Life Will Always Be Worth Examining

619 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Self identity introduction

Every person living life has studied their own existence in some shape or form. Picking apart our own reality is part of who we are as humans, and helps us understand who we are and why we are here. Each person has their own way of getting to some understanding of themselves, which is again, another defining part of who we are. Kurt Vonnegut, a writer who is famous for attempting to explain the unexplained, chose to show one mans story of examining his own reality by having the main character, Billy Pilgrim, be “unstuck” in time. This ability helps him connect why things happen in the future, before he sees them in his own past. Dave Eggars, the writer of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, observes the importance of living life to the fullest, and taking all the chances life gives you and how not doing so might lead you to an unfulfilling life. Both of these works support Socrates’ thought that “the unexamined life if not worth living” from the protagonists point of view of their own existence.

Slaughterhouse- 5 is a novel explaining one mans journey through his life while...

Show More
Related

  • Understanding Of Life In Plato's Story 'The Allegory Of The Cave'

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    This same idea appears in Fredrick Douglas story. When Fredrick Douglas started to understand what he was reading around him, his mind stared creating his very own opinions and feelings. As well the same idea comes to surface in Richard Rodriquez story when he starts to understand the underlying theme in all of the books he has ever read and applied to himself as a person. When both writers began to truly be able to understand anything and everything, they both started to find what their every purpose was in life, and understand the person that they were.

    Read More

  • Tim O Brien On The Rainy River Hero's Journey

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, conveys, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. In other words, Aristotle states that the gaining of self-knowledge provides an individual with the ability to know one’s personal gifts and accountabilities. To start one’s adult life a person must pursue the journey of self-discovery to learn in depth about their skills and weaknesses. Individuals must find themselves through the limitations and ordeals that they face during their voyage for self-awareness. For example, in Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River”, the narrator shares his story about self-discovery. O’Brien looks back into his past, to the time when he was called to serve in the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s initial

    Read More

  • This Old House By David Sedaris Analysis

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    There was a moment in “This Old House” when the young man looked around the house and noticed all the clutter, he thought maybe he was a part of the clutter or possibly the clutter was him. We tend to notice things after being a part of something bigger than yourself, but when we finally notice it may be too late. “Given enough time, I guess, anything can look good. All it has to do is survive” (264). Once the opportunity presents itself; you either get the desire to become something you are or something you wish you were, by branching away in order to live on your own, which reality sets and we are now independent. I am talking about the protagonist in this essay, which he starts to learn things while he is isolated and more independent from the others. When rosemary told the young man about how her father died, they also mentioned how crazy some people were, depending on their hat tolerance. Why is that you think? I believe it is a metaphor on how hats goes through so many adventure and you may notice its ragged up look after a while, but at the end of the day what has it been through to make it special. Well we come to find out that the young man finally views all the antiques and clutter around the house as to something that once was, but is now “Given enough time, I guess, anything can look good. All it has to do is survive” (264). He couldn’t explain the feeling that he may have figured out who he was for the first time in this essay, but throughout time we will figure out ourselves and possibly enjoy a happy

    Read More

  • Summary Of Man's Search For Meaning

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most important points in this book is that no matter what you’re going through you have to find your meaning to life. If you don’t have a meaning to life or something to live for then there’s no chance of you surviving whatever you may be going through. You have to find whatever positive thing in your life to make it through any time of your life. In the book, he wrote this, “For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a

    Read More

  • The, By Joshua Nealy

    2070 Words  | 5 Pages

    Joshua Nealy, a prominent medical school graduate, died last night from complications of losing his dream of becoming a practicing physician. He was 39 years-old. Soft-spoken and borderline obsessive, Joshua never looked the part of a “professional”, but, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the last three years of pursuit of his long reputed dream profession, a position, which he spent nearly 10 years attaining. Sadly, the protracted search ended this past March 18th in complete and utter failure. Although in certain defeat, the courageous Nealy secretly clung to the belief that life is merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. It’s not a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of her dear friend, Emily, the girlfriend turned fiancé and dPT expert of Berkshire County, described Joshua as a changed man in the last years of his life. "Things were worse for him; not following his dream left him mostly lifeless, uninspired," Sammons noted. Ultimately, Joshua concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess the powerful ability to change ourselves and the world around us; the choice to make ours from nothingness.

    Read More

  • Left or Right?

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to J.K Rowling, “It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities.” This conclusion postulates that it does not matter whether a person is fragile or robust, brilliant or dull, gifted or challenged, it is the choices that they make in life that crystallize who they are as people. Yet, can these words be ripped from their simple format and be plastered to the pillars of life themselves? For example, does the child protégé always have the will power to use their knowledge and select the right path? Or does the godlike athlete always think twice before taking a third steroid pill that week? In other words, this statement truly holds the glittering gold of truth and is often exhibited throughout society, and frequently through history as well. Two pieces of literature that clearly demonstrate this idea of a person’s personal building blocks being their decisions are the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck and the Epic Poem, The Odyssey, by Homer. These texts both support this observation by requiring the protagonist to formulate great decisions that define them as people and what will be in store for them later in life.

    Read More

  • Hamlet... Hamlet, What Are You Searching For?

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the course of life, one must experience different changes or actions that will mold us into the person we will become. It could be as little as receiving the 1st "F" on a test or the passing away of a loved one and they all add up to some kind of importance. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare has Hamlet, the protagonist, struggling through life to find his true self and strives to get hold of his spot in life. However, he is always inhibited to seek vengeance for his father's unlawful death.

    Read More

  • Annie Dillard The Chase Essay

    1426 Words  | 3 Pages

    Large events in our life that shape us into who we are can be broken down and thought about for pinpointing the time when this metamorphosis happens.

    Read More

  • Response to Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that, essentially, life consists of a series of choices. A grouping of these choices in one direction or another makes us who we are, and ultimately we have control over our lives. What makes one person different from another is his own set of choices. When going through life’s motions, we develop certain worldviews and ideas and values to live by. We develop an opinion of what makes a person “great.” In the well-known essay “Self-Reliance”, Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a beautiful way of approaching these choices, and he reveals a very inspiring set of values centralized around going through life answering only to yourself. I love the way Emerson evaluates the society we live in, and how he radically encourages being misunderstood and nonconformist. Emerson, like myself, exhibits values of saying exactly what you think and living only by what you believe to be the best.

    Read More

  • Emotional Leadership: The Skills And Importance Of Emotional Leadership

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hattingh continues by saying that each human being canned choose the direction his or her life is going to take. There is only two choices, namely to continue on the same road and to be stuck in the past, or to take a journey of self-renewal. Selecting the route of self-renewal entails becoming aware of the patterns, habits and powers of the present and past that prevent self­ renewal and moving towards a self-fulfilled future, as well as becoming aware of the untapped inner potential. Hattingh (1997:273) suggests a model for self-knowledge and

    Read More

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ralph Waldo Emerson, nineteenth century poet and writer, expresses a philosophy of life, based on our inner self and the presence of the soul. Emerson regarded and learned from the great minds of the past, he says repeatedly that each person should live according to his own thinking. I will try to explain Emerson’s philosophy, according to what I think he is the central theme in all his works.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Still Alice Character Analysis

    2454 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the stories of Hamlet, Still Alice, and Life of Pi, the protagonists Pi Patel, Alice Howland, and Hamlet each respond to adversity very differently. Helen Keller states, ‘Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.  Only through experience of trial can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved’” (“BrainyQuote”). By this, Keller states that one’s character is developed through life experiences and the coinciding challenges. The obstacles faced in life are what make one’s character thrive and grow. In all three literary works, the protagonists develop differently through their unique responses to obstacles of internal conflict, isolation, and suffering.

    Read More

  • Hole In My Life

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I have learned this: it is not what one does that is wrong, but what one becomes of as a consequence of it – Oscar Wilde” (Page before page number one).This quote comes from the book Hole In My Life by Jack Gantos. The main topics involve recovering from mistakes and overcoming setbacks. Everyone should read his book because everyone can take something away from it. Audience, voice, and content are the key points for review.

    Read More

  • Tom’s Midnight Garden

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... eventually realizes it can only temporarily satiate his desire for knowledge and friendship, and that eventually, he like all other people, must grow up and move on to new passions and explorations. The entire book in fact returns to this idea many times as Tom has to grapple with the meaning and importance of time. In the same way that Tom must solve the problems he faces, all people must learn to answer the seemingly unanswerable questions of life. At some point or another, we all face situations that seem impossible, but as Tom comes to learn there is always a reason or some explanation for the route life takes. As Tom constantly questions the concept of time and reality versus imagination, we too must ask the same questions for, as Pearce asks many times throughout the novel, “What is time?” (Pearce 168) and how can the seemingly impossible really happen?

    Read More

  • How I Came To Be Me

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Contemplating on my life and its ups and downs, now I know that there are countless things a child is not supposed to witness. Because of it, I’ve been influenced subconsciously by these incidents without realizing what was2 to occur next. Then I commenced thinking of the aftermath of these events, as if I was attempting to foresee the conclusion before befalling. Ever since I was an adolescent everything was given to me. Even though I was not utterly coherent about the life I was living, I still was a rather clever boy. This aided me, as I grew older, to make up my mentality about what is correct or what is not. Life is not deterministic, but we determine our existence by the worth we perceive in our choices, and how we take action after we acknowledge that to get to where we went, our requirements are incentive, tremendous effort, and will power.

    Read More

More about Life Will Always Be Worth Examining

Open Document