As people, we have a trait embedded in their genetic code to survive.

It is this primitive instinct that allows us to go to great lengths and perform extraordinary tasks. People will fight and adapt if it is needed to continue living. The French during the French Revolution fought their king; Native Americans adapted to the European living; a man seeks refuge inside a friends home. All of them saw what was necessary to survive and acted. A couple of centuries ago, the world saw one of its bloodiest fights, the French Revolution. The commoners and peasants in France at the time were furious at the increase in the price of bread. Starving, the people could not let their standards of living decline further. So in retaliation, the French people killed their king, queen, and other nobles. They used the guillotine as the weapon of justice and used put parts of the carcasses on stakes to validate their success. A gruesome battle was needed to get the results they wanted. Sometimes people cannot fight back. Instead they are forced to persevere through their struggles and adapt. The Native Americans during the American Revolution did not like their colonizers to say the least. The Europeans destroyed their crops, took possession of their land, and even stole their possessions. Due to their lack of technology, it seemed futile to fight the Europeans. Although some Amerindians fought, many adapted to European culture. It did not matter how much they disliked their colonizers because they had to abide by their rules and regulations to survive. The natives married with, shared ideas and inventions, and fought alongside the Europeans. Sometimes the hardest thing one can only do nothing. From time to time, people can fight and adapt. In the novel The Book Thief, a girl named Liesel resists the influence of Adolf Hitler while her family hides a Jewish friend in their basement. Set during the darkest time in history, the girl steals books because she knows the power of words. She uses the words for good whereas Hitler uses it for propaganda. Also no one must know of the Jewish man in hiding which means that Liesel and her family must adapt. We are presented with two options in our search for survival. The first is to fight and the second is to adapt. In both choices, there is no doubt that people perform extraordinary tasks to survive. How we choose to react during a struggle decides on whether or not we survive.