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  • Essay / Henry David Thoreau's illustration of the concept of escape as described in his book, Where I Lived and Why I Lived

    IntroductionExpectations and standards rise like mental bile, contributing to the disorder of stress and confusion. Reality tends to lose its appeal when it is charred by anxiety and peppered with self-destruction. The bittersweet battle continues as the mind struggles to end its distortion complex against reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, Thoreau evaluates human perception of reality, stating that humanity accepts "impostures and illusions" as reassuring. truths to avoid a “fabulous” reality that is often ignored and underestimated. While Thoreau rightly asserts that humanity remains ignorant of reality because it constantly seeks escape or a way to gild reality, he fails to approach escapism as a method of improving a far-off reality. to be “fabulous” for the individual. Thoreau's Claim Concerning Human Necessity Escape produces truth in individuals who have literally fled from society into nature. However, Thoreau fails to evaluate this movement as the hypothesis of an entirely new reality. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer follows the journey of Chris McCandless who embarked on this particular escape into nature in order to escape his "reality" – a life of upbringing and societal expectations. In the wild, McCandless believed he could truly live as an individual and embrace the reality that was meant for him. McCandless gave up a life filled with opportunities and advantages such as academic success and financial security, a life considered by many to be idealistic, and replaced it with his life. own radical naturalist conceptions. McCandless's romantic delusions have become his attempt to live, and in this aspect, McCandless represents Thoreau's assertion that humanity will accept a false reality as a substitute for the one given to him. However, Jon Krakauer makes it clear that McCandless did not enjoy his life in any way. before escaping it, and fleeing to the confines of nature; he has rejected the reality that society expects of him and replaced it with his own. This new reality can arguably either represent the illusion suggested by Thoreau or be considered a reality in itself, since McCandless maintained this lifestyle until his death. Cosplay, the act of wearing costumes and/or sporting accessories to embody a specific character, represents a unique method of escapism, in which the assumption of a fictional character is the "illusion" which, according to Thoreau , eclipses the reality of an individual. One man in particular, Robert Franzese, otherwise known as "real-life Peter Griffin" (the protagonist of the series Family Guy), explains his unglamorous reality by stating: "I go to work and I'm not like person. have no work for anyone, charging no one.” However, at conventions when he cosplays, he notices the mixed reactions from audiences, explaining, "People have their phones out like I'm Brad Pitt." This particular cosplayer, like many in some way, seeks to escape from their reality as a means of adopting an alternate personality, particularly that of a fictional character that exceeds the boundaries of reality. By playing a fictional character, a cosplayer not only escapes their own life, but essentially reality itself, as characters usually only exist in works of fiction - and from there they create their own ".