between the dog and owner. I am a huge animal lover and when he started making the dog go first I feared for the safety of the dog. Then later I really became nervous when the man started trying to kill the dog so that he could use the dog’s insides to keep him warm. I was a bit relieved when the man could not complete this dreaded task, but I quickly began to feel like this was the end of his journey that the cold would be too much to overcome. I began to sympathize with the man’s mental struggles and the panic that would surge within him. He had to fight to suppress and pushing back the thoughts of freezing to death and try to focus on making it to camp. Then overcome by exhaustion and cold the man sat up and decided to take on death with dignity. Wow, I thought what a moment to realize this is the end, you have done everything in your power and have still come up short and to try and imagine what he thought as he stared death in the face. He realized that the old timer was right and by trying to face the cold alone the man had lost. At this point I was feeling mentally exhausted from this roller coaster journey so when the man laid his head back to rest and fell into what was described as a “satisfying sleep” I too felt tired and began to feel a sense of calm and a peaceful voyage to the world beyond. I wondered if in some cruel fate the dog would eat the man to survive but thankfully the dog did not and the dog actually ended up running around the bend to the safety of the camp. I thought this ironic twist was interesting and I wondered that maybe the dog should have or could have led the way to safety all along, but was just never given the chance by the overly confident/arrogant man? Maybe the dog’s instincts could have avoided the water and the man would never have fallen in and both of them might have made it back to camp.

What do you want to learn more about? I have always been fascinated with animal’s ability to sense dangers or abnormalities in nature. For instance, how animals know before people that a storm is coming and how animals act differently. I would like to know more about this “sixth sense” if you will and learn more about how or why animals are able to do this and what specific types of animals have the keenest senses for detecting abnormalities in their surroundings.

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? Well, being more of an animal lover, I would have tried to communicate more with the dog than this man did. I would try to pick up on the dog’s instincts and heed the warnings the dog is giving, like when the dog hesitated to go first and when made by the man the dog fell into the water (hence learn from the dog’s hesitation that danger is near). The dog knew before going that it was going to fall through that is why it hesitated so paying more attention to these signs would be one way I would react. I know I probably have seen too many “Lassie” episodes (ha, ha) but I would have maybe told the dog to go for help and try and alert the guys at camp to come look for me. The dog built better for these conditions may have made it to camp faster and easier than the man.

How does this reading relate to your own life? It reminds me to not be overly arrogant. I say this because the man ignored the old timer’s warnings and thought the old timer was just soft. The man thought he was to smart, strong, and to tough to be beaten by the “unthinking” natural world. It helps remind me to know my place in this world and to have respect for what I do not know.