Similarities Between Jim Morrison And Susan Sontag

Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag

Jim Morrison is the lead singer of the classic rock and roll band "The Doors". Jim

Morrison not only was the lead vocalist in the famous sixties band, he was also the writer of most but not all of The Doors songs and the author of many poems. Susan Sontag is an accomplished author. Some of Susan Sontag's works include essays, reviews, editing, novels and short stories. Although at first Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag appear to have nothing or very little in common, both because of Jim Morrison's main influence coming from author Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed in existentialism (a body of ethical thought centering about the uniqueness and isolation of individual experiences in a universe indifferent or even

Nietzsche played a large role in Jim becoming an existentialist because "Dennis and Jim would sit discussing Nietzsche for hours, arguing occasionally but generally agreeing ardently, reading long passages from the philosopher's works aloud to each other" (Hopkins, Sugerman 45). Through these readings Jim learned about Nietzsche philosophies including the ideal of The Superman and how to become an existentialist.

By the time Jim Morrison turned 23 he had become an existentialist and it was because of his psychological views of the world that inspired Jim's lyrics in his poems and music. The first of example of Jim involving existentialism in his lyrics comes from the song "An American Prayer" where Jim says "Grant us one more hour to/ perform our art/ and perfect our lives".

When Jim mentions the previous lines, he is making a reference to asking God for "one more hour" and in this hour Jim plans to "perfect our lives", in these lines it can be assumed that Jim has realized he is not flawless, which is admitting guilt, and that the only way to perfect his soul is by admitting his sins, or placing blame on

Susan Sontag was an author of many novels, short-stories and screen plays(American Writers 451). Susan was, like Jim Morrison, raised by his aunts, uncles and other relatives. The reason for why Susan was raised by her relatives is because when she was young her father was on constant trips to the orient and her mother would go along with her father on the trips. When Susan was only six years old, her father died on one of his fur trading trips in the China. As a result of the death of her father and the absence of her mother Susan was often considered to be "a psychologically abandoned child" (Sontag). As Susan Sontag's life continued she became more isolated than when she was a kid and often found her only escape from society in books. As a result of her isolation and absence of parents Susan started her journey towards becoming an existentialist style