Survival, people often think survival means you should save yourself, people question is it selfish to save yourself. While some people think that survival requires selfishness, the story presented in Louise Erdrich's "The Leap" and Lane Wallace's "Is Survival Selfish?" often talked about perspectives on this argument. Through some of these stories, it talks about the difficult side between survival instincts and acts of selflessness, ultimately pushing the view of survival as purely selfish. In "The Leap" by Louise Erdrich, the author's mother finds herself in a life-threatening situation. Despite the hard situation, her actions show no self-sufficiency. Facing a life or death situation, she puts the safety of her daughter above her own survival. In a leap from a …show more content…
Wallace talks about real-life situations where people must confront difficult choices that talk about selfishness in the life of others. From the view of people, Wallace argues that survival instincts automatically think of saving themselves, it is in human nature through years of adaptation. However, she also talks about instances where people show great acts of kindness, challenging the life or death situation that survival is driven by selfish impulses. Both of these stories show the problem of selfishness in the human experience. While survival instincts may persuade people towards selfishness, the mother's sacrifice in "The Leap" shows the size for selfishness to beat survival instincts, suggesting that acts of heroism can show even in a life or death situation. In moments of crisis, people are hit with difficult tasks that test their kindness and heroism. Wallace's research on survival shows how people could be hated for being selfish or creating a good bond. While selfishness may be a primal instinct, it is impaired by social patterns and prioritizes the greater good over people's