Human and nature simultaneously exist, and nature provides food, water, and habitation for humans. However, humans, sometimes, have to struggle with the power of nature to obtain those necessities. According to “Edward’s Rocks” and “Sea Devil”, the men in the stories fought against the lurking risks from the surroundings, the sea specifically, such as the pointed rocks hiding from the mist or the giant sea monster skulking in the obscure moon. The characters were in scalding danger scenes. Nevertheless, they used their advantages, which was experience from hunting and fishing for many years or the faculty of providing solutions and making decisions in deadly situations, to survive from the influence of nature.
Fishermen, who lived nearby …show more content…
A human might not have the biggest claws, the sharpest teeth, or a gigantic body, but the human had “ the one faculty that had carried man to his pre-eminence above all beasts, the faculty of reason” (Gordon, 1988, p. 5). The man in “Sea Devil”, at first, was inferior to giant ray, and he was on the verge of death and life. The character was tossed out of the skiff while being trapped by a rope from the net that encircled the ray, and he wriggled frantically but then realized that the efforts were vain. He was thinking about giving up because he was so exhausted from “[being] under the water perhaps fifteen second [then] … and he would be finished” (Gordon, 1988, p. 4). He was not a laborer and rarely encountered problems on the sea before, so he couldn’t react as fast as George did. Notwithstanding, the despairing thought stimulated his brain to offer him a solution, using the ancient stake to slash the string. Subsequently, he triumphed over the battle of himself and the battle with the ray. The protagonist’s faculty- the intelligence- allowed him to overcome the severe ordeal, facing the dilemma of being free from the capture of the rope and the giant ray or departing from this