Ted Talk Analysis

Having no charge on your phone, having a bad hair day, failing a test, not having enough cats. These seem to be the major plights in our life. However, there are more extreme situations that can arise, and although we are unaccustomed to having to prepare for life and death situations, we should know what it takes to be a survivor. In in a TED Talk, Hyeonseo Lee recounts her harrowing journey fleeing from a famine ridden North Korea and trying to bring her family with her. In his autobiography, Aron Ralston narrates his story of how he survived in a remote canyon with his hand pinned beneath ½ ton of rock for 6 never-ending gruesome days. Additionally, Suzanne Collins tells a story of a girl, Katniss Everdeen, who has been picked to compete in a death match called

Evidence Ralston remembers how “the sound of [his] knife tapping [the boulder was] practically minute.” (Page 2) Analysis The minute sound of the knife’s tapping suggests that the knife is slowly chipping away at the boulder. This excruciating progress of the removal of the boulder would infuriated and frustrate anyone, but Ralston was resilient and kept on picking. This determination to live makes Ralston a survivor. Ralston’s determination to live is also shown in the fact that in the canyon this trait helped him survive. Evidence He said in his autobiography “despite having already come to accept I will die where I stand [in this canyon] I now believe I will live. That belief …changes everything for me.” (Page 4). Analysis Ralston’s determination to live changed his whole way of thinking. He became more positive about his situation despite the circumstances. That determination led him to try and get out of the canyon. It also led him to go to the extent of amputating his own arm. Link In the end, because of Ralston’s determination, he survived being trapped in the