What theme is common to the two excerpts below?
1. . his theory of running until he reached camp and the boys had one flaw in it: he lacked the endurance. several times he stumbled, and finally he tottered, crumpled up, and fell. when he tried to rise, he failed. he must sit and rest, he decided, and next time he would merely walk and keep on going. as he sat and regained his breath, he noted that he was feeling quite warm and comfortable. he was not shivering, and it even seemed that a warm glow had come to his chest and trunk. and yet, when he touched his nose or cheeks, there was no sensation. running would not thaw them out. nor would it thaw out his hands and feet. then the thought came to him that the frozen portions of his body must be extending. he tried to keep this thought down, to forget it, to think of something else; he was aware of the panicky feeling that it caused, and he was afraid of the panic. but the thought asserted itself, and persisted, until it produced a vision of his body totally frozen.
2.presently the boat also passed to the left of the correspondent with the captain clinging with one hand to the keel. he would have appeared like a man raising himself to look over a board fence, if it were not for the extraordinary gymnastics of the boat. the correspondent marvelled that the captain could still hold to it.

answer: humanity's against nature

explanation:

based on the two different excerpts presented above, the theme that is seen as common to both is man's against nature. when nature strikes, even the strongest man is eaten by doubts and uncertainties, fear and threat. 

    i got this from a website called shmoop. i will give you a link and i will show you half of it. hope it : )

explanation:

mrs. mallard has a heart condition, which means that if she's startled she could die. so, when news comes that her husband's been killed in an accident, the people who tell her have to cushion the blow.

mrs. mallard's sister josephine sits down with her and dances around the truth until mrs. mallard finally understands what happened. the deceased mr. mallard's friend, richards, hangs out with them for moral support.

richards originally found out because he had been in the newspaper headquarters when a report of the accident that killed mr. mallard, which happened on a train, came through. richards waited for proof from a second source before going to the mallards' to share the news.

when mrs. mallard finds out what happened she acts differently from most women in the same position, who might disbelieve it. she cries passionately before deciding to go to her room to be by herself.

in her room, mrs. mallard sits down on a comfy chair and feels completely depleted. she looks out the window and looks out at a world that seems alive and fresh. she can see the sky coming between the rain clouds.

mrs. mallard sits still, occasionally crying briefly like a kid might.

the narrator describes her as youthful and pretty, but because of this news she looks preoccupied and absent.

she seems to be holding out for some kind of unknown news or knowledge, which she can tell is approaching.

mrs. mallard breathes heavily and tries to resist before succumbing to this unknown thing, which is a feeling of freedom.

acknowledging freedom makes her revive, and she doesn't consider whether she should feel bad about it.

mrs. mallard thinks to herself about how she'll cry when she sees her husband's dead body and how much he loved her. even so, she's kind of excited about the chance to make her own decisions and not feel accountable to anyone.

mrs. mallard feels even more swept up by the idea of freedom than the fact that she had felt love for her husband.

here is the link: