Similarities Between Civilization And Its Discontents

Since the days of the Neanderthals and the cavemen, humans have gathered together for reasons that range from protective to social. This gathering has resulted in the technology that a majority of the members of this planet use on a daily basis and take for granted, such as the computer that the author of this paper is typing out their words on right now, or the system that the assessor of this paper uses to collect the finished product. However, while these systems help to make our lives richer and more advanced, not all agree that the association of humankind in close contact with each other is the healthiest or best choice for the people that exist in this world. In the novel, Civilization and Its Discontents, author Sigmund Freud articulated …show more content…
The reasons that we come together and stay this way are powerful, which is why we do not leave, but felt internally is the want to live our life the way that we want to, to be ourselves and not have to explain or defend why we cook or clean or talk or love the way that we do, which we always express internally. Freud believes that civilization is a main cause of our discontent because of the fact that we want to be part of a society that creates and discovers what shall change the world and the inhabitants within it forever, while also yearning to be completely individualistic and ourselves without the demands of the world thrust upon …show more content…
It is much easier to be attacked or harmed if you live by yourself in the middle of nowhere; after all, if a tribe of bandits comes, kills you, and claims all of your possessions, no one knows what has happened to you, no one was there to help defend the homestead and yourself, and no one is available to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice. It is also harder to find someone that you want to enter a sexual relationship with; sex is an act which Freud, in Strachey’s translation (1961), states “...given us our most intense experience of an overwhelming sensation of pleasure and has thus furnished us with a pattern for our search for happiness” (pg. 33). If one lives all by themselves in a place which is not easily accessible for other humans to find and encounter, then it can be highly difficult to find a sexual partner. This is not a problem if you do not feel sexual attraction, but as the vast majority of the human race is sexual, this becomes an issue; difficulties are found as someone knows that potential mates are out there, but within civilization, which they would not want to enter and the other not want to leave. Technology also is a privilege that you can only hold