In what ways do individuals derive strength from struggle, or alternatively, allow struggle to overcome them?
To struggle is to take part in the human experience and it is used widely used in literature to portray either positive character development or highlight human failure. While struggles themselves are invariably different from person to person, they are an omnipresent aspect of life regardless of gender, origin, etc.
Having struggled with combinations of depression and anxieties for a prevalent portion of my life, I've found myself not only overcoming them but succumbing to them what seems to be every other year. My tumultuous adventures with the friend that is mental illness may fuel incredibly personal and meaningful art or even a strong basis for forming essay questions, though it has also acted as a catalyst for severed friendships, prolonged isolation, and a number of surprisingly extensive (not altogether desirable) variations in lifestyle. So rather than focusing on my own stupidity this year, I'll be searching for it in the characters I read, hopefully finding a handful I can look to when feeling particularly chemically imbalanced.
Anyone that knows me also knows that I will reference One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at any possible time, whatever the context. The character Randle Patrick McMurphy is a prime example of deriving strength from struggle, using a prison sentence to transfer himself to a mental hospital, therein upturning the authority and society of the 1960's Oregon State Hospital. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the timid Billy Bibbit, a boy who, despite attempts to better his life, ultimately fails and reverts to a state of crippling dependence, anxiety, and suicidal idealization.
So in an act of strength from the struggles I face creating this prompt, I take this question upon myself and look forward to gaining insight on struggle in literature, society, and hopefully myself.
