Preview

Selfishness And Survival

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
345 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Selfishness And Survival
Unexpected things may happen everyday, and whenever someone's life is at risk people tend to act in different ways. Yet in survival situations putting one’s life ahead of others is necessary for survival. Survival does require selfishness because everyone can't always be saved, saving others may not be worth the risks, and selfishness doesn't always mean taking advantage of someone else. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel and the article “Is Survival Selfish?” by Lane Wallace give examples of why and where selfishness is necessary for survival. The survival situations in both texts show how selfishness is the best choice when lives are on the line.
In Night, Wiesel describes his experiences in concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Pain And Suffering In Elie Wiesel's Night
    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pain And Suffering In Elie Wiesel's Night

    After Elie Wiesel and his family neglect to flee the Jewish town of Sighet, Transylvania back in 1944, they start to experience the very brutality of what is today known as the “Holocaust.” They were taken from their homes, stripped of their valuables, and severely tortured beyond human limits. In this dark story, the reader can experience pain and suffering like they have never experienced it before by looking through the eyes of the young Elie Wiesel. For a person to endure as much suffering as Elie did, they would have to be very strong. They would have to have very strong morals, and have something very important to fight for. People suffer everyday, whether it be lightly or heavily. However, it all is the same. In the story “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he utilizes the concepts of comradeship, love,…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why I Shouldn T I Be Selfish Analysis
    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why I Shouldn T I Be Selfish Analysis

    In the text Twenty Questions by G Lee Bowie, I chose the chapter “Why Shouldn’t I Be Selfish”? In that chapter the two selections that were chosen were The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand. The two discuss and give examples of how selfishness is simply for survival and how being selfish can benefit that individual. The term selfishness stated by Ayn Rand is defined as “concern with one’s own interest” (525). In both selections of the chapter both philosophers compared how ones selfish action is based on the question, who benefits from it? Based off of both selections “The Selfish Gene” and “The Virtue of Selfishness” it can be agreed that when one is selfish he thinks of only the benefits he gain from it and not his rival.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lifeboat Ethics Analysis
    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Lifeboat Ethics Analysis

    “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor,” at first is a shocking piece because of the different view of ethics Hardin proposes. Although the article may be taken as offensive and impolite, Hardin is simply only trying to provide a solution to our worldly problem. Sacrifices need to be mad in order for the world to go on strong. We can either try to save everyone and die trying, or save ourselves and let the flourishing live. Weak countries will learn to fend for themselves and either fail or succeed. Take care of yourself and let other nations learn to do the same. The purpose of this essay is to introduce a new ethical way in which our world should live in order for it to…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Ethics My Code, And Anne Frank: Literary Analysis
    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My Ethics My Code, And Anne Frank: Literary Analysis

    In the texts Night, written by Dr.Elie Wiesel, “My Ethics My Code”, written by Rachel Scott, and “Give”, by Anne Frank, the three stories all share an significant common message. The central message the three stories show is the theme of companionship, helping the unfortunate and standing up for other to survive and live. The three authors, Dr.Elie Wiesel, Rachel Scott, and Anne Frank all have a common belief of being a witness and not a bystander and ignore the terrible things. “People will never know how far a little kindness can go” (My Ethics, My Codes of Life)…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Individual Sacrifice: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Individual Sacrifice: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    The success of a society is reliant on individual sacrifice. Ambitions driven by selfishness are detrimental to a community. Numerous instances of human history and literature have demonstrated the importance of limiting self-interest.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Literary Analysis Essay On Milkweed
    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Literary Analysis Essay On Milkweed

    “Every man must must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Instinct In Night By Elie Wiesel
    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Instinct In Night By Elie Wiesel

    An instinct cannot be controlled, so one tries ensure their own safety before trying to save others. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and author of Night, makes a strong point,“I began to laugh. I was happy. I felt like kissing him. At that moment, the others didn’t matter! They had not written me down.” (line 91, page 310). During selection at the concentration camp Wiesel was forced into, when he wasn’t chosen for selection, the joy he felt was stronger than the feelings he had for the suffering of the others who did get chosen. In an environment where it’s save oneself or die, one would most likely not want to add to the fatalities. That’s the emotion Wiesel felt, and though in a different context some would see it as selfish, many would say it was the opposite for him. Why does the reaction to a victim’s emotion differ between events, even though they all fall under the category of a tragedy?…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Vietnam War Selfishness
    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page

    Vietnam War Selfishness

    I would have to admit that humans are selfish creatures in general. My reasoning is that in the most intense of situations, most humans will choose to save themselves over anyone else. For example, during the Vietnam War many Americans were unable to fully sympathize with the South Vietnamese and constantly called for the withdrawal of American troops until that request was fulfilled. While I understand the outcry to stop the number of American deaths in Vietnam, I also sympathize with South Vietnamese were under the threat of being overtaken and forced into communism or even genocide. The selfishness of Americans during this time was obvious. The American people pleaded for the President to pull out of Vietnam while knowing the fate of the…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Teghan Vogt: The Tragedy Of The Holocaust
    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Teghan Vogt: The Tragedy Of The Holocaust

    Then others, not so fortunate, soon lose that willpower and find themselves in a deeper tenebrous place than they were before. In reality, life gives you two choices; fight or flight. Nearly every situation people find themselves in, large or not, we are forced - as one or as many - to make a verdict. Some leading to better fallouts than others, giving others more ambition, and revoking it from others. Between the two, forgetting about the immense amount of deviations, they have slight a bit more similarities.than most people would give credit to. For example, they both involve decisions, such as that of the people during the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel. He had to make many decisions while he was in the camps - as did many other Jewish-inmates, in which initially seemed like decent selections, yet in the end, still pronounced that he was but a “corpse in the mirror staring back at himself” (Wiesel 115). The biggest lesson to learn during a life is that life is either going to make you, or it’s going to break you. Everyday choices and behaviors play a vast aspect in the future of people's’ lives. For example, an additional survivor of the Holocaust was a man named Viktor Frankl. He stated many a time that there had been always a reason for rationalism, even in the worst of bearings. As once said by Frankl himself, “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves” (Frankl). This shows that there can be a harmony between the two, and that no choice is indefinitely suitable or right. That the human instinct to withstand may be incredibly powerful, but the conditions and footing around it may sway a person's decision…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Adversity In Night
    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Adversity In Night

    Even in the most horrifying circumstances, people make choices about how to behave. For example, in his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel faces countless choices as he endures the vilest adversity: genocide. For example, as his ailing father approaches his end, Elie may either abandon him or help him. For a moment Elie considers the former option, but he brushes the thought aside. In Night, Elie writes that “It [the thought] was only a fraction of a second, but it left me feeling guilty” (Wiesel 111). Atrocity attempts to persuade Elie to the dark of night, but he decides to stay in the light. Instead of giving in to his own animal need to survive, Elie exhibits elevated ethics and supports his father until his death. For this, Elie’s character develops. Elie realizes his strength, his perseverance, and his heart. However, it is not, as Horace asserts, the adversity in itself that summons these traits. To even suggest that the Holocaust might have produced something constructive is heinous. Rather, Elie makes a choice that rouses these talents of will from their slumber in his unconscious and draws them to the forefront of his mind. Adversity opens the door to character growth, and Elie elicits his own…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Selfishness In The Crucible
    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Selfishness In The Crucible

    Things like jealousy, selfishness or peer pressure often lead to faulty situations. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller you can see how even in the play, they get into these mishaps.Victor Hugo says “Society is a republic. WHen an individual tries to lift themselves above others, they are dragged down by the masses, either by ridicule or slander.” This quote is referring to everyday situations where you feel as if you must feel higher than someone else. Weather it be selfishness, jealousy or peer pressure all lead up to wanting to be better than someone. By wanting to be better than someone. If you ever find yourself in a unhappy spot , and thought about it would it have to do with jealousy, selfishness, or peer pressure. The examples I will be…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    All But My Life Analysis
    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages

    All But My Life Analysis

    The desire for power, fear, and self-preservation can cause people to change in ways one could not imagine. In the story, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Gerda Weissman Klein’s All But My Life, the authors share their tragic experiences from their times in Nazi concentration camps. In Addition, Klein’s All But My Life shows her experience in many different concentration camps for three years and how differently female inmates were treated than male. In Wiesel’s Night, he discusses his experience of being sent to Auschwitz along with his father for a year and how the tragedies he endured transformed his character. In Addition, Klein’s All But My Life shows her experience in many different concentration camps for three years and how differently female…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Virtue Of Selfishness Analysis
    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Virtue Of Selfishness Analysis

    In The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand, Rand talks about anarchism. Anarchism is the belief that any type of government should be prohibited. If there is no government then how would the country be standing. A type of government is need to keep the country from falling part. Rand mentions the problem of anarchism in her book.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Conflict Expository (the Crucible)
    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Conflict Expository (the Crucible)

    The fight for survival is a conflict that all species encounter. It is instinctive for all animals to put up their best defence and protect themselves when a threat is encountered. In higher order thinking animals such as us humans, confronting a challenging conflict requires elaborate cognitive thought processes. Depending on the individual’s own conscience, some people may succumb to compromising their values in order to protect themselves. In many instances, in both the fictional world and real life, an individual is put in a position where they must decide what is more important to them – self-preservation or moral values.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In The Road
    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In The Road

    They encountered a man on the road that had been struck by lightning and was also suffering from starvation. The boy wanted to turn back and help the wounded stranger, but the man had to explain to the boy that they did not have enough of anything to share with him (McCarthy 49-52). They barely had enough to take care of themselves, and if they gave away anything that they had, they would be more likely to starve. It was a decision between their own lives and others’. There was also another occasion where the man and boy were on the beach and were robbed of most of their belongings (McCarthy). If they did not chase the thief down and retrieve them, they would have most definitely suffered. The thief’s explanation for what he did was because he was starving and didn’t want to die. His needs were not being met either.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics