In the informational text “Is Survival Selfish?” Lane Wallace claims that there are different situation that determines how someone would act during a survival situation. Whether someone should save themselves or jump into the front line to save others is all up to whether or not the situation and their instinct allows. In a situation where saving yourself is the only choice, it is not selfish, but rather smart. During the mountain climbing incident, Yates was unable to save his friend so he “ended up cutting the rope to Simpson to save himself. Miraculously, Simpson survived the 100 foot fall and eventually made his way down the mountain. But Yates was criticized by some for his survival decision, even though the alternative would have almost
How would one react if they were placed in a situation, and they had to save themselves in a matter of seconds? Could they do it? Or would they be too late and suffer the consequences? Many conflicts Rainsford faces throughout the story are life and death situations. Rainsford is able to tackle each and every crisis because he exemplifies his quick thinking and ability to do things right the first time they happen. When a seconds delay means instant death, Rainsford utilizes his fast-acting reflexes to make complicated traps with General Zaroff right on his tail. His instinctive decisions he makes right on the spot are part of the reason as to why Rainsford can be called a survivor. Even when, “throwing off his sack of food,” Rainsford is still self-assured and uses his skills and smarts to help him journey through the rest of the game (page 70).
Survival skills can take over when in a life or death situation. The protagonist, Rainsford, in the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a clear example of this. While on the way to hunting expedition Rainsford is thrown overboard his ship and swims to the nearby shore of Ship Trap Island. He explores the island and finds a chateau. He is invited in by the owner, General Zarroff, and they begin to converse. Here Rainsford learns something dark about this man that will lead to him being on the run for his life. He is forced to let his survival skills, resourcefulness, thinking on his feet, and his good eye, take center stage in the fight for his life.
I enjoyed reading Unbroken which is a book that showed the struggles of a grueling air warfare between United States and Japan. Throughout the book, Laura Hillenbrand, author of Unbroken gripped the reader’s attention through the details of gut-wrenching conflicts. By showing the art of survival through the character, Louis Zamperini, Hillenbrand demonstrates the theme of resilience through persistency, intelligent choice making, and willingness to live.
Selfishness is a common trait in the world, it’s not a hidden factor, but very well-known as being one’s self-interest. The story “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff, discusses how each character in the story deals with different kinds of selfish ways. One character, Tub, deals with eating problems and lies about it. Frank deals with a secret life that he is hiding from his wife. Kenny is always comparing something to his liking and if he does not like it then he will complain. Self-absorption is when someone is focused on their self and only themselves. It is known to be a regular’s human’s condition, it’s something majority of human beings have. Selfishness may also kick in during survival incidents. For example, a boy and his friends
Self-preservation involved taking care of one’s self and the community. Halperin stated in the East End taking care of the community first was more important than self this why fixing a house had a lower priority than helping a family member or friend (pg. 168).
In life, situations arrive that force us to make tough choices. Sometimes those choices are not what we feel are compassionate or morally right. We make these decisions to save ourselves. These are decisions of self-preservation, and they override compassion. Tadeusz Borowski depicts these choices in his book This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. He shows that when people are put in the choice of doing what’s right or preserving their life, one is preferred over the other. Would they rather save their selves or just watch others be sent to their death. In the novel, the narrator wrestles with his decisions and like Borowski suffers from them.
In the book, “Touching the Void”, climber Simson Yates was,”unable to lift his friend up and losing his own grip on the mountain ended up cutting the rope to Simpson to save himself” (Survival 9). This particular incident isn’t selfish considering they both would’ve died if Yates continued to lose strength as he pulled up the rope. Also, in the “Titanic”, Bruce Ismay, “was ruined” because he got in a lifeboat even though there, “was no longer women or children in sight” (Survival 1). This is clearly not selfish since no women or children were left to aboard the lifeboat, anyone would do the same considering the circumstances. Lastly, in the Grand Central Station incident when the lady witnessed an explosion underground and she states, “people were frozen or screaming, but nobody was moving towards the emergency exits, even as smoke began to fill the cabin. After realizing everyone around her were too paralyzed to react, she took action, crawling over several rows of people to the exit” (Survival 6 & 7). This isn’t selfish because there was no time to get people to focus on the exits, so she took action and saved herself which was just common instinct if you weren’t the people,
My second evidence to support this claim is when Elie wiesel said “I had but one thought not to have my number taken down and not to show my left arm” (Collections (310). In this quote he was only thinking about himself in order to survive, so in order to survive he needed to be a little selfish and think about what he needs to do to survive the selection. My last claim to support how survival is selfish when Elie wiesel was running he was using all his strength and power and didn't care about how anybody else was doing in order to survive. He said “I felt as though I had been running for years” (Collections(310). Elie wiesel is using all his strength and power in order for him to survive his not doing it for anybody else.
In the short story, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, “the man” goes to the Yukon territory for a hike by himself. ‘The man went hiking alone to check on the chances of getting out logs in spring. The man eventually died because of his mistakes. The man was responsible for his situation because he was overconfident, didn’t listen to the old timer, and he was unprepared.
A human has a strong desire to survive and ready to transgress his inner borders and break his principles to save his life. There are three aspects of survival: psychological, emotional and physical survival. They are all related to each other and in order to sustain one has to go through all three stages. A person has to struggle with themselves: they have to breakdown their internal principles such as high morality and deep religious commitment in order to come through Psychological, Emotional and Physical survival.
This paper shows that altruism is a very complex issue and much more information could be introduced, following this would allow a greater look at the complexity of other views such as the religious or the philosophical side. Garrett Hardin’s ‘lifeboat ethics’ is a perfect example and proof of this paper, showing that we would rather let others gets killed instead of trying to help a
For most people, survival is just a matter of putting food on the table, making sure that the house payment is in on time, and remembering to put on that big winter coat. Prisoners in the holocaust did not have to worry about such things. Their food, cloths, and shelter were all provided for them. Unfortunately, there was never enough food, never sufficient shelter, and the cloths were never good enough. The methods of survival portrayed in the novels Maus by Art Spieglmen and Night by Elie Wiesel are distinctly different, but undeniably similar.
Selfishness is a term fairly notorious for its meaning. A lot of people accept that being selfish is wrong, but no one knows how this came about and why it matters. Who has the right to decide whether someone gets to be selfish or not? In his article “The unselfishness Trap”, Harry Browne says that the best way for people to be happy is when if everyone sacrifices but me. Thomas Nagel, on the other hand, argues in his article “The Objective Basis of Morality” that being concerned about others is more important. Being selfish, for many people, is evil. By definition, selfishness is to be more concerned about yourself than others, but that would essentially make every living human being a “selfish” being.
The Chinese Philosopher and originator of Taoism, Lao Tzu, once said, “Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained.” This, precisely, is where mankind derives what it means to be good. In a culture where goodness is often defined vaguely, there is a sort of universality attributed to the virtues of compassion and integrity. Compassion is the quality of love and mercy for fellow man, a merit that works in accord with integrity, one’s unfaltering commitment to their innate morality. To be stated briefly, if one is to walk the road of life, these values in tow, the brand of goodness will surely follow.
If life were merely a contest with fate, then should we not think before we act? Though some may argue that the proper time to reflect is before acting, I have learned from experience that, more times than not, this is not the best approach. The ability to act on instinct is crucial to success, in many situations. During an earthquake, for instance, one must quickly respond in whichever way necessary to protect themselves, as well as their loved ones. No matter how prepared, or trained, one may be, there is no way to predict what the essential motions should be taken at the time of an emergency.