Survival in literature
Survival in literature is a prominent theme that explores the continued existence of characters or communities facing various dangers, whether from nature, society, or internal struggles. This genre often features individuals or groups placed in extreme circumstances that challenge their physical and emotional resilience. Notable examples span from ancient epics like Homer's *The Odyssey*, where Odysseus confronts monsters and treacherous seas, to modern tales such as Suzanne Collins's *The Hunger Games*, which delves into the psychological turmoil of survival in a dystopian society.
Survival stories frequently reflect key themes such as isolation, hopelessness, and the innate will to persevere against overwhelming odds. Characters often experience low points before demonstrating adaptability, hope, and inner strength to overcome challenges. Works like Daniel Defoe’s *Robinson Crusoe* and Gary Paulsen’s *Hatchet* emphasize the rediscovery of survival skills in the face of adversity, while narratives like Margaret Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale* examine survival under oppressive social systems.
The appeal of survival literature lies in its ability to resonate with readers, prompting them to reflect on their own lives and potential challenges. Through these intense and often harrowing narratives, audiences can explore fundamental questions about identity, morality, and resilience, making survival literature both engaging and thought-provoking.
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Survival in literature
Survival is an enduring theme in literature. Although most modern humans do not know what it is like to have to hunt, forage, run, or fight to survive, the physiological mechanisms that helped early humans escape danger remain available and active. People have many reasons for reading survival literature, and authors have at least as many motivations for creating it. Following one or more characters as they endure various hardships can provide excitement, suspense, and other emotions. It can push readers to think about situations they may face and many they will never encounter, and wonder what they would do to survive.
Background
Storytelling emerged among early peoples to make sense of the world and share history. Some of the earliest-known stories of the oral tradition include The Odyssey, which is credited to the ancient Greek poet Homer. It is about the hero Odysseus and his struggle to return home from the Trojan War. He faces monsters and other dangers on his journey and at home. He and his men survive through courage, strength, skill, and cunning, as well as the assistance of the gods on the years-long journey.
Some other very old tales are commonly shared in modern times. Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, known collectively as the Brothers Grimm, were Germans who collected and published old folktales. These dark stories were shared by adults as entertainment. The Grimms’ book did not sell well, so they revised the stories to make them more palatable for young audiences. They did not remove all the danger and villainy in the tales because such stories were meant to impart moral lessons. For example, “Little Red Riding Hood,” in which a little girl and her grandmother are eaten by a wolf, was meant to warn young women to avoid predators. The Grimms permit a hunter to rescue Red and her grandmother by cutting open the wolf’s belly in their 1857 edition. However, the likely source for the fairy tale, French author Charles Perrault’s 1697 edition, allows Red to be eaten but not rescued.
Like centuries-old tales, modern survival stories may involve supernatural forces and natural dangers. They may also focus on individuals trying to escape dangers such as alien invasions or nuclear annihilation. What survival stories often have in common is the exploration of one’s priorities, skills, knowledge, inner strength, and courage.
Overview
Survival is the continued existence of a character or community. It may involve an individual or group that is out of their element or threatened by outside forces, such as an enemy or monster. Survival stories may involve characters who are oppressed, for example, by government, an unfair social system, or bullies. Themes of survival literature include man vs. man, nature, or self; isolation; hopelessness; the will to survive; and warfare. Survival literature frequently also has other themes, such as good vs. evil, coming of age, justice, revenge, and family. An element common to all is the will to survive; while luck may play a role, characters must have the desire and drive to keep going against all odds, even when they want to give up. In most stories, characters hit a very low point but persevere to triumph. Other factors include adaptability, hope, love (of family and friends, for example), purpose, resilience, and tenacity.
The 1719 novel The Life and Adventures ofRobinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is regarded as the first realistic narrative in English literature. It is a classic example of an individual pitted against nature, trying to survive, and provides the template of many narratives of shipwrecks. The genre in which characters must survive away from civilization, often on a deserted island, is known as Robinsonade. In Defoe’s novel, Crusoe survives numerous disasters, including capture by pirates and several shipwrecks. Much of the novel involves Crusoe’s stranding on an island off the coast of Venezuela when the ship he was aboard was damaged by a storm. He salvages some tools and supplies from the ship before it breaks apart, but much of what he needs he must make for himself. He survives mostly alone for nearly thirty years, except for a Caribbean Native man he calls Friday. Crusoe, an educated and civilized man, must forage and domesticate wild goats, as well as construct shelter, make clothing, and build tools and other necessities. In short, he relearns or rediscovers the survival skills of his ancient ancestors.
Like characters in many survival tales, Crusoe also faces imminent danger from the elements. Several storms and rough seas threaten his life at sea and shipwreck him. On shore, he must protect himself and his provisions. When he feels he is not only surviving but thriving on his island, he calls himself its king. This supremacy is threatened by the arrival of cannibals, but when he triumphs over them because of his weaponry, he also gains a companion, Friday, who was their captive. This change in his situation greatly improves Crusoe’s position and outlook. Even after he returns to civilization, he faces dangers such as wolves on land. Although man vs. nature is the most obvious survival theme, Robinson Crusoe also addresses others such as man vs. man, isolation, hopelessness, and the will to survive.
Hatchet (1987) and four other young-adult novels by Gary Paulsen are Robinsonade tales. In this case, Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy, survives a plane crash in the wilds of northern Canada. He initially has no tools except a hatchet given to him by his mother before his flight. He forages, establishes a shelter in a rock overhang, learns to hunt, and faces numerous dangers, including bears, wolves, a moose, and a tornado. His survival skills are initially rudimentary—he is a city boy who has watched enough television to know the basics—but through trial and error, he creates fire and crafts a bow, arrows, and a fishing spear. He overcomes failures, such as eating berries that give him severe stomach cramps. Through it all, he relies on his hatchet, for which he is grateful.
Many survival works focus on physical and emotional survival. Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale follows a woman in near-future New England who is struggling to both survive in an oppressive totalitarian state where any flouting of the rules and laws could result in execution. Because many humans have become infertile, the woman who previously gave birth to a daughter is valuable. As a handmaid, she is assigned to a ruling-class couple to be a surrogate; should she give birth to a healthy child, it will belong to the couple. Like other handmaids, she is given a name that reflects her status as the property of the man; she is Offred, or of Fred, but if she is given to another man, her name will change to reflect this. Offred works to retain her identity as an individual by recalling her husband and child and working to find a way to get to them.
Suzanne Collins’sHunger Games series is likewise as much about being physically alive as it is an exploration of psychological devastation. The titles of the trilogy—The Hunger Games (2008), Catching Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010)—explore what Katniss Everdeen must do to survive a gladiator-style competition in a high-tech arena. In Panem, a near-future United States, the elite live in the Capitol, while the rest of the citizens live in twelve districts to produce goods necessary to make life in the Capitol comfortable. People in the districts face hardships and starvation. As punishment for a long-ago rebellion, each district must annually send two tributes—one minor girl and one minor boy—to a fight-to-the-death spectacle called the Hunger Games. Only one of the twenty-four tributes will live but will be rewarded with a life of comfort. Katniss has the skills to survive in the wilderness because her father taught her to hunt with a bow and arrow, but in the arena, she must also survive psychological torture and grief.
Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding is both Robinsonade and a psychological study. A group of schoolboys have survived a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys choose Ralph, a thoughtful boy who represents the civilized side of humanity, as leader. Ralph tries to establish order. He tries to keep track of the younger boys, establish lookouts for passing ships, and ensure a signal fire is ready to be lit to attract rescuers. Ralph puts Jack, leader of the choir, in charge of the hunting group. Jack represents the savagery of humankind that opposes civility. Gradually, society breaks down. In the end, Ralph becomes prey. As he is hunted across the island, he flees by instinct, seeking places he can hide from the pack. When the boys are unexpectedly rescued, Ralph weeps for his loss of innocence.
Survival is an enduring theme in literature. From works for children and young adults to works for adults or readers of all ages, they may address many of the same issues and explore similar ideas in very different ways. Scholars believe readers may enjoy survival stories because they can relate to the characters. Studies have found that readers are more likely to remember stories in which characters face survival situations (Reynolds, 2023). This correlates with research that finds individuals have more vivid memories of negative events they have faced, possibly, because at some level, humans are predisposed to remember such situations so they can survive future danger. Experts say survival tales may help young people cope with the fears and challenges of growing up and relating to peers and parents.
Bibliography
Atwood, Margaret. Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. Anansi, 1972.
Dewan, Pauline. “Survival of the Fittest: The Evolution of the Children’s Survival Novel.” Association for Library Service for Children, vol. 18, no. 4, 2020, journals.ala.org/index.php/cal/article/view/7494/10347. Accessed 24 May 2024.
Evans, Robert C., editor. Critical Insights: Survival. Salem Press, 2018.
Glatch, Sean. “What Is Theme? A Look at 20 Common Themes in Literature.” One Stop for Writers, 7 May 2024, writers.com/common-themes-in-literature. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Popp, Isabelle. “Keeping Hope Alive: 11 Thrilling YA Survival Stories.” Book Riot, 2 Sept. 2022, bookriot.com/ya-survival-stories/. Accessed 24 May 2024.
Reynolds, Emily. “We Have Particularly Good Memory for Stories About Survival Situations.” The British Psychological Society, 1 Mar. 2023, www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/we-have-particularly-good-memory-stories-about-survival-situations. Accessed 29 May 2024.
Vasset, Sophie. “Robinson Crusoe and the Aesthetic of Survival.” Études Anglaises, vol. 72, no 2, 2019. doi: 10.3917/etan.722.0225. Accessed 24 May 2024.