King Solomines Mines-Survival
"Natural selection conceived of as a struggle for life in which only those organisms best adapted to existing conditions are able to survive and reproduce" (Dictionary.com). In the classic adventure King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard, death and survival were one of the most common happenings of the book. The idea of survival of the fittest occurred non-stop throughout the books entirety. While survival of the fittest favors the strong, sometimes the not so noble survived or the weakest survived. The idea of survival helps make a great action story for in order to survive, adventures and daring actions usual occur in harsh situations. The idea of survival of the fittest plays a large role in the book because of the elephant hunting scene, the witch-hunts, and the escape from the treasure room. One reason why the idea of survival of the fittest plays a large role in the book is because of the elephant-hunting scene. A young Zulu boy named Khiva was violently ripped apart by an elephant attacking Sir Henry. While Sir Henry was running away from the charging beast, he fell and was rescued when Khiva through a spear right into the elephant. As you may imagine, a weak little spear is nothing against a raging elephant.
While in the room, they ponder for forty-eight hours about dying and ways to escape. In this case, the winner was not the noblest for the elephant could not really be called noble when it is only an animal but giving the fact that the elephant was giving characteristics of the actions of what a human may imagine, it is far to call the elephant not noble. Another example is when Gagool stabs Foulata who dies within minutes. Random people were picked and then killed in front of the king. The use of the idea of "survival of the fittest" helps make an adventure story a great adventure story. Survival of the fittest was first came from Darwin when he was studying animals. Witch hunting was when chosen tribe members randomly picked out people from a crowd and said they were witches. In addition, another example of survival of the fittest is used to make the book suspenseful by trapping the white men in a sealed room. "With a scream of pain the brute seized the poor Zulu, hurled him to the earth, and placing his huge foot on to his body about the middle, twined his trunk round his upper part and tore him in two"(56). This proves how weak and feeble the young Zulu was up against the brute. The poor warrior had no chance in surviving for the second he was chosen, his comrades carried him to his death. The white men witnessed a witch-hunt when they were guests of the evil King Twala. The author uses this to get rid of the witch that everyone hates and to do so while entertaining the readers. One man had driven his spear into the victim's heart, and to make insurance doubly sure, the other had dashed out his brains with his great club"(149).
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