The Survival Instinct in A Long Way Gone and Blood Brothers

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” (Mark Twain). This quote from the famous American writer is the basis for what became one of the hardest ideas to comprehend, death. Death has always been a complex term, causing one to struggle with what the true definition is. It is also hard to wrap your mind around what does it truly mean to die. These are the questions we long for the answer. Whether we acknowledge it or not, death has always been feared by many. Death remains an impossible question, one that has been unexplained since beginning of time. Even though dying is a natural, we as a human race still fear it. What can be done to defeat this never-ending battle? According to Montaigne’s “To Philosophize is to Learn to Die” and Cory Taylor’s “Questions for Me About Dying” we can overcome this by living to the fullest, living with no regrets, living a legacy, and lastly not fearing the inevitable. If you want to conquer the question of life, live in the moment.

That’s the thing about death: it sneaks up and robs a person of their life, taking away all of their happiness. People indulge themselves in the idea of fearing death rather than facing it. Death is an unknown territory where no survivors have ever came back to share their experience. The US Army Private, Roy Scranton’s article “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene” shines hope where he explains how fear can be conquered if the idea of dying is accepted. It is fear that paralyzes people from moving toward the idea of death. If people started to embrace the present, they will understand the inevitability of death and start discrediting fear.

The will to live is a psychological force to fight for survival seen as an important and active process of conscious and unconscious reasoning. This occurs particularly when one’s own life is threatened by a serious injury or matter. The idea in which someone who is on the threshold of death may consciously or unconsciously try to stay alive through the belief that they have a reason or something to live for, along with giving up on the will to live. There are significant correlations between the will to live and existential, psychological, social, and physical sources of distress. The concept of the will to live can be seen as directly impacted by hope. Many, who overcome near-death experiences with no explanation, have described concepts such as the will to live as a direct component of their survival. The difference between the wish to die versus the wish to live is also a unique risk factor for suicide.

“When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life…” When reading Hamlet’s Soliloquy, this line made me question my own opinion on the value of life. If life is such a struggle, and there are so many obstacles that seem impossible to conquer, why not just end it? End the suffering: End the complication: Just kill yourself in hopes that the afterlife holds something better than than this daunting voyage. The answer is most people scared shitless. “But the dread of something after death… No traveler returns, puzzles the will.” When we die, there is no coming back; death is a journey and “No traveler returns.” Not knowing what comes after might be what keeps many of us alive. The fear of the

As far back in history as we can go, humans have been in a fight for survival. There have been battles with gigantic mammoths, soldiers charging the front line with swords drawn or teachers witnessing neighbors

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.” (Unknown) People’s lives are plagued by loss, disease, and tragedy. How they surviving such adversity shapes who they are as individuals, but more importantly, it brings out their inherent ability to step up to the challenges life presents. When given a cause to fight for, one can survive through grim calamities that would otherwise be fatal.

The ocean of life is a constant routine to not only reconcile with certain circumstances, but to learn, to understand, and to accept them. With every new obstacle we face, this process is repeated absentmindedly, but the way we choose to react and what we absorb from these events is what ultimately makes us grow. As humans, we tend to find a suitable comfort space, that when in front of the unknown we close ourselves off in fear. Unfortunately, we become so accustomed that we take the hinges off our door, isolating ourselves and repressing the daunting task of opening up again. This submissiveness

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

Survival is one of the primal instincts of human nature. It is programmed into human beings at birth, and cannot be easily masked. No matter how morally wrong the

When faced with the inevitable fate of death, the reaction of the population is very different because of their relation to life. Some men did not stop for death; they “hurried to and from” grinding their teeth in anger, which indicated their frustration in their inability to change the inevitable. Some “hid their eyes and wept” because of their unwillingness to accept the end while others rested “Their chins upon their clinched hands.” The latter watched their world fall apart bravely and smiled at their fate.

Ishmael finally understands that accident rules the universe; a person can be struck with mishaps or fortune, which he/she cannot control. The environment and pressures of one’s culture make him/her separate but part of a whole. The human heart is mysterious, thus making a person’s experiences unique. It is driven by the individual will and actions of a person. Ishmael’s decision to put his anguish behind him and show Hatsue the records to set her husband free reveals how big his heart is.

man and nature are joined in a circular system, in which death is necessary and fosters new life.

John Hersey, the author of the book “Hiroshima”, recounts the tragic events surrounding six survivors living in Hiroshima at a time the atomic bomb was being dropped. “The characters in his account are living individuals, not composite types. The story is their own story, told as far as possible in their own words” (Hersey VI). Part of Hersey’s goal was to emphasize how catastrophic events can foster a need for survival and bring communities together as they lean on each other for support. Although cultural behaviors differ around the globe, the basic needs in which to satisfy for survival are surprisingly similar. For this analysis, we will take a brief look at what is inherent in each of us, the need for survival.

Throughout our lives we’ve heard the expression “ Survival of the fittest ”. Since the beginning all species and races have been subject to their survival rate. Thus, the meaning behind “ Survival of the fittest”. For generations, people have gone to the extreme to survive; People have been known to go to extreme lengths, including doing things they would have never imagined doing in their wildest dreams for their survival.

To counter that, we need to trick nature into believing that we are still vibrant and able to reproduce so that it leaves us alone to get the best out of life.