The Desires of the Main characters From Different Books - Essay Example

 Desire, every person has, and everybody traces to fulfill it. It is the fire that leads the way when we get lost; it is the sun that warms us when the winter comes; it is the power that raises us when we fall down. People have their desires, and all the characters we have met have their own desires also. Desire can be a thing we want to protect, like Zeitoun, his desire is to protect his town and his property; it can be a life style we want to have, like Eustace Conway, his desire is to live freely in the nature; it can be the irresistible impulse during the youth, like Matthew Dickman wrote in his poem; it can also be a 10 years old child’s dream and tear, like Chengcheng, his cheating and struggling is his fight for what he desires. The desires of the characters make the books and videos attractive. The desire of each character makes them a lively human being, and makes them a person that others would love to know. Every individual has his own personal desire, which is why people immediately find a connection with such books and videos. Zeitoun is the first friend we met in the class. Heroism is what was discussed about him. Probably he doesn’t want to be a hero, he merely wants to protect his personal property. He wants his family, his property and his lovely town. But life is unfair, the world takes what he wants and gives him a title of a hero that he never desired. His life is controlled by a power greater than him, be it the government or god. He tries to seek satisfaction from the divine authority by serving humanity. He lives his life as a pious and industrious person for a long time. He travels the world and finally settles down in the U.S. with his wife. But when hurricane Katrina comes, his family leaves for a safer place while Zeitoun stays behind to take care of his company business but he does more than that. He rows his canoe in the floods distributing food and medicine to people in need. He probably helps others selflessly because he thinks it would please his creator. That desire to protect his family as well as helping others is his passion and he is driven and governed by it. It is not his responsibility to take care of his town but that is what he desires to do and fulfills it without giving it a second thought. Personal satisfaction and self-fulfillment are two factors that make him do such brave and altruistic tasks. Dennis Ziegler from the book, ‘This is Our Youth’ is another character that was discussed who is led by his own instinctive desires. He indulges himself into various indecent habits like smoking and selling cocaine but he doesn’t consider such habits morally wrong because he is the creator of his own cult and religion, the religion of desire. He is not seeking any rule or guideline, he is driven purely by his urges and he follows them with full faith and without regret. Even though he is wily, smart and domineering but his actions are always passionate and drenched in liberal thoughts. He is just living his life and not thinking about his past or his future, he lives in the moment and that is what fulfills him. Eustace Conway is another character by Elizabeth Gilbert who has a different way of self-fulfillment and contentment of his soul. He is driven by the desire to become one with nature. Like Ziegler, he has discovered his own religion and he believes that is the way to live. And living his life that way gratifies him. Despite having relevant knowledge of the world, he goes out and starts living in the mountains in a teepee. He hunts his own food and starts living like a caveman. His desire is to go back to the way people used to live in caves and jungles. To him that is the only pure way of living. He has not given up his successful urban life because he is afraid of some nuclear war erupting or an economic crisis, it his own will and understanding that it is the true way to live a life, he discovered a higher purpose of life and pursuing it becomes his desire. His self-discovered philosophy of life is his desire and the passion that he strives for. At one point he even has an argument with his girlfriend when he asks her to cook squirrel stew and she can’t. That’s a demonstration that he not only wants to live like a jungle-man but he wants other people to live like one too. That argument leads to their breakup indicating that he is stubborn in his demands and desires (self-contentment is conquers all). To him, living in the jungle wearing buckskin should be everyone’s lifestyle. Such a state of fulfillment that Eustace creates is probably his nirvana that he badly wants to achieve (Karen, 2002). Dickman’s ‘All American Poems’ has more in common with Conway. This poem entices the reader to live a happy life and that is the desire of Dickman. It is a persuasive poem that asks the readers to dance, spend time with girls and continue doing it because that is what life wants from people. Dickman, through the poem tries to wake people up from their slumber and wants them to ditch monotony and live life to its fullest. To him, living life listless is a waste of time and human nature doesn’t deserve such treatment. He convinces readers and probably himself that his desires are probably justified because he is not a river which flows only in one direction. He is a human being, a creature that is full of adventure and enthusiasm (at least that’s what he wishes to see humans as) (Instant Librarian, 2010). His desire is to live life opportunely even if it involves being a little naughty. Probably because a little mischief and a little rule-breaking are in people’s DNA, they shouldn’t hide or suppress it. Instead, they should let it out and let this energy guide them. In a funny and delightful way, Dickman tries to kick the depression out of readers. This is justified because depression is like a demon that feeds on people’s desires. Once people get rid of this monster, they can a lead a life filled with their own desires. Breaking rules and reaching out for those pleasures of life that people deny themselves of is not Dickman’s way. He says; “No reason not to go out and eat twenty doughnuts if that’s what you want instead of granola because, whether you like it or not, it’s a skeleton you’re wearing under those Italian jeans.” (Dickman, 2008) The little boy, Cheng Cheng wants to boss people around. He feels happy for being the class monitor because it was fun to order people and command them. The whole class was shouting and when he said “Quiet”, they all fell silent. That is what he gets so excited about. He loves the popularity and appreciation. That was his desire. After his first day he wanted to relive the moment, he wants to do it again. Living like a leader is Cheng Cheng’s desire. But later when he delivers his speech in front of the class, that he wants to make the school famous through his monitoring and making the institution stand out. Those are just spoon fed words that he delivers to make an impression. In the video ‘Please Vote for Me’, self-satisfaction is what Cheng Cheng is really after. He only wants to make himself happy and it doesn’t matter to him much how achieves that. He goes behind his opponent’s back and schemes, plans and uses cheap maneuvers to defeat competitors. Using dirty tricks to get what people want sounds something which is not fair but analyzing the whole situation and comparing it to other characters in this paper, Cheng Cheng isn’t very different. He is only a 10 year old and doesn’t have firm beliefs of right or wrong. He knows what makes him happy and his brain comes up with various plans to achieve that. He likes to boss other children and tell them what to do. He reflects to his mother how he feels when he commands the class to go quiet and everyone obeys, that happiness is his drive force. He is not motivated by the urge to make the school a better institution or he wants the teacher to appreciate his efforts. His only satisfaction comes from stealing the spotlight and that is his craving. He saw his opponent staying as class monitor for two years and probably envies his position. He likes that position and wants to achieve it by winning the elections for class monitor position, by hook or by crook. Obsession with wealth is another motive for many people to get driven. All the teenagers shown in the video by Lauren Greenfield were crazy for various clothes and shoes. Most of them admitted that spending so much money only on fashionable clothes isn’t reasonable but the happiness and self-satisfaction it brings is incontestable, there is no parallel to it. There is one basic line which divides people into two categories; the haves and the have-nots. People who have money want to spend it to show they have it and people who don’t have the money want the money to buy expensive stuff to show that they have it. This desire never stops. Sean Michael at the age of 17 is addicted to buying the latest jeans and shoes of his favorite style. He even takes up a job to satisfy his desire because his parents can’t afford to spend around $700 every month only on shoes and jeans. But he says something inspirational; he loves to get those things and doesn’t even want to save money to buy a car. The happiness of buying shoes on the spot can never replace getting a car after saving money every month. In all of the above scenarios, desire from within glues everything together. From Zeitoun to Conway to Ziegler to the poem by Mathew Dick, all have one thing in common; the belief of self-fulfillment by achieving or doing something gives them personal satisfaction. There is no other definition. People have different ways or paths that lead to fulfillment but deep down from within, it is the personal urges and the passion that makes people chase something. It is obvious that the protagonist of a movie or a book is usually always chasing something; money, girls, pride, revenge, etc. and that is why people consider them role models and instantly connect with them. They feel themselves in those characters or at least want to be like them because most of them do everything to get what they want. Even such a wily and domineering character like Ziegler inspires people because his way of life is his choice and that is something that he wants to do. He is not told by anyone to do what he is doing, he does what he wishes. Works Cited "Kids Money - Video Library - The New York Times." Video Library Home Page - The New York Times. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/12/13/magazine/1194817108554/kids-money.html "Matthew Dickman: All-American Poem « The Instant Librarian." The Instant Librarian. 26 May 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://instantlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/matthew-dickman-all-american-poem/ "Please Vote for Me 1_5 - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYb_KzlXk4A. "This Is Our Youth Study Guide - Kenneth Lonergan - ENotes.com." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.enotes.com/this-our-youth Valby, Karen. "The Last American Man Review | Book Reviews and News | EW.com."Entertainment Weekly's EW.com | Entertainment News | TV News | TV Shows | Movie, Music and DVD Reviews. 31 May 2002. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,249620,00.html "Zeitoun (book)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitoun_(book) Read More