The Meaning Of Life In C. S. Lewis Till We Have Faces

Decent Essays
The book Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis is based on myths. To be able to determine how this text is a myth, one must look at a specific element in particular.
The element of myth that is brought up numerous times in the book is the struggle with the quest of the meaning of life. This element occurs when a character has trouble understanding what is the meaning of life and goes on a journey to figure it out. They have a hard time choosing if they should believe in a higher power (god). The struggle with the quest of the meaning of life is such a battle to go through because it unveils the common hopes and fears everyone has about life. The meaning of life directly correlates with the following question: What is my purpose in life? “ What

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Cultural conflicts happen just as frequently in the real world and in the world of literature. These conflicts reveal an individual’s identity, personality and character. Just as a photographer prepares his/her camera and scenery before a shoot, Rudolfo Anaya’s writing style takes place as a strategy that is analogous to how a photographer takes a picture because of how she diligently utilizes certain essential literary elements in his writing to craft about how an individual reacts when a cultural conflict comes into existence. Anaya’s writing reveals the significance of the cultural relationships between humans, not just in specific Hispanic cultures, but as humanity in general. Furthermore, a cultural conflict not only takes place externally…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Many have accused C.S Lewis of being a misogynist. This accusation comes from his lack of support for the feminism movement of the twentieth century. However, while Lewis could not be labeled a feminist, he is far from the misogynist label given to him by critics. Rather than choose to favor one particular gender over the other, in his later life Lewis stated that he had, “a preference for people (Leeuwen 259). This article will analyze the role of gender in Lewis writing, particularly in Till We Have Faces, Four Loves, and Narnia, within the grander context of the twentieth century and seek to prove that Lewis’s statement about his “preference for people (Leeuwen 259)” is true.…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adversity In The Odyssey

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In every piece of literature, there is an underlying theme or message, that blankets over the story. Throughout the story, the theme is brought up by clues and hints. As readers, our job, is to find the clues the author leaves, to discover the theme of the story, and the lesson to be learned. The Odyssey is a timeless piece, studied all over the world for its story of a hero’s travailing journey home, and the gurganious trials he overcomes. Many movies, tv-shows, and books have the theme and plot of a hero or heroine in peril.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Justice: an ethic that has been one of the fundamental aspects of "good" since the word itself was defined. What justice entails, however, has always been left to question. Determining the answer has fallen into the hands of the leaders of both secular and religious communities, although the conclusions drawn out by the two often contradict each other. In Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, Orual 's reasoning stands against the gods ' in what she believes to be an injustice. During the duration of the novel the two assessments are developed and contrasted, and in the end one is clearly a more accurate representation of justice.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The poem, The Odyssey by Homer is about a man named Odysseus, who travels a exhausting 20 year journey back to his home on Ithaca after leading his army in the Trojan War. Throughout his journey, the story conveys many significant ideas like a hero's journey, strategic thinking, Xenia, hubris, the role of the gods, and role of men and women that help develop the story. However, there are two ideas that are illustrated the most; the role of the gods and Xenia. The role of the gods in the story teaches us to face the everyday tests that happen in our lives and to respect the people above us such as elders or the gods while Xenia teaches us to take everyone in with a welcoming heart and be grateful for others in your life. One of the biggest…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each person has a particular personal journey to find something that will fulfil their lives. Out of all of the readings that I could’ve chosen, I chose three readings, which are the Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and The Shadow of The Wind. In all of the stories, I’ve concluded that each of the main characters take a dangerous journey to their final destination. In the odyssey, Odysseus finds his home. In Gilgamesh story, Gilgamesh tries to find immortality.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Response to Question 1, Section 1: The Meaning of Life: Wolf vs. Taylor Both Richard Taylor and Susan Wolf understand the difficulty of answering the question, “What is the meaning of life?” Taylor begins his “The Meaning of Life” by saying that we do not even understand what the question means to then answer it, and Wolf claims in her own “The Meanings of Lives” that the question is embarrassing to ask because, as Taylor asserts, we really do not understand what is being asked here. Taylor proposes, then, the best way to answer this is to ask what makes for a meaningless life, and perhaps from this comparison, we can find some answers to the original question. Wolf appreciates Taylor’s approach as she also adopts his method, and even though…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The story of the Odyssey, tells of a cunning hero who has gone on a journey to fight in the Trojan War, to recapture a queen named Helen, who was supposedly kidnapped. Ten years later, the war is over, but Odysseus hasn’t found his way home. Maybe it’s just an inevitable force(s) that causes him to stay away from his homeland for another ten years…who knows. Furthermore, the story shows its complexity through multiple themes its surrounded around. The most profound ones are: appearance versus reality, loyalty, and spiritual growth.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Geography In Moby-Dick

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages

    A Look at Geography in Moby-Dick Melville’s Moby-Dick is a richly woven psychological masterpiece. Time and again concepts and characters are deftly paralleled and contrasted. The sheer density and breadth of references spans biblical allusions, a range of mythologies, as well as the geographical knowledge of a learned cartographer. Perhaps Melville’s most commonly underappreciated device, however, is his complex use of geography. His locations do not only represent real world challenges but also states of emotion, metaphors for characters and relationships, and metaphysical beliefs.…

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Coyote Character Analysis

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The centralized theme of the novel is the evil of mankind. In the novel, evil is an entity that can possess people against their will – like a spirit. Although that may sound like the run-of-the-mill Webster’s definition of evil, there is a difference, which is that in the novel, evil is personified. The novel uses its events to show how evil works in the real world, in a slightly mellow dramatic, but realistic way. Also, evil in this novel is known as Coyote, and this is because evil is being represented from the Native American point of view: “The thing is, Coyote keeps getting born, over and over,” said Bertha Moses.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Pearl is an allegory. This means the characters and events are symbols that stand for human life. There are several examples of symbolism in this book, including the scorpion, the pearl, the canoe, the doctor, Kino’s songs, and the ants in the novella. The first symbol major symbol in the story is the scorpion.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zeus explains to Athena that Poseidon despises Odysseus because of the role Odysseus played in the plot to exterminate the eye of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The reason Poseidon is so infuriated by this is because Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son. Therefore, Poseidon maintains a hatred of Odysseus and “will not let him end his exile”(200) Homer indicates that although Odysseus encounters a great deal of misfortune in his journey, the major misfortune was the disapproval of Poseidon and Zeus. The combined interference of Poseidon and Calypso prevented him from continuing his journey…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Take-home test: The epic of Gilgamesh In today’s society, many issues and actions have influenced and modified our present world in which we currently live in. Those things have helped us to develop and understand many different characteristics of this world. The epic of Gilgamesh has guided us to help understand multiple values that exist in this narrative poem such as the inevitability of death and mourning, the role of seduction and the power and dangerous forces of the gods. These lessons and themes not only helped Gilgamesh realize certain things but are relevant to the human world as well.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis contains Themes and symbolic events that occur several times during the novel. Many of them revolving around Love and Relationships. A story of a princess, named Orual, who writes a complaint towards the Gods. She feels an immense responsibility to be both the fatherly and motherly role model to her youngest step-sister, Psyche. While, she must struggle with her father, King Trom, and living with misfortune in the kingdom, she has conflicted feelings of love towards Psyche, when it is discovered that she had married Ungit’s son.…

    • 1567 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aeschylus is postulated to be the author of Prometheus Bound, written in the mid to late fifth century BCE. The story follows Zeus’ punishment of Prometheus, a Titan of old, for for bestowing the gifts of fire and civilization to humankind in spite of Zeus’ desire to destroy humans. For his actions, Prometheus is brought to Scythia, where he is chained eternally to a rock by Hephaestus’ impermeable chains. The scene quoted above depicts the encounter between Prometheus and his fellow Titan, Oceanus. Oceanus expresses his pity and sorrow for Prometheus and offers to plead to Zeus for his release.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays