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Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon: A Literary Analysis

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One often wonders if they would be able to survive in a time of crisis, some spend a bunch of time and money preparing for a crisis. Survival of the fittest refers to natural selection which is “the idea that species that acquire adaptations that are favorable for their environment will pass down those adaptations to their offspring” (Scoville 1). Survival of the fittest means “the best physical specimen of the species and only those in the best shape and best health will survive in nature” (Scoville 1). In Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon survival of the fittest comes into play in time of crisis; Randy Bragg, Edgar Quisenberry and Preacher Henry find this out the hard way after The Day. The Day is a day on which a nuclear war was started between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union dropped a huge amount of bombs all over the United States laying waste to many towns. The term survival of the fittest was first used by Herbert Spencer “in relation to Darwin’s idea of natural selection as he compared it to an economic principal in one of his books” (Scoville 1). Often these two get mixed up and one may become confused. Fittest in the case of Alas, Babylon means “the one best …show more content…

He tries to be there to help anybody living in his area. Only a few weeks after The Day Randy realizes he is starting to get into better shape, “ he was Leaner and harder, and truthfully, felt better than before The Day” (Frank 181). Randy learns many new skills and does his best to improve things for his family and the others that he is close too. Through all the hardships they encounter Randy does his best to overcome them all, he invites the doctor, Dan Gunn to come and live at his house because he needs somewhere to stay when his hotel gets trashed. Randy went with the doctor in his free time to help out Dan with his daily duties that he felt obliged to because he was the only doctor in Fort

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