Teamwork – Essential Part of Survival

Not only is it helpful to the group as a whole, but to each member within the group. Both, The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane, and The Call Of The Wild by Jack London, demonstrate the importance of teamwork beautifully. Both stories are also bildungsromans, because both of the main characters go through a journey of maturity, and resolution throughout the stories. In The Red Badge Of Courage, Henry, the main character in the story thinks he can make it on his own, until he learns that he needs the help of his comrades to stay alive. In the novella, The Call Of The Wild, Buck, is forced to become a sled dog and work alongside his pack, and learning from them how to fight for survival in rough conditions. Working with others is often times necessary for survival, but is also benneficial for several other reasons. Working with others helps to keep individuals safe, gets tasks completed more effectively, shows that everyone has something to offer, and pushes each member of the group to humble their self, and be the best possible individual they can be.

The Red Badge Of Courage is an excellent representation of the importance of safety in numbers. This is demonstrated wonderfully in this quote from the book, “A defeat of the army had suggested itself to him as a means of escape... he adroitly, and fiercely swung his rifle. It crushed upon the youth's head.” (Crane 70). In this section of the story, Henry is separated from his comrades and thrown into a squadron he is not familiar with. During this time another soldier hits Henry on the top of his head using his rifle. This represents the fact that Henry should have

stayed with the people he was familiar with, and knew had his back. On his own, he gets into trouble and is hurt severely. Henry's safety was hindered the moment he ran away from his comrades. This shows the importance of individuals staying within a group, so that they have the protection and safety of others.

More can be accomplished when individuals form a team and work on something with each other. The Call Of The Wild demonstrates this when the text states, “The overloaded and unwieldy sled forged ahead, Buck and his mates struggling frantically under the rain of blows” (London 20). In this part of the story, Buck and his pack are working together in an unhealthy, and painful environment to complete a task that could never be done single-handedly. The dogs need each other to pull the load, even though it is difficult, together they manage to do it. Not one of the dogs thought they had to do it by their self but relied on everyone else in the pack to help them. This is an excellent demonstration of teamwork. They work together each sharing an equal load, helping each other, and giving it all they had.

Each individual has something different to offer to a community. Each skill can be helpful to others who do not posses the talent or sometimes capability to perform such skills for themselves. This is portrayed in The Red Badge Of Courage when the text reads, “The youth found that now he could barely stand upon his feet.... (Crane 75). He later produced an extensive hankerchief from his pocket... he bound over the youths head” (Crane 78). In this part of the book, Henry was injured in the head and barely able to support the weight of his body. Much less, able to nurse his wound on his own. Here readers see one of Henry's comrades helping him when Henry was physically incapable of tending to himself. It is important to surround oneself with others who have skills, and abilities one does not posses for their self, because it causes humans to see that they need others, that they cannot do everything on their own. Having others in our life is vitally important.

Having others in a group, pushes each member to be the best version of themselves they can be. This is proved in The Call Of The Wild when the text states, “So greatly did hunger compel him, he was not above taking what did not belong to him. He watched and he learned.” (London 8) Here, Buck, the main character of the novella, is among a swarm of hunger stricken sled dogs, each fighting for their long awaited portion of food. The dogs steal from one another, and do whatever necessary to keep themselves fed. Buck is new to this environment, yet he sees these other dogs methods, and learns from them. He takes from what he learns from them and uses it to help himself. Though unintentional, the other dogs teach Buck from their own experience, and he learns from it. A lesson can be taken away from this example, for humans to be willing to learn from one another for our own benefit. Also to set a good example for others who are looking for a good way to live.

All these points, come together just like a team, to prove the necessity of teamwork. Staying within a team of trusted individuals can help with safety, teamwork helps tasks be completed more efficiently than just one pair of hands, teams also help prove that everyone has something to offer, and working in teams pushes each member to be the best they can be. These points all come together to show that teamwork can be crucial for survival in certain cases, and helpful in many other instances that may not be life or death situations, but are still important. Buck, and Henry both went through demanding, and strenuous times in these stories to teach readers that sometimes, help is necessary. The help of others is something everyone needs at times. No person is self sufficient, occasionally everyone needs to humble themselves and ask for help.

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