Happiness Through Sharing
Happiness is Found Through Shared Experiences
Every single person in the world will develop at least one human relationship in their lifetime. To some, these relationships are sacred and to be cherished, for others they are merely convenient affairs and affiliations. In the movie Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, and the poem Warren Pryor by Alden Nowlan, there are two different cases involving human relationships, and more specifically, parent/child relationships. In both texts, the parents are trying to create good, successful lives for their child, which the child perceives as them trying to accomplish their dreams instead of letting the child follow his own. The relationships between child and parent in both texts are conflicting and strained. In Warren Pryor, the main character (Warren Pryor) is resentful of his parents because they indirectly force him into getting a white-collared job as a bank teller instead of letting him do what he thinks is right for himself. The main character, Chris McCandless from Into the Wild has a strong dislike for his parents materialistic principles and ethics and believes that human relationships do not give happiness, but natural beauty and experience do, so he leaves his life of upper-middle class in Virginia behind to live on his own in the wilds of Alaska, where he comes to the conclusion that he did not find true joy there, but found it on the way to Alaska with all of the different people he encountered and shared experiences with. Chris has interactions with people from different backgrounds, different geographies, different ages and different genders and it is all of these relationships that ultimately provides Chris the understanding he was seeking. For example, Chris’ time spent with the middle-aged couple, Rainey and Jan provides him with the insight of how his quest could be affecting those that love him, as Jan states to Chris at one point: “You look like a loved kid”. This quote proves that although Jan
Every single person in the world will develop at least one human relationship in their lifetime. To some, these relationships are sacred and to be cherished, for others they are merely convenient affairs and affiliations. In the movie Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn, and the poem Warren Pryor by Alden Nowlan, there are two different cases involving human relationships, and more specifically, parent/child relationships. In both texts, the parents are trying to create good, successful lives for their child, which the child perceives as them trying to accomplish their dreams instead of letting the child follow his own. The relationships between child and parent in both texts are conflicting and strained. In Warren Pryor, the main character (Warren Pryor) is resentful of his parents because they indirectly force him into getting a white-collared job as a bank teller instead of letting him do what he thinks is right for himself. The main character, Chris McCandless from Into the Wild has a strong dislike for his parents materialistic principles and ethics and believes that human relationships do not give happiness, but natural beauty and experience do, so he leaves his life of upper-middle class in Virginia behind to live on his own in the wilds of Alaska, where he comes to the conclusion that he did not find true joy there, but found it on the way to Alaska with all of the different people he encountered and shared experiences with. Chris has interactions with people from different backgrounds, different geographies, different ages and different genders and it is all of these relationships that ultimately provides Chris the understanding he was seeking. For example, Chris’ time spent with the middle-aged couple, Rainey and Jan provides him with the insight of how his quest could be affecting those that love him, as Jan states to Chris at one point: “You look like a loved kid”. This quote proves that although Jan