The Keys to Survival’s Door The author of The Chronicles of Narnia, Clive Staples Lewis, once stated, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival”. One may agree that he means the reason why people want to survive is because of the joys of living. Survival can mean many things, all depending on the situation. For example, survival may be surviving through an embarrassing experience, or it could be surviving a literally near-death scenario. In general, survival requires two key traits, adaptability and perseverance, which both lead to successfully surviving most experiences. The first of these two key traits is adaptability, the ability to adapt…show more content… In “Rikki-tikki-tavi”, the main character, Rikki, must stop Nag from killing Teddy’s family, and Rikki sees him sneaking into the house. Rikki jumps onto Nag, who tries to shake him off, and “though Rikki was dizzy and hurt all over, he held on tightly”(Kipling 23). Rikki greatly perseveres by keeping a tight hold on Nag, not letting him get away. Because Rikki holds on, he saves Teddy’s family. This is because he distracts Nag, and the father of the human family is able to shoot the vile snake. In addition, in the informational article written by the NPR Staff, 30 years after the shipwreck, Mr. Callahan is diagnosed with leukemia. When he recounts some events of his life, he mentions, “But I had my 30th birthday in a life raft, I had my 60th birthday in a hospital bed, but through it all, the same as while adrift, my wife and I have always found reason for finding gifts within the experience” (Callahan qtd. in NPR 4). Callahan and his wife show perseverance because if one knows that at the end and duration of a journey, a prize awaits, one will want to make this journey. This positive mindset can help because one realizes that a near-death situation is not necessarily a negative situation. In both cases, the main character shows a great sense of perseverance and is therefore a great