I think that its really important to realize what Sisyphus represents in Camus's writing from any perspective. In my perspective Sisyphus represents the modern way us humans conquer life, which is an on going repeat of itself. The same things over and over again. To me Sisyphus represents the ongoing treadmill of human's way of life. This life somehow satisfies humans. Getting to the top is one thing but to have yourself work towards the same goal every day represents no progress. Like most humans, now a days, having the same goal everyday would make any person satisfied. Which is sadly the lazy majority of us humans. If anything gets a bit too complicated most humans avoid the challenges and use other sources of joy to reduce the stress. Over the summer I watched an episode from a netflix series, I can't remember what show, but I thoroughly remember one of the members of the show claim, "Today I think we educated kids to be settled in the comfortable chair. You have your job, your little car, and a place to sleep, and all the dreams are dead. You don't grow on a secure path. All of us should conquer something in life. And it needs a lot of work."
I think that this quote most thoroughly represents the character Camus uses in his myth. Sisyphus is someone that is settled with their job since its the same thing everyday. Sisyphus is sadly satisfied with doing the same thing everyday and that bothers me. This quote ties into what Camus wrote because the specific feelings that Sisyphus felt were similar to the boring people described in the saying. Like the quote mentions, Sisyphus will never grow in the path he has made by rolling the rock to the top of the hill. Sisyphus never really conquers anything different which to me shows the frustration of unproductivity Camus writes about in his myth.
I completely agree with your analysis of how Sisyphus is settled in his rock rolling. All though he has nothing to worry about, no stresses, etc. That is a sad life in my opinion. Maybe I do not understand the other perspective well enough but I love having to work and strive to accomplish something, it provides me the motivation to work hard and try to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the comfortable chair statement. Of course people have a job, a car, and a place to sleep, this is what many would define as a functioning member of society. However, just because they don't specifically follow their dream doesn't mean they haven't worked hard or haven't conquered anything. My dreams have changed several times over the past few years and honestly I'm glad I hadn't pursued most of them. But I do feel as though I have worked hard and conquered quite a bit up to this point in my life and I have been repeating the same tasks over and over.
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