Keyshla Goodon: What Does It Take To Be A Survivor?

SURVIVAL ESSAY
Keyshla Goodson

What does it take to be a survivor? What makes us survivors? What makes famous past figures survivors? Being a survivor is much more than brute strength and knowledge of the wild. It’s cooperation, patience, focus, the will to survive. Lee, Ralston, and Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games all show certain attributes such as courage, patience, and the will to survive.

To begin, Lee, from My Escape from North Korea, portraits courage even in the face of danger. She spent her entire childhood escaping from the famine that struck North Korea. When she was older, she went back to North Korea to save her family only to have them jailed by Chinese forces. She didn’t give up. She paid bribes, argued, lied, all so that her family could be safe. Her courage helped her to fight to free her family. The courage in Lee kept her calm and helped her get her

family back.

Similarly, Aron Ralston, from Trapped, portraits patience even in utter, mind-numbing stillness.

Throughout the period of time he’s spent trapped under a boulder in an infamous canyon, Ralston has been evaluating his options, inspecting possible amputation tools (should worse come to worse), and trying to keep a calm mind about his situation. He was able to keep a relaxed, level head about the problem and was smart about his options. He did panic a few times but was able to relax himself and find a way to calm down. He was able to stay calm until he found a way to amputate his arm.

Finally, Katniss Everdeen, from the Hunger Games series, portraits the will to survive even when all seems hopeless. She spent the entire movie trying to find practical ways to survive in the unpredictable arena. She didn’t panic and kept herself together long enough to come up with survival plans. Even when her little friend Rue was taken out of the game, Katniss knew she had to move on if she was going to survive. Her will to survive gave her enough drive to come up with these plans and keep moving

forward.

These personal qualities that these people portrait make them survivors in ways that brute strength just can’t. None of these characters are insanely strong but they had enough mind and spirit to help them come up with the plans they used to survive their conflicts. As mentioned before, survival is so much more than strength. A true survivor needs courage, patience, and the will to survive.