Kyle Christensen
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
3 December 2019
Survival, Selfish or No?
Do you think survival is selfish? This is the central question of this essay. Survival does require people to be selfish because people can’t rely on other people to save them and people shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others; it could cost them their lives. There are many examples of survivors who save themselves because other people couldn’t save them.
It’s only by saving themselves that many people survive in a crisis. In the book Deep Survival, Juliane survived after the plane crashed because she didn’t sit around and wait to be saved like the other survivors. “She looked to herself, took responsibility, made a plan” (Gonzales 326). Here Juliane took her life in her own hands and didn’t rely on someone else to save her. She got up and saved herself. Another example that you must save yourself and not count on others is found in Deep Survival. It is about 9-11 and how people waited to be rescued by the firefighters instead of saving themselves. “Many people who were used to following the rules died because they did what they were told by authority figures” (Gonzales 327). The people in 9-11 would have survived if they would have thought for themselves and gotten out of the building instead of listening to the authorities and staying inside. Not only should people not rely on others to save them, but also, they shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others.
People who think that they can save others and try to do so usually end up dying with the person they were trying to save. In the article “Is Survival Selfish,” a woman got in a plane crash. All the other passengers were still sitting in their seats in shock. She got up and crawled over the seats to the exit. She made it out just in time before she would have died. “After realizing that the people around her were too paralyzed to react, she took direct action” (Wallace 218). Another example that is similar can be found in the article “Is Survival Selfish.” Yates was stuck in a horrible blizzard while climbing a mountain with his friend. His friend and him were connected by a rope, and his friend fell about 30 feet down. Yates was just hanging there and there was nothing he could do to save his friend. “Yates, unable to lift him up and losing his own grip on the mountain, ended up cutting the rope to his friend to save himself” (Wallace 319). Yates knew that if he didn’t cut the rope, he would have died with his friend. In order to survive, Yates had to be selfish. Some people might not agree with the idea of you have to be selfish in order to survive.
Some people say that the key to survival is having purpose in a crisis; caring for others gives people a purpose. They say that people survive because they care about someone else, not just themselves. That is wrong because people survive because they want to see their family and friends again. Not because they want their family and friends to see them again. In the book Deep Survival, Difrancesco gave the perfect example of this. “I’ve got to see my wife and kids again” (Gonzales 332). This shows that DiFrancesco only cared about seeing his wife and kids, not about the other people in the building seeing their family. He only thought of himself by seeing his family again, not about his family wanting to see him again.
Survival does require people to be selfish because people can’t rely on other people to save them, and people shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others; it could cost them their lives. People have way higher survival rates when they think about themselves more than others. When people think about themselves, they become more aware and careful, which leads to higher chances of survival. I believe that in order to have the best chance of survival, you need to think of yourself before you think of others. More likely than not when you try to save yourself other people will follow your example, which saves them too.
Works Sited
Wallace, Lane. “Is Survival Selfish.” Collections, Edited by Kylene 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 Kylene Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. McBride,
Erik Palmer, & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 325-334.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
My paper is qualified because I am arguing about to different things. I give facts and evidence about both of the sides. I gave a rebuttal which you have to have in a argumentative essay. I also gave a thesis statement. I argued about my side which is crucial for an argumentative essay.
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?
I found lots of quotes for my paper. I found them by going back into my collections book and looking for them. I choose the quotes that I did because they give very good evidence about weather or not survival is selfish. They gave my paper more detail and made it way more interesting.
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
3 December 2019
Survival, Selfish or No?
Do you think survival is selfish? This is the central question of this essay. Survival does require people to be selfish because people can’t rely on other people to save them and people shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others; it could cost them their lives. There are many examples of survivors who save themselves because other people couldn’t save them.
It’s only by saving themselves that many people survive in a crisis. In the book Deep Survival, Juliane survived after the plane crashed because she didn’t sit around and wait to be saved like the other survivors. “She looked to herself, took responsibility, made a plan” (Gonzales 326). Here Juliane took her life in her own hands and didn’t rely on someone else to save her. She got up and saved herself. Another example that you must save yourself and not count on others is found in Deep Survival. It is about 9-11 and how people waited to be rescued by the firefighters instead of saving themselves. “Many people who were used to following the rules died because they did what they were told by authority figures” (Gonzales 327). The people in 9-11 would have survived if they would have thought for themselves and gotten out of the building instead of listening to the authorities and staying inside. Not only should people not rely on others to save them, but also, they shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others.
People who think that they can save others and try to do so usually end up dying with the person they were trying to save. In the article “Is Survival Selfish,” a woman got in a plane crash. All the other passengers were still sitting in their seats in shock. She got up and crawled over the seats to the exit. She made it out just in time before she would have died. “After realizing that the people around her were too paralyzed to react, she took direct action” (Wallace 218). Another example that is similar can be found in the article “Is Survival Selfish.” Yates was stuck in a horrible blizzard while climbing a mountain with his friend. His friend and him were connected by a rope, and his friend fell about 30 feet down. Yates was just hanging there and there was nothing he could do to save his friend. “Yates, unable to lift him up and losing his own grip on the mountain, ended up cutting the rope to his friend to save himself” (Wallace 319). Yates knew that if he didn’t cut the rope, he would have died with his friend. In order to survive, Yates had to be selfish. Some people might not agree with the idea of you have to be selfish in order to survive.
Some people say that the key to survival is having purpose in a crisis; caring for others gives people a purpose. They say that people survive because they care about someone else, not just themselves. That is wrong because people survive because they want to see their family and friends again. Not because they want their family and friends to see them again. In the book Deep Survival, Difrancesco gave the perfect example of this. “I’ve got to see my wife and kids again” (Gonzales 332). This shows that DiFrancesco only cared about seeing his wife and kids, not about the other people in the building seeing their family. He only thought of himself by seeing his family again, not about his family wanting to see him again.
Survival does require people to be selfish because people can’t rely on other people to save them, and people shouldn’t assume that they are capable of saving others; it could cost them their lives. People have way higher survival rates when they think about themselves more than others. When people think about themselves, they become more aware and careful, which leads to higher chances of survival. I believe that in order to have the best chance of survival, you need to think of yourself before you think of others. More likely than not when you try to save yourself other people will follow your example, which saves them too.
Works Sited
Wallace, Lane. “Is Survival Selfish.” Collections, Edited by Kylene 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 Kylene Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. McBride,
Erik Palmer, & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 325-334.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
- Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
My paper is qualified because I am arguing about to different things. I give facts and evidence about both of the sides. I gave a rebuttal which you have to have in a argumentative essay. I also gave a thesis statement. I argued about my side which is crucial for an argumentative essay.
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?
I found lots of quotes for my paper. I found them by going back into my collections book and looking for them. I choose the quotes that I did because they give very good evidence about weather or not survival is selfish. They gave my paper more detail and made it way more interesting.