Aspects of Existentialism - Essay Example

Instruction: Task: Existentialism There are different and interesting aspects of existentialism that reflect on the life of human beings. This begins with the feelings of anger, despair, absurdity and facticity among others. Therefore, according to famous existentialists such as Jean Sartre, Albert Camus and Soren Kierkegaad, existentialism is a philosophy that its existence comes before essence. In other words, a human being is first an individual before other labels, roles or stereotypes (Flynn 156). This suggests that human beings should always act under their own consciousness in order to establish their values. This also entail the determination of the meaning their lives in relation to the existing environment. In that case, there are elements of existentialism in both pop and high culture such as films, novels and paintings among others. Existentialism is a cultural and philosophical movement that the experiences of an individual are the defining point of all philosophical thinking (Flynn 145). Therefore, in a short story such as ‘To Build a Fire’ by Jack London, it is about the unfortunate tale of a man who falls victim to the power of nature. This happens when he goes for an expedition to a wild environment in Yukon with sub-freezing temperatures. The man struggles against the hostility of the weather when his feet get wet through the ice that is found in water including a hot freezing point. Therefore, in order to save himself, it is upon man to generate some warmth by lighting a fire to prevent his feet from freezing. On that brief account, the theme of existentialism is depicted in the inability of man to extricate him from the turbulent forces of nature. In other words, the man is in a cruel habitat with indifference in terms of according him peace and harmony. It thus compels him to accept the meaningless and indignity of nature. The man finally resigns to fate and discovers that nature is powerful and the only mercy is to play his role of protecting himself. Alternatively, it is imperative to note that there are several existentialistic themes discussed by Jack London in the short story. For example, there is the theme of despair that is apparent in the inability of the man to control nature. The man develops a deep dread of lighting a fire after his legs become wet because the forces of nature are extremely powerful. However, in the philosophical study of existentialism, despair is an inborn part of a human being despite the motivating forces of the feeling. In his book Works of Love, Kierkegaard notes “…Lovingly to hope all things is the opposite of despairingly to hope nothing at all” (Flynn 246). This suggests that irrespective of the feelings of the man at the moment of being overwhelmed by nature, there is nothing substantial he can do to avoid the feelings of despair. Furthermore, the state of despair is noted when the raging snow in Yukon extinguishes his fire and becomes apprehensive that he may lose his toes because of the tormenting frostbites. Afterwards, he decides to gather grass and twigs to try and light another fire despite the numbness of his frozen fingers. Later, the man lapses into a state of angst that leads him to do some desperate moves to help him. Therefore, this leads to another fundamental theme of existentialism that deals with anger or angst. According to the famous proponents of existentialism such as Camus and Sartre, angst may also take the designs of anxiety or anguish, and it means the freedom to do anything because the choice is human responsibility. In the story, after the man discovers that he cannot light a fire with frozen fingers, the available freedom of choice compels him to collect all his matches and set them all ablaze. This angst also leads him to raze a piece of bark including his own hands in the last anguish to save him from the terrible desperation. This is what Jean Sartre notes in his essay “Existentialism is a Humanism” as “…man is in anguish, meaning that he who chooses cannot escape a deep responsibility for all humanity” (Flynn 123). However, the angst of the man cornered does not end burning his matches including his own hand. The man now decides to murder his dog so that he can squeeze his hands inside the warm system of the dog. This also fails because the severe cold has numbed his entire fingers he cannot even unleash his knife and use it to strangle the dog (Flynn 146). The author observes that, at this point, the man finally gives up because the cruelty of nature has finally outdone him. It is also critical to point out that the man also makes desperate moves to run to keep him warm, but this also fails. This is because he lacks the stamina to spur him to generate heat in the body by running fast. Therefore, this makes him to fall into a state of absurd that is also a noteworthy theme of existentialism. In the theme of absurdity, existentialists hold that tragic things can happen to anyone and lead them to devastating consequences. This is apparent in thoughts of the man after trying everything to save him from the biting cold of Yukon. In turn, his imaginations skid to a state of being dead and his friends stumbling upon his body in the depths of the snow. Additionally, he regrets coming to Yukon for the journey and wishes he had not traveled home (Flynn 111). Afterwards, some warmth sweeps him away, and he lapses into a deep sleep only for his dog to find him already dead. This is the final blow that confirms the theme of absurdity in terms of life being a place of tragedies and unhappiness. On that account, the study of existentialism should integrate other opposing philosophies such as idealism and mechanism to understand humanity (Flynn 129). It is also critical to review the themes of existentialism in respect to the effect on human beings as depicted in the story ‘To Build a Fire’ by Jack London. Reference Flynn, Thomas. Existentialism. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company. 2009. Print. Read More