On Why We Travel North Movie Analysis

Traveling, wherever you go, is a life-changing journey as the world that we once knew changes as we experience adversity and angst, which later blossoms into happiness and lifelong memories that we take with us when we depart. According to Pico Iyers, On Why We Travel, he says that we travel to gain an understanding of the world and who we truly are and to turn back time to relive our youthful days. The movie, North by Northwest (1959) by Alfred Hitchcock, an influential business is mistaken for a spy and is involuntarily uprooted from his comfortable lifestyle to one on the run. Pico Iyers’ idea of travel allows us to understand the person that Roger Thornhill transformed into, from being a businessman still reliant on his mother to an independent hero. It also lets us understand how Roger fell in love again after being divorced twice and living with his mother. Finally, it helps us understand the person that Eve Kendall becomes as she is changed from just a pretty face who saves Roger for a nefarious plan to falling in love with him.
Roger still lives with his mother and stays by her side despite his age. Iyers says that traveling shows us, “all the parts of ourselves that might otherwise grow rusty.” (5) which for Roger, is independence and adulthood. Roger’s dependence on his mother is excessive and actually contributes to him being abducted in the first place. When meeting with other executives, Roger goes to telegram his mother, fearing she may not have gotten a message which leads to his capture. Roger’s continued reliance on his mother for support forces him to grow up and take charge for