Up In The Slide By Gary Paulsen: A Short Literary Analysis

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In both short stories, Up in the Slide by Jack London, and A Glow in the Dark by Gary Paulsen. The main characters in both stories have held up all the courage and strength to overcome their fears. The dogs also encourage them to face their fears and give them that feeling of comfort. The main character Gary Paulsen of the short story, A Glow in the Dark by Gary Paulsen has a fear of ghost. So while he was in a husky race, his lantern or flashlight broke which forced him and his dogs to be left in the dark. Gary is left scared and afraid in the dark and uses his dogs as protection. Gary had a fear of ghosts so this shocks him a lot and gets very frightened. Since he could not see anything he hit his head, could not see, and got wet from puddles, but even worse the dogs stopped and they weren't even a bit tired! When he opened his eyes the first glance he had was that there was a bright stream of light. At this point he was trembling and knew it was a ghost who was going to attack him. In the short story it states, ¨My legs moved without my side the team in the dark, holding to each dog like a security blanket until I reached the next one, moving closer to the light until I was at the front and there were no more dogs to hold,¨(pg.323, Paulsen) This quote further shows how the dogs are giving Gary the comfort and confidence to overcome the light which he believes is a ghost. He trust that the dogs will be on his back and protect him. With this confidence he decides to face his fear of the ghost light. The main character Clay Dilham in the story, Up the Slide by Jack London has a very serious fear of death. One random morning Clay decides he needs more firewood so he gets his dogs …show more content…

Those people in their lives are the only things that give them strength and comfort to face that

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