Imagine rolling a large boulder up a steep hill, only to watch it roll back down again and repeat the agonizing work. This process was the punishment for Sisyphus in Greek mythology and Robert Camus likened this process to the human condition in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus. Humans search for answers to problems, but are too blinded to find unity. Generally, an archetypal, blind literary character is given the ability to see the more important aspects of life, but the opposite is true for those characters with full sight. Having this anomaly undermines what is considered a vital physical feature. This blindness could be to love, to evil, to reality, to potential, to truth, or to a plethora of other things. Significantly, this tragic fault’s potential often leads to the blind character’s demise.
In Euripides’ …show more content…
Two characters come to mind that are blind to the truth about success, Mr. Zero in Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine and Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks Topdog/Underdog. Both of these men plan on making it big, but neither is willing to put in the effort it takes. Mr. Zero yearns for a promotion and for Daisy to love him, but he only ever ponders how it will happen never making an attempt to change his circumstances. Although Booth attempts to learn Three-Card Monte, he does not have the discipline to succeed; nonetheless, he believes that his brother, Lincoln, is holding him back from being the “topdog,” the one in control, so he has to take out his competition by killing his brother. He is blind to the fact that there is not a short-cut in life to achieve success and to live the good life. Without his brother, Booth has nothing. These two men, Mr. Zero and Booth, will never gain their dream lives because neither will put in the effort to achieve their
In Euripides’ …show more content…
Two characters come to mind that are blind to the truth about success, Mr. Zero in Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine and Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks Topdog/Underdog. Both of these men plan on making it big, but neither is willing to put in the effort it takes. Mr. Zero yearns for a promotion and for Daisy to love him, but he only ever ponders how it will happen never making an attempt to change his circumstances. Although Booth attempts to learn Three-Card Monte, he does not have the discipline to succeed; nonetheless, he believes that his brother, Lincoln, is holding him back from being the “topdog,” the one in control, so he has to take out his competition by killing his brother. He is blind to the fact that there is not a short-cut in life to achieve success and to live the good life. Without his brother, Booth has nothing. These two men, Mr. Zero and Booth, will never gain their dream lives because neither will put in the effort to achieve their