A quality such as determination is necessary in order to succeed in a survival situation. If a person decides to give up and quit trying, they will inevitably fail. Kennedy’s story of survival after being stranded on an island exists because he “was still unwilling to admit that things were hopeless” even though the other men were losing hope (Hersey 6). It was essential to their survival that Kennedy persevered over a number of days and through intense physical challenges and kept trying to get help. If he had given up they probably would have died. In addition to determination, positivity is a crucial quality for living through a survival situation and not giving up. If someone complains and looks at a situation negatively, things begin to seem …show more content…
While Kennedy was helping survivors back to the PT after it was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer, Harris said that he would not be able to keep going. Kennedy told him to stop complaining and “Harris made it all right and didn’t complain anymore” (Hersey 2). This interaction shows that problems are not always as impossible as they appear but they can seem worse than they are if one complains. Furthermore, physical endurance is vital when attempting to survive in a dangerous situation. Becoming tired makes a person more inclined to cease trying. Kennedy and the other men survived because they had enough endurance to swim from the PT to an island despite it taking them “over five hours to reach the island” (Hersey 3). This quality was especially demonstrated by Kennedy who had to tow the injured McMahon. Positivity and physical endurance are both forms of determination making determination the quality of Kennedy’s leadership that kept the group going until