Survival

The theme of survival includes Erin's attempts to survive her own choices and the situations she finds herself in. Erin is introduced while she is digging a grave. She describes the process as long, boring, and difficult. "It's just you and yourself trying to survive" (4). Not completing the task means that she risks a terrible alternative - going to prison. The burial needs to be successful, which she determines comes down to three things. Accomplishing something is rooted in time, initiative, and care. For this specific case, she cares more than she has for anything else. As the novel continues, Erin's attempts to survive include the same three facets.

From the time that Erin and Mark decide to take the money and diamonds, they have to survive their decision. After Erin alerts the man from the phone that the bag was found, they have to take...