Mental States Meaning

Mental States and Meaning Is there a meaning to life? At some point in everyone’s life, this question may come up. Some may think their lives have no meaning. They may think that everything completed in their lifetime has been a waste because it will never truly affect the future. Many people have differing answers when posed with this question. However, when a group of seventh graders get together, will they be able to find meaning? In the book, Nothing by Janne Teller, a group of seventh graders join together in search of meaning. Throughout the novel, not everyone finds meaning in the mission. However, the few children who do find meaning end up developing very unique mental states. The mental states developed by the children during …show more content…
Once Pierre Anthon tells the class that “Nothing matters…So nothing is worth doing,” Agnes becomes curious about the meaning behind it (Teller, Janne 1). She also becomes scared of Pierre as she always knew that everyone “was supposed to amount to something” even when it was never mentioned out loud (5). The meaning behind his words left Agnes wondering. She, along with the others in the class, decided to go out and find meaning in their lives. They started a heap of meaning and each classmate had to put something in the pile that was important to them. Agnes had to give up her green sandals that she had waited a very long time to get. After that, she became angry and chose to get close to a classmate to find out what mattered most to them. She spent time with Gerda until she figured out what mattered most to her. Once Agnes found out that Gerda’s hamster was very valuable to her she was filled with joy making Gerda give it up. As each person chose another to give up an item of importance, the classes’ behavior became worse. Pierre’s words created bizarre actions from her classmates. She did everything she could to not become part of the madness. However, she ended up being just as awful as the other children and became filled with doubt. She realized that everyone’s feelings, including hers had been “replaced by a mask that looked exactly like the one the grown-ups wore” …show more content…
Agnes was filled with doubt, but overcame it and found her meaning to be her memories. Her meaning was physical and mental. Hussain had no confidence and did not care, however, he overcame it and found his religious beliefs to be meaningful. Sofie was lacking mental stability but she still found her meaning. Sofie’s meaning was the heap of meaning. Each person found their meaning with the help of Pierre. Without Pierre’s comments, each student may not have found out what mattered the most to them. They could have lived their whole life without the understanding of what matters. Each person has a different meaning in life. Everyone may not be like Pierre and impact many people’s lives, but everyone can find their own meaning. There is meaning in life and everyone has a chance to find