Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Response to Chapter 4 and 5

Do we need to form connections with others? Back up your claim not with personal anecdotes, but rather with stuff from Buck's life as written in the book.



Yes I believe that it is important to form connections with others. Buck was so much in shock when he got kidnapped. He really had no idea what to expect and wasn't sure if he would survive through everything. But Buck is very smart and he saw what other dogs were doing and followed as they did. He did keep to himself but he also formed connections with them in order for him to be able to survive. For example, he learned from them on how to be able to sleep comfortably and steal food with out anyone suspecting it was him. I dont think you necessarily need to communicate with someone else in order for you to form connections with people. Simple actions can mean a lot more sometimes than actual words. And it seems like Buck uses the other characters in the book to form his own connections with the humans. He wants the humans to see him as superior to everyone else. He is trying his hardest to be the best and to make a name for himself.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Response 3

I feel like our imagination helps us develop who we are. If we didnt have any sort of imagination then we wouldnt be able to imagine ourselves being great when we "grow up" and we wouldnt have much motivation to really do anything. I know a lot of people use their imaginations to escape reality. They may doing something proactive like drawing, or painting, or they might just lay down and let their minds take them on a journey. Our imaginations are who make us who we are and allow our creative side to come out. When we are young our imaginations allow us to prepare for whats to come. For example, like shopping at a grocery store, or playing house and pretend cooking. All of that comes from their imaginations and it helps them prepare for the real world. Imagination helps children grow up to be adults who are creative thinkers. Adults who were imaginative children often become problem solvers, innovators and creative thinkers.

I think with Buck the reason that he has been able to make it as far as he has is because using your imagination allows you to cope with difficult situations or new circumstances. He uses his imagination to be different from all of the other dogs. He trys to not fight anyone and keep to himself. But in the end he has to end up fighting and he uses that imagination to win.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Question 2

"Thus, as token of what a puppet thing life is, the ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again."

Well I believe that this quote has a lot to do with how Buck feels as though he is being a puppet. Before he had gotten kid napped he was living his life very freely. He got to go outside and do whatever he wanted outside or he got to stay inside if he wished and do whatever he pleases there. But now that he is kidnapped he is having to do things that he doesnt want to do. Things that he has never experienced before. He is being treated as if he is a puppet. But as time goes by he starts to learn and he trys to better himself and it seems as though now he wants to be doing all of these things. Even though he prefer to be at home he is trying to get some good out of a bad situation. He is learning how to steal food from the humans and covers it up very well. He has made himself very strong so he can pull the sled. He has truly learned a lot being in the wild. Now he looks forward to getting up in the monring and doing all of his tasks so he can show of to the other dogs and to the humans and to himself.

In a way this quote can relate to everybody because us as children growing up we were puppet to our parents. We had to do everything that they told us and obeyed them even though at times we didnt want to. But in the end it was for our own good and they did it because they loved us.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Chapter 1 Blog

Chapter 1 Blog

I think that it does challenge the ideas of human nature. I have never really thought about animals having all of these feelings. I never thought about the fact that animals can adapt to their surroundings so well like buck has. London gives us all a different perspective of how an animal would see things and how they feel as they go through all of these changes. He is showing us that animals are much smarter than we think. They are always aware of their surroundings and try to show that they are dominant to others. Even though this isn’t being told from Bucks point of view I feel as though he really is the one telling the story. All of the tragic events that he goes through are showing us that animals are more similar to us than we think. We have to grow up learning rules and learning how to listen to our parents. We learn from an early age what is wrong and what is right. That is what Buck had to go through. He was living his life very luxurious and got whatever he wanted, that’s what he knew, but when he got kidnapped he had to learn that he must listen and have respect for the man in the red sweater or else he would go through pain and keep getting hit. He had to learn how to be able to sleep comfortably at night and keep himself warm, which is what we do as infants is learn when to cry when we want something.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

What is the most basic/essential piece of human nature?

I think the greatest difference with humans and animals we are more educated. We have the ability to read and write and they do not. We go to school and learn. We grow and grow mre each year. We don't just grow physically like animals, but we grow mentally. We are able to purchase houses and stock; we also learn how to get and keep a job. Animals have certain instincts that helps them survive, but they can't get educated like we can. We can easilt communicate with each other, and we speak many different languages. Who is to say that animals can or can't communicate with each other because we really don't know since we are humans. Seems like animals can communicate with each other or it would be difficult for them to continue on, but they're language is probably a lot simpler than ours. They don't get educated on grammar and where commas should be and all that like we do.