Jordan Stubbs
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
8 November 2018
Survival Is Not Selfish
A wise person once said, “Always keep a piece of you for you. That’s not selfish, that’s survival.” People need to think of themselves first in order to help others. Survival is not selfish; authors Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel prove this in their stories. In this essay, I will prove that survival isn’t selfish. Gonzales provides many examples of scenarios in which survival is not selfish in “Deep Survival.”
After people have been through a tragedy, many claim that they survived for others and not themselves. Gonzales writes, “Many people who survive alone report that they were doing it for someone else (a wife, boyfriend, mother, son) back home” (Gonzales 327). These survivors weren’t surviving for themselves; they were thinking of others. They were thinking of a family member, friend, loved one, or even someone they admire can give them enough faith, hope, and desire to want to survive and will help push them to survive. Gonzales tells a story of Kearns, a survival guide who took a group of pilots into the wild and almost lost them. He writes, “All at once, it hit me that I might actually lose them. Those million-dollar pilots could die,” (Gonzales 331). Kearns’s fear that the others might die gave him the strength to survive and save the others. Worrying about others not only gives you the will to survive, it also gives you the desire to save those around you. Another author that gives us examples of how selfishness is not required to survive is Lane Wallace in “Is Survival Selfish.”
Wallace argues that people aren’t selfish in survival situations; they simply follow their instinct. He explains, “Some people hold it together in a crisis and some people fall apart. Some people might run away from danger one day, and toward it the next” (Wallace 320). Wallace is making the point that people respond in different ways to survival situations. Survival is simply a matter of instinct, rather than any kind of intentional decision to be selfish or brave. Being selfish requires intention; if survival is an instinct, there is no intention, and therefore it cannot be selfish. In another situation, Wallace states that people don’t choose to survive; it just happens. Wallace points out that those who save others don’t do so out of a sense of benevolence. Wallace explains that, “Oddly enough, most people who perform such impulsive rescues say that they didn’t really think before acting. Which means they weren’t ‘choosing’ civilization” (Wallace 320). He argues that people who are described as being brave aren’t exhibiting those character traits at all; they are just acting. If saving someone isn’t brave, survival cannot be selfish. Wiesel also explains that survival is not selfish in Night.
Wiesel describes many instances in which survival isn’t selfish. One example shows that by bringing others up, you will also bring yourself up. Just before a selection, the block leader of the Buchenwald concentration camp tells his prisoners how to increase their odds of survival. Wiesel writes, “‘I hope you will all pass...but you must try to increase your chances. Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if you have the devil at your heels!’” (Wiesel 308). Wiesel shows that the prisoners encouraged each other to survive in the concentration camps and it gave them hope to survive as well. Another great example that shows that survival is not selfish comes later in the story. In Night, there was a selection and the Blockälteste was encouraging the inmates to run. He also encouraged them to not be afraid. When Wiesel gets back to his friends, he wonders if they wrote him down. Wiesel asked, “‘Did they write me down?’” (Weisel 309). The response from his friend was, “‘No,’ said Yossi. Smiling he added, ‘Anyway, they couldn’t have. You were running too fast...’” (Wiesel 309). This is explaining that having his friends behind his back to uplift him gave him hope and the desire to keep going for a while longer. It also gave his friends hope and the desire to survive. Some may argue that survival is selfish, giving examples of people who saved themselves rather than others.
Some argue that you have to be selfish to survive because you have to think of your own safety first. However, people who survive say it is because they were thinking of others. People even risk their lives in order to save others. Having someone in your thoughts helps you strive to survive. It gives you the will to survive and you want to save them from the pain of loss. Sometimes, it is that one person that keeps people pushing on. Even when they think they’re going to die.
In conclusion, survival is not selfish. In order to even think about saving others people need to save themselves and then save others. Gonzales, Wallace, and Wiesel all give great examples of survival not being selfish. Gonzales talks about people who saved themselves for the sake of others and tells a story about pilots who almost died. These are both amazing examples. Wallace mentioned in “Is Survival Selfish,” that survival is an instinct, so it cannot be selfish. Wiesel talks about how uplifting others and relying on others not only helps others, but also you. As my initial quote states, keeping a part of yourself for you is a matter of survival, and is not selfish.
Works Cited
Gonzales, Laurence. “Deep Survival.” Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 325-334
Wallace, Lane. “Is Survival Selfish”. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 317-320
Wiesel, Elie. “Night”. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 307-312.
Argumentative Essay Reflection Questions
2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn?
3. What are the conventions of an argumentative essay and how did you meet those in this assignment?
4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it?
5. What is one thing you’re proud of in this paper?
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
8 November 2018
Survival Is Not Selfish
A wise person once said, “Always keep a piece of you for you. That’s not selfish, that’s survival.” People need to think of themselves first in order to help others. Survival is not selfish; authors Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel prove this in their stories. In this essay, I will prove that survival isn’t selfish. Gonzales provides many examples of scenarios in which survival is not selfish in “Deep Survival.”
After people have been through a tragedy, many claim that they survived for others and not themselves. Gonzales writes, “Many people who survive alone report that they were doing it for someone else (a wife, boyfriend, mother, son) back home” (Gonzales 327). These survivors weren’t surviving for themselves; they were thinking of others. They were thinking of a family member, friend, loved one, or even someone they admire can give them enough faith, hope, and desire to want to survive and will help push them to survive. Gonzales tells a story of Kearns, a survival guide who took a group of pilots into the wild and almost lost them. He writes, “All at once, it hit me that I might actually lose them. Those million-dollar pilots could die,” (Gonzales 331). Kearns’s fear that the others might die gave him the strength to survive and save the others. Worrying about others not only gives you the will to survive, it also gives you the desire to save those around you. Another author that gives us examples of how selfishness is not required to survive is Lane Wallace in “Is Survival Selfish.”
Wallace argues that people aren’t selfish in survival situations; they simply follow their instinct. He explains, “Some people hold it together in a crisis and some people fall apart. Some people might run away from danger one day, and toward it the next” (Wallace 320). Wallace is making the point that people respond in different ways to survival situations. Survival is simply a matter of instinct, rather than any kind of intentional decision to be selfish or brave. Being selfish requires intention; if survival is an instinct, there is no intention, and therefore it cannot be selfish. In another situation, Wallace states that people don’t choose to survive; it just happens. Wallace points out that those who save others don’t do so out of a sense of benevolence. Wallace explains that, “Oddly enough, most people who perform such impulsive rescues say that they didn’t really think before acting. Which means they weren’t ‘choosing’ civilization” (Wallace 320). He argues that people who are described as being brave aren’t exhibiting those character traits at all; they are just acting. If saving someone isn’t brave, survival cannot be selfish. Wiesel also explains that survival is not selfish in Night.
Wiesel describes many instances in which survival isn’t selfish. One example shows that by bringing others up, you will also bring yourself up. Just before a selection, the block leader of the Buchenwald concentration camp tells his prisoners how to increase their odds of survival. Wiesel writes, “‘I hope you will all pass...but you must try to increase your chances. Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if you have the devil at your heels!’” (Wiesel 308). Wiesel shows that the prisoners encouraged each other to survive in the concentration camps and it gave them hope to survive as well. Another great example that shows that survival is not selfish comes later in the story. In Night, there was a selection and the Blockälteste was encouraging the inmates to run. He also encouraged them to not be afraid. When Wiesel gets back to his friends, he wonders if they wrote him down. Wiesel asked, “‘Did they write me down?’” (Weisel 309). The response from his friend was, “‘No,’ said Yossi. Smiling he added, ‘Anyway, they couldn’t have. You were running too fast...’” (Wiesel 309). This is explaining that having his friends behind his back to uplift him gave him hope and the desire to keep going for a while longer. It also gave his friends hope and the desire to survive. Some may argue that survival is selfish, giving examples of people who saved themselves rather than others.
Some argue that you have to be selfish to survive because you have to think of your own safety first. However, people who survive say it is because they were thinking of others. People even risk their lives in order to save others. Having someone in your thoughts helps you strive to survive. It gives you the will to survive and you want to save them from the pain of loss. Sometimes, it is that one person that keeps people pushing on. Even when they think they’re going to die.
In conclusion, survival is not selfish. In order to even think about saving others people need to save themselves and then save others. Gonzales, Wallace, and Wiesel all give great examples of survival not being selfish. Gonzales talks about people who saved themselves for the sake of others and tells a story about pilots who almost died. These are both amazing examples. Wallace mentioned in “Is Survival Selfish,” that survival is an instinct, so it cannot be selfish. Wiesel talks about how uplifting others and relying on others not only helps others, but also you. As my initial quote states, keeping a part of yourself for you is a matter of survival, and is not selfish.
Works Cited
Gonzales, Laurence. “Deep Survival.” Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 325-334
Wallace, Lane. “Is Survival Selfish”. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 317-320
Wiesel, Elie. “Night”. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 307-312.
Argumentative Essay Reflection Questions
- List one thing you’ve learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like?
- One thing I have learned from this paper, is that I like to repeat some things that I mention in earlier parts of the essay. I will try to not be as repetitive in future essays to make it better.
2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn?
- I was asked to change some sentences in my essay. I changed them and made them better and made them make more sense. I learned how to arrange my words better and make a better sentence structure.
3. What are the conventions of an argumentative essay and how did you meet those in this assignment?
- You have to persuade the reader that what you are saying is better than the opposing side. I gave evidence and statements from the authors to prove that survival is not selfish,
4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it?
- I would improve on organizing my paper better, to have it make more sense and have better structure. I would also not through things together and put more time into finding quotes and evidence.
5. What is one thing you’re proud of in this paper?
- I am proud of the final product. I feel that I did a pretty good job at convincing the reader that survival isn’t selfish, and I chose good quotes to provide evidence to the reader.