Existentialism In Albert Camus's The Myth Of Sisyphus

Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus” is a philosophical writing about a mythological person Sisyphus. The gods punished Sisyphus with an eternal penalty. His penalty required an everlasting endeavor that was directed toward absurdity. Sisyphus had to ceaselessly roll a stone to the top of a mountain that would fall back from the mountain on its own. Punishing Sisyphus in such way, the gods thought that there was no more terrible punishment than living in an absurdity. By making Sisyphus an absurd hero, Camus relates to existentialism and existential angst. He implies that existential angst is the part of the modern people’s lives because there is a conflict between what we want from this world and what we find in this world; every day, when …show more content…
Happiness is different for different people. In other words, various people perceive happiness in different ways. There are people who need a highly pleasurable or satisfying situations in order to be happy; however, there are people who can be happy just by freedom of their choices. According to Dr. Rick Nauert, “Western society teaches that free will and the ability to choose among options are part and parcel with self-optimization and happiness,” that is to say, people, who can freely choose from different options, are happy. In addition, the ability to choose makes us feel stronger than our circumstances because it shows us that we have influence on our life; consequently, when Camus writes, “He [Sisyphus] knows to be the master of his days (3)” and when he adds, “He is stronger than his rock (2),” he implies that Sisyphus doesn’t know what the Gods are planning for him, but he knows if he has possibility, he will roll a stone toward the height. Therefore, Sisyphus can make decisions on his own: he is the commander of his life. He is stronger than his fate and as Camus adds, “All Sisyphus’ silent joy is contained therein …show more content…
In the perfect life, you cannot have heartbreak, a depression, and anger. However, I think that in order to have the happy life, one shouldn’t have the perfect life. I think that in the perfect life you already know your future and you lose interest in your life; therefore, I think that the best way to the happiness is having an imperfect life because in such life you can experience all the emotions that the universe gives us. A British-born American philosopher, Alan Watts, proposes an interesting experiment of thought where he supposes that one dreams an entire lifetime each night. At first, one dreams about a life without problems. Then, he starts to get bored and takes some risks. Then, he starts taking huge risks and realizes that he is exactly in his own life; consequently, one doesn’t care about the perfect life and chooses to live a life that is completely random (qtd. in Kim). Watts supports Camus’s argument that “They [happiness and absurdity] are inseparable (2)” and implies that in order to be happy, the life should include imperfect details; therefore, in order to be happy, the modern man’s life should include existential