Levi Frederickson Mrs. Sechrist Eng. 8 15/5/23 Survival Argumentative Essay Luck: “Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own action. At this point in history, there is usually a strategy to luck, even in the real world, when there is a life-or-death situation. The most important factor that affects survival is mental strength. In the article “What it takes to survive a crisis” by Ben Sherwood, he tries to show that a person's mental strength determines whether they survive a crisis or not. In paragraph 16 the article states “’Luck is not a magical ability or gift from the gods’ Wisen writes. ‘Instead, it is a state of mind, a way of thinking and behaving.’” Some people may try and find out if they're …show more content…
This statement can be easily refuted with one quote from paragraph 22, which states “no wind had blown for weeks, and each bough was fully freighted”. Each time he had pulled a twig, he had communicated a slight agitation to the tree- imperceptible agitation, so as far as he was concerned, but sufficient to bring about the disaster. High up in the tree, 1 bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them.” This mistake could have been avoided by not building the fire under the tree or taking branches directly above the fire. People can relate to this when they do something stupid like forgetting to put a lock on a locker and the stuff in the locker gets stolen. Another thing that also refutes the false claim is in paragraph 33, which says “This threw him into a panic, and he turned and ran up the Creek bed along the old dim trail.” The man had failed to make another fire and resulted in running, which is not great because it takes a lot of energy to run a long distance, especially with gear on. This mistake could and will lead to death, which was the man's fault for not trying to think things through and not some random force called luck. People may be able to relate to this when they rush to get a job done in the last second, but don't do well on it and something like getting demoted or
needs to make up his own ritual that he can do before running into a
In "the fire-breather" by Tod Olson, Garrett Morgan is testing his one of his many life changing inventions, to show the world that he was willing to put his life at risk to prove to people that he was confident in his invention. He did the craziest things to get people to buy his mask. An example from the article is "he would step into a tent containing a toxic mix of burning tar, sulfur, formaldehyde, and manure." (Olson 27) That is a very dangerous stunt to pull, just to prove that his invention worked. He even saved lives in a stunt and could have died, all just to show his confidence in his invention. In the article, it says that he went down into a tunnel with toxic gas wearing nothing but his pajamas and his mask. (Olson 28) It is not
According to Hunter Thompson, “Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it.” In “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, the man was clumsy and fell to the side of disaster. According to the tips in “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales, there are many steps the man could have taken that would have given him a better shot at surviving. For example, the man may have survived if he would have taken correct, decisive action, if he would have stayed calm, and if he would have surrendered. Each time that he failed to complete these actions, it was like the wind blew and pushed him closer to his final disaster.
...w when do use it. In contrast, luck more likely just happens, whereas impulse control is an ability.
is not a thing of chance or luck. It is something that takes repetition. To be
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting [revealing] talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant [hidden],” –Horace. These wise words of Horace prove a point. Everyone has talents of some kind, however these people need to discover it on their own. Adversity, whether it be danger, hardship, or a simple challenge between friends, gives people the motivation to do things they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
In the short story “To Build A Fire”, by Jack London, Tells a story of a man who must brace himself through the harsh weather of negative 60 degrees in the tundra of Alaska. A native husky accompanies him through the 9 hours of hiking. His confidence allows him to look past any sort of doubt of his ability to reach camp before dark. The man then finds himself in a tense situation when he built a fire under a spruce tree. Snow falls from the trees branches and lands on top of the fire the man had rigorously built. The man is optimistic of the situation until he realizes his hands have become frozen. He accepts his fate and admits he made a mistake of ignoring the old timers warnings. London’s central idea suggests that pride and vain thoughts will cloud someone's ability to see their limitations and details that go unnoticed. You become clumsy.
The short story "To build a Fire" by Jack London, tells about the relationship between man and nature. The story takes place in the Yukon during one of the long night. The main character who is unnamed travels with a dog along a small trail to a mining camp. The man leaves against the advice of a local and after a short time realizes that he should have waited. The temperature is extremely cold because the mans spit freezes before it hits the ground. The main obstacle of his journey is the many covered springs that mean death to whoever falls into them. The man sends his dog in front of him to make sure that the trail is safe. Eventually the dog falls into one of the springs and gets his paws wet. Immediate, acting solely of instinct, the dog begins to chew the ice off of his feet. Further down the trail a similar incident happens, but this time the man falls into the spring. In order to keep his feet from freezing he has to build a fire. The first attempt to build a fire is flawed by the location the man chose under a tree. After the man is unable to light a second fire because of the loss of dexterity in his fingers, he becomes panicked and blindly runs, until totally exhausted, and dies. Throughout the story the mood gives the impression of extreme cold, and the tone is ironic. Through the actions of the main character, Jack London shows that man must be humble to nature.
Luck is an important role in a person’s success. Home life, financial situation, location, and other elements are all a part of someone’s luck. If a person originates from a supportive, wealthy family, chances are that the person will grow up to become very successful. On the other hand, someone born into a careless, destitute family, will most likely struggle to find the path to success. In
In addition, the need to survive in a life or death situation navigates people to get through. “I don’t know what made me so supple and strong that day, but I felt no hardship, no
To Build a Fire - Jack London The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a comprehensive story that tackles the struggles of a newcomer trying to survive a day in the Yukon with very harsh and cold weather. The man travels with a big native husky and tries many times to build a fire but fails due to his inadequate personality. The man repeatedly lets his ignorance and arrogance dictate his decisions, which soon leads to his demise. The theme of the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is that being ignorant, arrogant and foolish can lead to bad decisions.
When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold."(p.1745) At first when the man started his journey to the camp, he felt certain that he could make it back to camp before dinner. As the trip progressed, the man made mistake after mistake that sealed his fate. The man's first mistake was to step into a pool of water and soak his legs to the knees. This blunder forced the man to build a fire to dry his wet socks and shoes so his feet would not freeze and become frostbitten. When the man began to build a fire he failed to notice that he was doing so under a large, snow laden spruce tree where he was getting his firewood. When the man had a small fire that was beginning to smolder the disturbance to the tree caused the snow to tumble to the ground and extinguish the fire. "It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open."(1750).
The essential elements of the story's setting in Jack London "to build a fire" includes a Time, place, weather, Natural environment and Isolation. These elements provide a backdrop that emphasizes the story's themes. The important events of the story Jacks London "to build a fire" was the Introduction, the warning, Journey begins, cold conditions, first Fire attempt, second fire attempt, desperation, Acceptance of fate, final collapse, Death, and Survival of the dog, These events highlight the theme. One essential piece of character information in Jack London's "To Build a Fire" is the protagonist's overconfidence and lack of appreciation for the harshness of the Yukon wilderness. Despite warnings and advice from an experienced old-timer, the protagonist decided to travel alone in the extremely cold
“Your Brain On Emergencies” talks about what goes on in your head during emergencies and what you need to do in those situations. In the section labeled “know yourself” when (Sounds weird) the author writes, “During the decision making process, your mind will likely move through three stages: Denial, Deliberation, Decisive action.” The three d’s in this piece of evidence show that in a survival situation one has to use their emotions to realize the danger they are in because they will be in denial which is when they are trying to come up with a safe reason for whatever is going on. (Grammer, run on, change order) This shows the importance of being emotionally strong enough to realize one is in denial so that one (Don’t use “one” more than once) can move on to decisive action after deliberation.
We as humans are a very versatile species; we are constantly changing our society to become more strategic and adaptable. Or at least it seems that way. Our modern technological advancements are seen mostly as an incredible contribution to our society, helping us lead easy, healthy, and productive lives. However, there is a darker aspect to these discoveries. Humans have developed a dependence on, and possibly an obsession with, the technology and reasoning we have today.