Kimberly Hinojosa Ms. Lehmann English 1-3 3 December 2019 What is Survival? Is survival selfish, or is it not? This is the central question of this essay. Survival does not require people to be selfish because a few keys to survival are having a purpose,often helping others, and a reason, such as those that would suffer at their death. Many survival stories prove that having a purpose which is focused on others has saved people. A key to survival is having a purpose during crisis; caring for others can be that purpose. On example of this is a quote from Laurence Gonzales’ book, “Doctors and nurses have higher rates of survival than others because they have a purpose” (Gonzales 332). This shows that those who put others before themselves have a higher chance of surviving, just like Bryon Kerns, a survival instructor, was recalling a time when he was training a class of pilots. After pushing them too far during a training exercise, they began to fall to fatigue. As the day began to end, the conditions worsened, and finally Kerns realized the danger they were in. Gonzales writes, “All at once, it hit me that I might actually lose them. Those million-dollar pilots could die”(Gonzales 331).He took action, and they survived. In this situation, you can see that as you put others before yourself, you realize what has to be done and increase your chances of survival. But not always are you with others in survival situations.Some need a reason to keep going. Having a reason to survive is similar to a having a purpose, but there are a few differences. By having a reason, you are thinking of who or what will suffer from your loss. A reason could be anything or anyone that gives you the need to live. During the World Trade Center attack, one man, Ronald DiFrancesco, says he survived for his family.“He said to himself, ‘I’ve got to see my wife and kids again’”(Gonzales 332). While many others in the same area as he was died, he pushed himself to get outfor those he cared about, knowing that they needed him. Another example of people pushing themselves for their family is Anna Avalon. In Anna Avalon’s survival story there were two instances where she made the decision in life threatening situations to save her children. First, in a circus accident that cost her her husband, and the second in a house fire. In the first example she lost her child.In the second, she managed to save her child. The narrator, Anna Avalon’s second child, acknowledges what her mother has done for her. “I owe her my existence three times” (Erdrich 340). This is her recalling the twotimes her mother saved herself and her children and the one time she chose to remarry. Having a reason to live gave thesepeople the ability to survive. Still, we must acknowledge the fact that others may disagree. Although it’s clear that survival is not selfish, there are those who disagree. Some people argue that apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them. This is not true.There are many examples that show that in survival situations, people have chosen to help others rather than ignore them for their own self-preservation. In the memoir Night, a son and his father are trapped in a Nazi concentration camp, being forced to work, given little, and regularly worried that they will be taken for experiments. These two bound together in an attempt to survive. “My father had a present for me: a half ration of bread, bartered for something he had found at the depot” (Wiesel 311). In this quote, you can see his father chose to give something valuable to his son rather than take it for himself. The father could have chosen to eat the bread and focus on his survival, but he chose his son’s survival over his own. If people really needed to be selfish to survive, then what about those who choose their family over themselves? Ultimately, the evidence is over whelming that survival is not selfish. People do not have to be selfish because having a purpose set on those around you and having a reason you need to survive will help you survive. I think having a purpose set on others helps people to focus on the big picture and know what needs to be done. Also, having a reason you need to survive means people realize that there are things or people who need them to live. Now, which is survival, selfish or not? Works Cited Erdrich, Louise. “The Leap.” Collections, Edited byKylee Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. Mcbride, Erik Palmer & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 317-320.
Gonzales, Laurence. Deep Survival.Collections, Edited by Kylee Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. Mcbride, Erik Palmer & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 325-334.
Wiesel, Elie. Night.Collections, Edited by Kylee Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. Mcbride, Erik Palmer & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 307-312.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific. I began by first studying the subject through the stories we read, and completing the assignments on them. then I participated in a debate on "Must you be selfish to survive?", by doing this I chose what side I was on. Then I used the information I gathered that supported my side and created this paper.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? This is an argumentative essay because is supports one side of an argument while acknowledging the other. Requirements are gathering data that will support the side chosen, writing with proper grammar and clearly showing the intent of the paper. As well as acknowledging and disagreeing with the opposing side.
3. Explain how you found at least one of the quotations from the essay and tell me why you chose that particular quote. What did it do for your paper? “My father had a present for me: a half ration of bread, bartered for something he had found at the depot” (Wiesel 311). I obtained this from the memoir Night. When writing this I believed it would support my information as it shows what one father is willing to do for his son. And my topic being the rebuttal to "Apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them." I believed this disproved it and showed my side.