Survival: A Chance or Choice? Essay

When people are struck with hardships in life, the way they react reveals their true character. Having a certain mindset can greatly influence how they handle problems, differentiating one person from another. Many can feel discouraged and feel like giving up when they hit a rough patch. In other cases, the will to be in a position better than where they are at the moment gives them the motivation to succeed. Adversity can have a positive effect on the development of an individual's character, providing them with the drive to overcome their current situation.

Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist in The Hunger Game series, is one of the survivors of the hunger game. Katniss comes from district 12, the poorest area in the whole countries. The character’s image is tough and strong because she wants to protect her family from any dangers. Therefore, she volunteers to replace her sister in the hunger game to protect her. She even become the symbol of resistance (the Mockingjay) of the war to the Capitol during the revolution. For people in the Panem, Katniss is the victor of the hunger game, the hope, who survives from the torture and poverty. The image of Katniss represents people who fight for survival in the real world. People sometimes need to give up something when they faced difficulty, like Katniss, she makes efforts to fight with the government.

A close review of the literature reveals that your state of mind during a matter of life or death situation will influence the outcome of your survival. In the argument Is Survival Selfish by Lane Wallace, I woman that had been in an airliner that crashed on landing,“(realized) that the people around her were too paralyzed to react (in the situation), (so) she took direct action...(Wallace 318). This example showed that your state of mind in a life or death situation will influence your outcome because the woman had to understand the situation that she was in and acknowledge that she had to get out of the plane. Through her observations, there was nothing that she could do to help the other passengers out of the plane because they were too paralyzed to react. This influenced her outcome because if she hadn’t looked out for herself than she would have had the same fate as most of the passengers in the crashed plane.

When one loves a person or thing dearly, then they have the tendency to do almost anything they can to protect and save them from whatever harm they come across. Katniss volunteered for the games knowing she was saving her sister from a terrible fate. She made a promise that she would try her best to win the Hunger Games, but her confidence in her own ability to kill another person was minimal. She did not want to get any blood on her hands but knew that in order to win she would be forced to. The author of Genocidal Killer, Crispin Sartwell recognized situations like these when he said, “your goodness, like mine, has little to do with who you are and everything to do with the social conditions you find yourself in” (Sartwell). The circumstance Katniss found herself in was full of violence, pain, and ruthlessness which further contributed to the tainting of her

I think that determination is definitely a big part of survival. In the book Hatchet, Brian was determined when he was making the fire. It took him a long time to figure out how to do it and then it took him quite a while to get it started, but all the time, he kept going because he was so determined. He tried many different times in many different ways. Ernest Shackleton was a man who tried to sail to Antarctica in a ship with a crew, but got stuck in an iceberg. Also, in a video about Ernest Shackleton, he was obviously very

At one point in his or her life, everyone is faced with some type of difficulty or problem that seems impossible to solve. Whether it be trying to convince people with an opposing view that your view is correct, or the difficulty of choosing between two opportunities, that could change your life, everyone shares the experience of being faced with adversity. In these strenuous moments everyone reacts in their own unique way, allowing some people to overcome the difficult moment, while others are left unsuccessful. This begs the question, in the face of adversity, what causes some people to prevail while others fail? While there could be countless answers to this question for any given scenario, it ultimately comes down to one's attitude and fortitude.

Survival is living on the hope that better things are yet to come in your life. Right now in our country people survive because of hope and the belief that people are good and they will help them out. People survive when they are homeless on the streets only because of the people who are good at heart and give them food or money to buy clothing for the winter. Gerta survived because of her family and friends. Anne Frank survived because she believed that “Despite all the evil going on in the world I still believe that all people are good at heart.”

Misfortune can take the form of numerous things. It could be financial problems, a death of a close family member, or a natural disaster. How a person reacts to these trials and tribulations is what builds character. Woody Guthrie responded to his own misfortunes with confidence and a determination to keep moving forward. Even though he was penniless and treated poorly by the local Californians, he kept moving forward and became successful. Psalms 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (ESV, Psalms 23:4) This verse demonstrates how determination and trusting God were essential in the survival of the Okies. The Okies did not give up. Even though they were treated unfairly and lost much to the dust storm, they did not lose faith. By looking at what the Okies went through, there is a valuable spiritual lesson to learned. Facing a natural disaster can be a part of life but having faith in God’s plans is

Survival stories are constantly broadcasted across the nation. People who hear these stories always think of the horrors of the situation and grieve for those who did not make it through. But people are often not found contemplated the thought of survival being a selfish choice. Are survivors selfish for choosing themselves instead of the people around them? The truth is that the answer to this question is complex.

In order to survive, people have been known to go to great lengths to which people will go in order to ordinarily do. Survival to me means that to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances. “The good lie” (the film), ZombieLand (the movie), and the movie Dorry, all three movies experience a difficult obstacle to face for survival.

In the article, “Miraculous Survivors: Why They Live While Others Die”, by John Blake. Lawrence Gonzales says that all survivors share common traits. In the story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell. The protagonist, Rainsford, survives death. Rainsford shares qualities that Gonzales says helps people survive. Those qualities are, Not viewing yourself as a victim, Getting out of denial quickly, and being an independent thinker.

Nobody in this world has an easy life. Even some of our greatest heroes such as Rosa Parks or Babe Ruth were faced with many difficult decisions. Katniss Everdeen's life was definitely no walk in the park. Many challenges, both physical and emotional, were thrown at her face during the 16 years she spent in district 12 and her time in the arena. Early on in her life she had been forced to use the hunting and gathering skills that her father taught her to provide food for her mother and sister after his death plunged them into a life of poverty and starvation. During the games Katniss plays up a romance with Peeta hoping to get more sponsors to help with their survival in the arena, little does she know, he isn't faking his love for her. Survival is Katniss' main priority as she battles head-to-head with her 23 competitors in the arena. All Katniss knows is that these games are survival of the fittest, and if she wants to come home to her family alive, she needs to step up her game.

Often times a survivor is a leader and a leader has to have a positive attitude because the people feed off the attitude and they will perform better and will take the monkey off everyones back if positive energy is around everyone. A survivor is unique as well in many ways because of their experiences in the past they can often help people get through difficult situations by telling them things can only get better and just let them know that they have someone supporting them even through the toughest of times. For example in the book Woodlawn the team is going through a time and so they use God as a person to lean on and they embrace him because they feel that is the only way they can get through the situation. When Woodlawn lost they could have put blame on each other but instead they said “God made us lose this for a reason,everything happens for a reason. He wants us to lean on him so that we know that we can trust him” (Gerelds 63) and this shows that yes, they may be going through a tough time but they can rely on each other and god for help and reassurance. Just like how the team kept their attitudes up they knew it happened for a reason. Any survivor would have to go through a tough situation and and have to rely on someone and they would have to keep a positive mindset and attitude so they keep everyone around them in a good

Giving up may cause others to persevere. In the scene, “She must have really loved him to leave her home for the Seam,” it really made notice something. In this paragraph, Katniss’ mother left her home to marry her future husband. He ended up dying in a coal mine, and she broke down and stopped doing anything. The author mentions, “All I can see is the woman who sat by, blank and unreachable, while her children turned to skin and bones.” Katniss is realizing that she can’t give up herself, and she must persevere. I think she does this because even though her family is not helpful, she still loves them. I am thinking that the opposite of persevering, giving up, could lead to others persevering. This attitude may be because of anger, love, or even fear. All these emotions play a role in Katniss not following her mother’s actions. This is also clear when Haymitch is drunk and gives up on Katniss and Peeta. Katniss decides to almost stab him, and send a message that he should be

Survival is being able to endure and live through challenges that may wear you down (mentally or physically), and there are several ways of showing survival. “The Story of Keesh,” by Jack London, depicts survival through a harsh setting. “The Five People You Meet In Heaven,” by Mitch Albom, depicts survival through character development. In sum, the idea of survival is shown in literature through these two different ways.