The Man in the Water

The Man in the Water

In the essay "The Man in the Water" by Roger Rosenblatt, the Man in the Water did something heroic that most other people probably would not do. He and a great deal of other people were in a plane crash and landed in the Arctic Ocean. They were floating in the middle of freezing cold water with no one around to help. Soon enough, a helicopter rescue team came to save the group of people that had crashed by pulling them out of the water. Every time the rescue team lowered a lifeline or a flotation ring to the Man in the Water, he passed it on to another of the passengers that were with him on the plane. That selfless act was beyond doubt, heroic and admirable.

The Man in the Water fascinated Rosenblatt. There were two specific things about him that awestruck Rosenblatt. One of them was the actual act of selflessness that the Man in the Water completed by sacrificing himself. The other was the fact that the Man in the Water was a real person and was just like everybody else. This is a true story. A man actually had the courage and compassion to place others before him. Self-sacrifice only happens rarely on occasion. Not many other people would be willing to do what he did, yield his own survival for complete strangers.

The two forces contrasted in this essay were nature and man. Nature was the force that caused the conflict and became an obstacle for the group of people, making it hard for them to survive. Nature caused the Man in the Water to take action and put his life on the line for others. If he did not hand over the lifelines and flotation rings to the people, then they would have unquestionably died. It was definitely man versus nature in this story. The Man in the Water went up against nature and changed the fate of others in return for his own life.

The Man in the Water was victorious over nature because his goal was to save the others, not himself. He placed himself in competition against a relentless, impersonal enemy; he fought it with charity; and he held it to a standoff. That is what made him victorious and most likely, a role model to many people.