Soren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or is a collection of journal entries from a mysterious character known as ‘A’ and letters from a character called Judge Wilhelm in response to these journal entries. Each of these characters shows their perspectives on life and offer their advice throughout their writings. These two characters have very different perspectives, which allows the reader to learn many lessons about how to live life and find their individual purpose in life.
The mysterious character known as ‘A’ lives his life by a method that he calls the rotation method, which gets its name from a strategy used by farmers to prolong the life of their fields. This method requires a shift in perspective every time you become bored since, as ‘A’ says, “boredom is the root of all evil. . . The influence it exerts is altogether magical, except that it is not the influence of attraction, but of repulsion” (Solomon 8). ‘A’ makes the argument that boredom is what causes people to make poor and destructive choices. To avoid boredom and these poor decisions, one …show more content…
Without an identity, it is extremely difficult to find a purpose which causes that feeling that life is meaningless that ‘A’ eventually succumbs to. The main lesson learned from the character of ‘A’ is that if you never settle on your own perspective, you can never find purpose and meaning in your life. From Judge Wilhelm’s response to ‘A’ the reader can learn that choices are what gives you an identity and your life meaning. He says that once you make enough choices, it is easy to move past the regret that ‘A’ feels after making any choice. Judge Wilhelm’s argument tells ‘A’ and the reader that life carries on no matter what, so dwelling on choices leads to more regret than just making a
The mysterious character known as ‘A’ lives his life by a method that he calls the rotation method, which gets its name from a strategy used by farmers to prolong the life of their fields. This method requires a shift in perspective every time you become bored since, as ‘A’ says, “boredom is the root of all evil. . . The influence it exerts is altogether magical, except that it is not the influence of attraction, but of repulsion” (Solomon 8). ‘A’ makes the argument that boredom is what causes people to make poor and destructive choices. To avoid boredom and these poor decisions, one …show more content…
Without an identity, it is extremely difficult to find a purpose which causes that feeling that life is meaningless that ‘A’ eventually succumbs to. The main lesson learned from the character of ‘A’ is that if you never settle on your own perspective, you can never find purpose and meaning in your life. From Judge Wilhelm’s response to ‘A’ the reader can learn that choices are what gives you an identity and your life meaning. He says that once you make enough choices, it is easy to move past the regret that ‘A’ feels after making any choice. Judge Wilhelm’s argument tells ‘A’ and the reader that life carries on no matter what, so dwelling on choices leads to more regret than just making a