Answer:
The narrator describes nature, even the dog, as indifferent to the struggles of the man.
Step-by-step explanation:
The options you were given are the following:
- The narrator describes the cold as a pervasive, almost personified force.
- The narrator describes nature as constantly changing and unpredictable.
- The narrator describes nature, even the dog, as indifferent to the struggles of the man.
- The narrator describes the cold as merely an element that can be easily conquered by men and fire.
This question refers to the story To Build a Fire written by Jack London. It tells about a man who decides to walk through a Yukon forest in very cold weather. He ignores warnings about the cold, which in the end costs him his life.
Nature doesn't care about anyone, and the author shows that without any exaggeration or personification. It's simply a powerful, cruel force, and the cold is only one part of it. However, the man doesn't realize how powerful it is, unlike the dog, whose instincts warn it about its dangers.
The following excerpt shows how indifferent even the dog is to the man's fate:
Never in the dog’s experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and make no fire. As the evening grew darker, its eager longing for the fire mastered it. [...] Later, the dog howled loudly. And still later it moved close to the man and caught the smell of death. This made the animal back away. A little longer it delayed, howling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky. Then it turned and ran along the trail toward the camp it knew, where there were the other food providers and fire providers.