Rosie Ortega Ms. Lehmann English 1-3 8 November 2018 Survival Requires You to be Selfish Do you think that survival is selfish? The stories that I am about to share are what make me believe that only the selfish survive. Survival is selfish; authors Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel prove this in their stories. The first story about survival being selfish is “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales. Gonzales provides many examples of scenarios in which survivors had to be selfish in order to survive. Gonzales talks about the bravery of a plane crash survivor. He tells the story of a sixteen-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 that she went by herself, leaving the others to die. In the same essay, Gonzales gives readers another example of the necessity of selfishness. Gonzales points out that those who refused to follow the rules during 9-11 survived. Gonzales writes, “In the World Trade Center disaster, may people who were used to following the rules died because they did what they were told by authority figures” (Gonzales 327). He explains that those who broke the rules put in place for public safety survived. Their selfishness saved them. Wallace also provides convincing evidence that survival is selfish in his story, “Is Survival Selfish?” In “Is Survival Selfish?,”Wallace explains that survival does require 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). Wallaces 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. The author provides further examples that illustrate the point. Wallace tells us about another story in which a woman is selfish during a plane crash. Wallace uses the story of a woman who saved herself. The other passengers were frozen, unmoving, and she crawled over them to safety. Wallace asks, “Could she really have saved others? Probably not, and certainly not from the back of the plane. If she’d tried, she probably would have perished with them” (Wallace 318). The woman would have died if she hadn’t put herself first. Her selfishness allowed her to leave the others behind and save herself. Wiesel also claims that survival is selfish in is his memoir, Night. Wiesel explains that sometimes people have to be selfish when they are trying to survive. Wiesel tells readers that the veterans of Buchenwald concentration camp had no sympathy for the other prisoners. Wiesel writes, “The veterans told us: ‘You’re lucky to have been brought here so late. Today, this is paradise compared to what the camp was two years ago’” (Wiesel 308). People had to be selfish because they knew that everyone would die, so they started caring about themselves and shutting other people out. Wiesel also shares a story about leaving his own dad to die. Wiesel knew that he needed to live and not stay back for his father after his father was chosen during a selection. Wiesel says, “My father had remained near the block, leaning against the wall. Then he began to run, to try to catch up with us. Perhaps he had forgotten to tell me something... But we were marching too fast... Left, right” (Wiesel 312). Wiesel had to leave his father behind and think about himself, even though he knew that his father was going to die if he did not pass the decisive selection. Had Weisel stayed, he would have died. Despite the evidence that survival is selfish, many people don’t agree. Some people may argue that survival is not selfish, giving examples of people who risked their lives to save others. This seems like a compelling argument on the surface, but it falls apart on closer examination. People can only save others if they put themselves first. You have to be alive and make sure you are safe before trying to save or help others. Survival requires people to be selfish. Authors Laurence Gonzales, Lane Wallace, and Elie Wiesel prove that survival is selfish in their writings. Laurence Gonzales says people have to be selfish enough to not care about everyone else and focus on themselves. Lane Wallace proves that even though people try not to be selfish, they still have to put themselves first in a survival situation. Elie Weisel explains that people need to think more about themselves and not about others. After reading the stories and memoir, I do truly believe that 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 Hartcourt, 2017, pp.317-320. Wiesel, Elie. Night. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt, 2017, pp.307-312.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
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 that I could add other transitions after and before a statement or quote, if I were to add transitions on my other papers it would all make sense and people who will read it will understand better. It will look like I’ve put in much more work in my papers and look more professional.
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? When my writing had been underlined, it means that it needs to be italicized. I learned that a story needs to be in quotations and a book or memoir needs to be italicized.
What are the convections of an argumentative essay and how did you meet those in this assignment? The conventions are that we gave examples to our claims, gave quotes, and wrote a rebuttal, which are very important in an argumentative essay. I met those requirements by writing it all down on a piece of paper and added it to my paper.
Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I would go through all of my evidence and made sure every quote or statement to make sure it made sense.
What is one thing you’re proud of in this paper? I am really proud at the fact that I finished this assignment on time and got a ninety-eight percent on it which is pretty good to me.