While the terms boredom and discontent are thrown around in daily life, when brought to the extreme these emotions can have great power over the path of people’s lives. Brought to a standstill by their own dissatisfaction in what their past has consisted of, those plagued by monotony come to question why they exist at all. This is where the meaning of life truly comes into the picture. People are driven to find meaning in their lives when they discover their dissatisfaction with it, these moments of boredom and sorrow driving them to question why they exist and why they should continue to do so. It is not often that one who finds pleasure in their life is brought to doubt their purpose on this earth, rather those who are troubled with it;
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Unable to find lasting satisfaction, or at least enough to settle them down, these two men run from moment to moment as if they are chasing time itself. While their backgrounds and pasts differ greatly, they are connected by a need to find something bigger and better. Sal Paradise is a man who has known few troubles in his life, at least compared to his companions. Having grown up in an upper-middle class family, he has little experience in regards to suffering. Educated, financially well-off, and living in a stable home, there is nothing wrong with Sal’s life besides the fact that it is not exciting enough to write about. To put it simply, he is bored. This boredom stirs up a wave of contemplation within Sal’s mind, resurfacing lost dreams, plans, and a need to experience. Hence the cross country …show more content…
When he takes the wrong train and is stuck in the pouring rain, it seems as if he has never experienced worse because of the way he describes the scene. He claims to have never seen such pretty girls as the ones in Des Moines, yet moves on from the place with little hesitation only a few pages later. Sal Paradise tries to instill an intensity on his life that is not necessarily apparent, narrating the events in a way that makes them seem more important and valid. There is most certainly a reason as to why this story is told in first person, as we are able to witness the desperation in our narrator as he flies from place to place, using his experience in English to bring a poetic tone to each event. This sugar-coating and intrinsic need to instill meaning on each event simply confuses Sal, distracting him from what he has and the simple joys of life. In his mind, he cannot settle until he has found the greatest amongst all, until his purpose smacks him right across the forehead and his existence is therefore justified. It would be reasonable to say that he wastes much of his time befriending brutes and acting nonsensical just because he wants to feel alive, eager to break away from the dullness of his life and discover himself by experiencing extreme struggle and joy. Sal could have just stayed at home and continued working on his novel, enjoying the
Unable to find lasting satisfaction, or at least enough to settle them down, these two men run from moment to moment as if they are chasing time itself. While their backgrounds and pasts differ greatly, they are connected by a need to find something bigger and better. Sal Paradise is a man who has known few troubles in his life, at least compared to his companions. Having grown up in an upper-middle class family, he has little experience in regards to suffering. Educated, financially well-off, and living in a stable home, there is nothing wrong with Sal’s life besides the fact that it is not exciting enough to write about. To put it simply, he is bored. This boredom stirs up a wave of contemplation within Sal’s mind, resurfacing lost dreams, plans, and a need to experience. Hence the cross country …show more content…
When he takes the wrong train and is stuck in the pouring rain, it seems as if he has never experienced worse because of the way he describes the scene. He claims to have never seen such pretty girls as the ones in Des Moines, yet moves on from the place with little hesitation only a few pages later. Sal Paradise tries to instill an intensity on his life that is not necessarily apparent, narrating the events in a way that makes them seem more important and valid. There is most certainly a reason as to why this story is told in first person, as we are able to witness the desperation in our narrator as he flies from place to place, using his experience in English to bring a poetic tone to each event. This sugar-coating and intrinsic need to instill meaning on each event simply confuses Sal, distracting him from what he has and the simple joys of life. In his mind, he cannot settle until he has found the greatest amongst all, until his purpose smacks him right across the forehead and his existence is therefore justified. It would be reasonable to say that he wastes much of his time befriending brutes and acting nonsensical just because he wants to feel alive, eager to break away from the dullness of his life and discover himself by experiencing extreme struggle and joy. Sal could have just stayed at home and continued working on his novel, enjoying the