Alexis Van Sickle
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
8 November 2018
Survival, Selfish?
Duke Ellington once said, “Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.” This is the argument I will be making in this essay. Survival is selfish, as is proven in the stories of Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel. These are the authors of the short stories I will be using to prove survival is selfish.
Gonzales provides many examples of scenarios in which survivors had to be selfish in “Deep Survival.” He shows that many survivors only survived by being selfish. Gonzalas tells the story of a 17-year-old girl who survived a plane crash, writing, “Tough and clearheaded, this teenage girl, who had lost her shoes (not to mention her mother) on the first day, saved herself; the other survivors took the same eleven days to sit down and die” (Gonzales 326). The only reason the girl survived is she went on by herself, leaving the others to die. Another way he showed survival is selfish is when he pointed out that those who refuse to follow the rules survive. Gonzales writes, “In the World Trade Center disaster, many people who were used to following rules died because they did what they were told by authority figures” (Gonzales 327). Gonzales explains that those who broke the rules put in place for public safety survived. Their selfishness saved them. Wallace supports this claim as well.
Wallace gives examples of how survival isn’t selfish in “Is Survival Selfish.” He argues that survival requires people to be selfish. Wallace writes, “there is a fine line between brave and foolish. There can also be a fine line between smart and selfish” (Wallace 320). He explains that being brave and saving others before yourself is a foolish thing to do in a survival situation. As a result, being selfish is the smart thing to do. Survival requires that people be selfish. Wallace uses another story of a woman who saved herself in a plane crash. The other passengers were frozen, unmoving, and she crawled over them to safety. Wallace asks, “Could she really have saved the others? Probably not... if she’d tried, she’d probably have perished with them. So why do survivors berate themselves for not adding to the loss by attempting the impossible?” (Wallace 318). He points out that the woman in the story had to be selfish to survive, and it was only by looking after herself that she was able to make it out alive. She was selfish, and she survived. Wiesel offers further evidence.
Wiesel proves that survival is selfish in the story Night. When Wiesel writes about his experience in the Buchenwald concentration camp, he shows that the veterans had no sympathy. He tells readers, “The veterans told us ‘You’re lucky’” (Wiesel 308). The veteran survivors survived because they had no sympathy. They didn’t get attached to others. They looked out for number one. Wiesel also explains that people in life threating situations must leave all others behind. After his father is chosen for a selection, Wiesel is forced to leave him behind quite possibly to die. He writes, “We were at the gate. We were being counted. Around us, the din of military music. Then we were outside” (Wiesel 312). In this event, Wiesel had to leave his father or else he would’ve been killed. If he wasn’t selfish, he would’ve died.
Some may argue that survival isn’t selfish. Wiesel writes about how his father gave him his inheritance before his father was going to be killed. This seems to show that even when he was surviving, Wiesel’s father was not selfish. This does seem like a compelling argument on the surface, but when you look closer it falls apart. His father could have figured he was going to die anyway, so why not leave his son with some stuff that may help him. We can’t really say he wasn’t being selfish. People can only save others if they save themselves first.
Even when people don’t try to be selfish while surviving, they are. Survival is selfish, as is proven in the stories of Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel. Gonzales gives us the story of a 17-year-old girl who saved herself, leaving others to die and the story of people who survived the World Trade Center attack by breaking the rules that were put there for public safety. Wallace explains that there is a line between smart and selfish, citing the example of the lady that crawled over other people who were frozen in fear to save herself. Wiesel tells us about his experience in a concentration camp, explaining that the veterans survived by having no attachment to anyone. Survival is a virtue; people shouldn’t be ashamed that they survived. Even if people sacrifice themselves, the person saved was still selfish by taking your sacrifice. Survival requires people to be selfish.Page Break
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
1) List one Thing you’ve learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like?
-I learned how to use evidence from books. It looks like this, (Author’s name, page number)
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?
-In one quote I skipped over an entire part so I had to go back and put it in. This thought me to pay closer attention.
3) What are the conventions of an argumentative essay and how did you meet those in this assignment?
-You have to use your own opinion a lot, which is different from most papers.
4) Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it?
- I probably would have added more evidence to it.
5) What is one thing you’re proud of in this Paper?
-I really like how I tied it all together.
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
8 November 2018
Survival, Selfish?
Duke Ellington once said, “Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.” This is the argument I will be making in this essay. Survival is selfish, as is proven in the stories of Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel. These are the authors of the short stories I will be using to prove survival is selfish.
Gonzales provides many examples of scenarios in which survivors had to be selfish in “Deep Survival.” He shows that many survivors only survived by being selfish. Gonzalas tells the story of a 17-year-old girl who survived a plane crash, writing, “Tough and clearheaded, this teenage girl, who had lost her shoes (not to mention her mother) on the first day, saved herself; the other survivors took the same eleven days to sit down and die” (Gonzales 326). The only reason the girl survived is she went on by herself, leaving the others to die. Another way he showed survival is selfish is when he pointed out that those who refuse to follow the rules survive. Gonzales writes, “In the World Trade Center disaster, many people who were used to following rules died because they did what they were told by authority figures” (Gonzales 327). Gonzales explains that those who broke the rules put in place for public safety survived. Their selfishness saved them. Wallace supports this claim as well.
Wallace gives examples of how survival isn’t selfish in “Is Survival Selfish.” He argues that survival requires people to be selfish. Wallace writes, “there is a fine line between brave and foolish. There can also be a fine line between smart and selfish” (Wallace 320). He explains that being brave and saving others before yourself is a foolish thing to do in a survival situation. As a result, being selfish is the smart thing to do. Survival requires that people be selfish. Wallace uses another story of a woman who saved herself in a plane crash. The other passengers were frozen, unmoving, and she crawled over them to safety. Wallace asks, “Could she really have saved the others? Probably not... if she’d tried, she’d probably have perished with them. So why do survivors berate themselves for not adding to the loss by attempting the impossible?” (Wallace 318). He points out that the woman in the story had to be selfish to survive, and it was only by looking after herself that she was able to make it out alive. She was selfish, and she survived. Wiesel offers further evidence.
Wiesel proves that survival is selfish in the story Night. When Wiesel writes about his experience in the Buchenwald concentration camp, he shows that the veterans had no sympathy. He tells readers, “The veterans told us ‘You’re lucky’” (Wiesel 308). The veteran survivors survived because they had no sympathy. They didn’t get attached to others. They looked out for number one. Wiesel also explains that people in life threating situations must leave all others behind. After his father is chosen for a selection, Wiesel is forced to leave him behind quite possibly to die. He writes, “We were at the gate. We were being counted. Around us, the din of military music. Then we were outside” (Wiesel 312). In this event, Wiesel had to leave his father or else he would’ve been killed. If he wasn’t selfish, he would’ve died.
Some may argue that survival isn’t selfish. Wiesel writes about how his father gave him his inheritance before his father was going to be killed. This seems to show that even when he was surviving, Wiesel’s father was not selfish. This does seem like a compelling argument on the surface, but when you look closer it falls apart. His father could have figured he was going to die anyway, so why not leave his son with some stuff that may help him. We can’t really say he wasn’t being selfish. People can only save others if they save themselves first.
Even when people don’t try to be selfish while surviving, they are. Survival is selfish, as is proven in the stories of Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel. Gonzales gives us the story of a 17-year-old girl who saved herself, leaving others to die and the story of people who survived the World Trade Center attack by breaking the rules that were put there for public safety. Wallace explains that there is a line between smart and selfish, citing the example of the lady that crawled over other people who were frozen in fear to save herself. Wiesel tells us about his experience in a concentration camp, explaining that the veterans survived by having no attachment to anyone. Survival is a virtue; people shouldn’t be ashamed that they survived. Even if people sacrifice themselves, the person saved was still selfish by taking your sacrifice. Survival requires people to be selfish.Page Break
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
1) List one Thing you’ve learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like?
-I learned how to use evidence from books. It looks like this, (Author’s name, page number)
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?
-In one quote I skipped over an entire part so I had to go back and put it in. This thought me to pay closer attention.
3) What are the conventions of an argumentative essay and how did you meet those in this assignment?
-You have to use your own opinion a lot, which is different from most papers.
4) Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it?
- I probably would have added more evidence to it.
5) What is one thing you’re proud of in this Paper?
-I really like how I tied it all together.