Self-preservation suggests the process of the protection of oneself from harm, and is often regarded as a basic human instinct. One can study the play The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, and the novel The Tension of Opposites, written by Kristina McBride, to better understand how humanity instinctively performs this process. In common life, people desire to prevent themselves from harm. They also subconsciously try to put themselves in favorable situations where they feel comfortable. Above all, however, the natural man will almost always attempt all in their power to literally survive through life and acquire what they need to stay alive. No matter the situation, humanity will always strive to live in what it thinks is a better …show more content…
Tessa from The Tension of Opposites demonstrates this at the beginning of the novel when she tries to not acquire any romantic feelings for Max. Darcy, Tessa’s friend, mentions to Tessa that Max might feel attracted to her, but Tessa responds by saying, “but even if you’re right, I can’t get all twisted up over a guy right now” (McBride 54). She fears that liking Max will eventually hurt her, so she tries to protect herself by pushing him away. The act of protecting oneself from emotional harm demonstrates itself again when Tessa refuses to show her talented photography work to people throughout the book. Fear of people not liking her work causes Tessa to hide her work from people so that she would not feel judged by them. In The Glass Menagerie, Laura also demonstrates this need for self-preservation. Laura chose to never return to her typing class at Rubicam’s Business College because she had fear of people making fun of her after she threw up during a speed-test. When Laura’s mom speaks to her about skipping the class, Laura says, “I couldn’t go back up, I – threw up – on the floor!” (Williams 12). All of these examples demonstrate how people often try to hide or seclude themselves from others to protect themselves from feeling emotional pain, though other reasons also influence humanity’s need for