Both Dave Eggers and David Foster Wallace are well-known postmodern writers who with their works tried to reflect on modern society and address some of their shortcomings. Both approaches this subject in their own way, focusing on different aspects of the problem they are tackling in each of their stories.
David Foster Wallace as well as Dave Eggers touched on the topic of relationships and to be specific troubled and difficult relationships. Eggers in "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water" shows a relationship where both Pilar and Hand are unlike couple having very little in common. The entire story revolves around how Pillar is questioning whether there is any point in this relationship. Eggers focuses on the meaning of sheer experience surrounding …show more content…
David Foster Wallace in his 1999 short story "The Depressed Person" presents a psyche of a depressed person, and in his depiction, Wallace goes deeper than an average reader may expect. Giving a reader a good idea of the contours of the depressed person's existence. By giving this inside into the psyche of a person with depression, it helps a reader to understand trouble and pain caused by this disease and there for help to understand not only actions of the character in the story but also understanding the gravity of depression in the real world. And as impossible as it may be to capture the ever-present pain caused by disease like depression. Wallace achieved it with his story, which even today is considered to be one of the most insightful depictions of depression, making the story more challenging to read, but in the end, it also rewards the reader for the effort. In comparison, we have a Dave's Eggers approach to a less palpable issue, but equally important in today's society. Eggers in both "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water" and "Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly" addresses search for the meaning of life. Whether it would be in a desperate search for any deeper meaning in presumably simple, deprived of any higher purpose plot of "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water", or addressing the situation like in "Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly" where reaching the goal (top of the mountain) is not the end of the story upon which all troubles are resolved, but focusing on what is next. Even asking if the entire way towards the goal was worth the effort. Addressing this notion of getting tunnel vision and focusing only on the goal which was set by cultural standards, is a problem as common as depression but covered in a
David Foster Wallace as well as Dave Eggers touched on the topic of relationships and to be specific troubled and difficult relationships. Eggers in "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water" shows a relationship where both Pilar and Hand are unlike couple having very little in common. The entire story revolves around how Pillar is questioning whether there is any point in this relationship. Eggers focuses on the meaning of sheer experience surrounding …show more content…
David Foster Wallace in his 1999 short story "The Depressed Person" presents a psyche of a depressed person, and in his depiction, Wallace goes deeper than an average reader may expect. Giving a reader a good idea of the contours of the depressed person's existence. By giving this inside into the psyche of a person with depression, it helps a reader to understand trouble and pain caused by this disease and there for help to understand not only actions of the character in the story but also understanding the gravity of depression in the real world. And as impossible as it may be to capture the ever-present pain caused by disease like depression. Wallace achieved it with his story, which even today is considered to be one of the most insightful depictions of depression, making the story more challenging to read, but in the end, it also rewards the reader for the effort. In comparison, we have a Dave's Eggers approach to a less palpable issue, but equally important in today's society. Eggers in both "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water" and "Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly" addresses search for the meaning of life. Whether it would be in a desperate search for any deeper meaning in presumably simple, deprived of any higher purpose plot of "The Only Meaning of Oil-Wet Water", or addressing the situation like in "Up The Mountain Coming Down Slowly" where reaching the goal (top of the mountain) is not the end of the story upon which all troubles are resolved, but focusing on what is next. Even asking if the entire way towards the goal was worth the effort. Addressing this notion of getting tunnel vision and focusing only on the goal which was set by cultural standards, is a problem as common as depression but covered in a