This man did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing-point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge. And it knew that it was not good to walk abroad in such fearful cold. It was the time to lie snug in a hole in the snow and wait for a curtain of cloud to be drawn across the face of outer space whence this cold came.

Based on the evidence in this passage from "To Build a Fire," which statement is the best example of the theme?

A. Man should use imagination to survive.

B. The dog knows it's too cold to be outside.

C. Instinct is an important part of survival.

D. The dog inherited knowledge of the cold.