Survival is an instinct found predominantly in nature
In nature, animals will fight to the death and even resort to cannibalism if it is the only way they can survive. These natural instincts result in survival of the fittest and the perishing of the weak. As shown in the “Death of a Moth” by Annie Dillard, “Shooting of an Elephant” by George Orwell, “Natural Selection,” and Night by Elie Wiesel, survival is nature’s creation and yields natural outcomes.
Firstly, in the book Night by Elie Wiesel, the reader is shown that natural instinct to survive keeps those who make it through the holocaust alive, because many of the people were not even in a sane state after the horrors they faced. In a warped way, Hitler’s gruesome actions even yielded from natural instinct; the desire to eliminate that which we don’t understand (“imperfections”).
Conversely, in “Shooting and Elephant” by George Orwell, the man did not want to shoot the elephant because of human morals. Some may say that this shows the impulse to survive is not ingrained into our natural instincts, but the truth is that morals are a learned train – not a natural one that humans are born with. Only after the elephant killed someone did natural survival instinct take over and he kill the elephant. Likewise, “Natural Selection” asserted that the weak will not thrive because of their lack of adaptation. Therefore, weak genes are naturally weeded out by natural selection.
Lastly, all beings know that in nature death is an inevitable thing. Just as in “Death of a Moth” by Annie Dillard when Virginia accepts not to live, animals may leave the weaker young when they become to heavy burden and will inevitably die. From there the animal will either grow stronger to survive or it will die.