The Lesson Of The Moth Analysis

Decent Essays
Individuals often experience internal and external conflict when they wish to embrace individualism instead of constantly conforming towards collectivism. In the poem “Lesson of the Moth”, Marquis describes that rather than maintaining ordinary conventionalities, individuals should actively fulfill their own satisfactions and desires by freely expressing their own interests rather than conceding to longevity. In Act One of in the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller suggests that when a community no longer experiences conflicts and confrontations from other religious groups, certain individuals begin to desperately yearn for individual freedom by having the ability to express their own beliefs and values without being publicly persecuted. Both …show more content…
As a result, despite their longevity, they are unable to fully embrace and experience the beauty of excitement. In “The Lesson of the Moth”, the moth attempts to achieve excitement and beauty by breaking into an electric light bulb. He believes that “it is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while.” This demonstrates his unique values in that he wishes to pursue something momentarily magnificent and outstanding even if it means to drastically shorten his lifespan. His unwillingness to conform to conventionalities is further portrayed when he reverses the idiom “easy come easy go” to “come easy go easy” as he wishes to express his own different perspective of life by embracing individualism. The moth also believes that due to civilization, humans have become too orthodox to experience the true nature of beauty and happiness. Due to civilization, humans are now required to obediently abide certain laws and rules; as a result, they sacrifice their individual freedom in exchange for the stability and security of society. In order to satisfy his beliefs and maximize the feeling of contentment, the moth “immolated himself on a patent cigar lighter”, …show more content…
My parents have always placed academic studies above everything else since they believed that obtaining high grades would allow me to achieve immense success in the future. However, I had different values than my parents since I wished to maintain my social life and continue with my extracurricular activities rather than become completely engulfed in studies. The contrasting beliefs between my parents and I caused us to frequently argue with each other since each of us believed that our own respective beliefs should be prioritized. Eventually, I conformed to my parents and began to prioritize my studies over my extracurricular activities. By spending more time studying, my grades gradually improved; however, I began to spend less time with my friends and our relationships began to deteriorate. Although in the beginning I was surprisingly impressed by my achievements and massive improvements compared with the past, this feeling began to dissipate as I felt regretful for isolating myself from my friends by completely focusing on studies. I began to feel horribly excluded as I was unable to maintain a balance between my social life and the pressures of maintaining high grades. Because of these increasing feelings of distress and self-loathing, my grades drastically dropped and I began to throw horrible tantrums at my parents. Slowly, my parents

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