Mike Miginnis’ Navigators

“When all else fails, there is always delusion” (Conan Obrian). People can only have so much tragedy in their lives before they need an escape, but an escape only lasts so long and they have to face reality sooner or later. Life goes on with or without you and you can’t escape it. You can’t hide from reality. This theme is seen in Mike Miginnis “Navigators” and other literary works such as Arthur Miller’s “The Death of a Salesman”. It can also be seen in everyday life when people play video games or use drugs to forget their problems.

Mike Miginnis’ “Navigators” is about a boy named Josh and his dad Dustin. They bond with each other by playing a video game called the “Legend of Silence”. The game is about a queen who goes on a quest to reach Nirvana. This game is different than most because as she gets further in the game she gets “power ups” but instead of making her more powerful they make her weaker. Throughout the game they become more and more obsessed with it, they eventually neglect things needed in everyday life. The video game parallels their own life. They are having a hard time making ends meet; and just like the main character in their video game, as their story goes on they get weaker too. Dustin eventually cuts off the gas to save money, but when he tells Josh this he says that they have “more money to play with” (Miginnis 103), referring to their video game. As they continue to play their game the main character continues to get weaker, and so do Josh and his father. They have to move into a smaller apartment so the rent will be cheaper. Eventually they stop taking care of themselves which is noted when in the store, “it has been nearly a month since they had done the laundry” (Miginnis 102). It is also implied ...

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...’s going on won’t make it go away. They often end up in a worse situation than when they started using the drugs or alcohol. They may start off using drugs or alcohol to escape reality; but in the end it only hurts them even more.

Many people try to escape reality, but it will never work. It will either end up hurting them more in the process like in the story “ Navigators” or hurting the people around them like in ”Death of a Salesman”. Life is hard, and sometimes people need a break from the stress of it. But life keeps on moving whether you’re active in it or not. You can’t permanently escape from reality.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur, and Gerald Clifford Weales. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. print.

Mginnnis Mike.“Navigators”. Hobart. 12th edition. Ed. Aaron Burch. Berkley CA: Small Press Distribution: 2011. 97-107. Print.