Story Of Keesh

Survival in an extreme environment requires bravery and intelligence. In a short story name “The Story of Keesh” by Jack London and Life of Pi by Yann Marvel, the authors describe characters who are brave and intelligent to survive in an extreme environment. “The Story of Keesh” takes place a long time ago on the rim of the polar sea. Keesh wants his family to have a fair portion of meat but the elders underestimate him so he goes out to hunt and prove them wrong. At the end, Keesh becomes a great hunter by using “headcraft” and rises to village chief. A novel excerpt from Life of Pi takes place in the middle of the Pacific during a storm. Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger in front of him and sharks beneath him. He wants to survive

Keesh is intelligent because he came up with the idea of blubber balls to help him easily kill the polar bears. As it states, “The bear swallows the little round ball, the blubber melts, the whalebone with its sharp ends stands out straight, the bear gets sick, why you kill him with a spear.”(73) This shows that Keesh is intelligent by explaining how easy it is to kill the polar bears with his blubber ball idea. However, Pi was intelligent through the quote,”I kneeled on the bench and leaned over. Holding the can with both hands, I sharply brought it up against a hook...A pearl of water appeared.”(87). This shows how Pi was smart enough to use his brain and tools to use as a can opener. It also states,”I considered opening another carton but I thought better.”(90). This quote explains how Pi was smart enough to save the rest of the food for later when he needed it.Intelligence helps both Keesh and Pi make use of their available resources. The authors of “The Story of Keesh” and Life of Pi adequately and efficiently convey the challenges of the two extreme environments through the details of the characters’ reactions. Keesh and Pi’s bravery and intelligence helped both individuals to survive. Bravery and intelligence are powerful tools to survive any