Both works examine the position, roles, and aspirations of humans in the natural world, ruled by natural principles. In "The Human Drift" London talks about humanity's enormous and continuous effort to sustain and survive, in the face of natural phenomena, which are not always friendly - or rather, they are completely indifferent toward people, and the circumstances often have hostile appearances. People have migrated to better places, in search of food; they have fought and killed animals and other people; they have improved their means of growing food; they have industrialized; they have invented socialism; they have improved war technology. Eventually, they will have to stop breeding, as to prevent overpopulation. But whatever they do, they will have to go extinct, just like so many times in the unknown history. They may try to tame the nature, but they will never succeed.
Crane's story "The Open Boat" deals with the same topic: Man vs. Nature, or even better: Man immersed in Nature. The four people who survived a shipwreck are spending days and nights in a tiny boat, surrounded by the endless ocean. At first, they think Nature is punishing them, by letting them hope before it decides to drown them. Slowly, they start having a more accurate, stoic, existentialist view: Nature doesn't take them into account. They are absolutely insignificant. Whether they live or die is only a matter of chance. They will do their best to survive, of course; but they aren't able to tame the nature.
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While in the swamp, there were no steps to take and no plans to make. ... Like Hercules facing the hydra in the swamps of Lerna, his eighth task in Alice ... they can sympathize; do internet research and give well-meaning advice, but cannot ... When Hercules grappled with the (eight-headed) hydra, he first approached it in ...
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