J. Alfred Prufrock Flaws

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What If I Mess Up? You can either be a winner or a loser. That is the mindset one must carry to properly function in modern society without ending up on the street. The eternal comparison of a Winner vs. a Loser. We all know the winners of society, but what happens to the other guy, second place, the failure? They are forgotten, forever plagued by an afterthought. This bleak outlook on life that society forces onto its people creates a constant drilling into the inner workings of one's skull. Each drill echoes throughout one's mind: ‘What if I mess up?’. That question, that thought of fear, causes a desperate need for approval from our coworkers, friends, family, or even complete strangers. It engulfs our daily lives and drowns us in fear, …show more content…

Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" The poem explores the issue of failure through the lens of hesitation and existential dread. Prufrock, the poem's protagonist, is a middle-aged man who is paralyzed by his dread of social and personal failure, preventing him from living fully or expressing his wishes. This internal struggle is addressed discursively through a stream of consciousness that alternates between his need for connection and his crushing self-doubt. Eliot creates a story that not only represents Prufrock's personal failures—his reluctance to act, his apparent insignificance, and his fear of aging—but also speaks to the larger human predicament of feeling inadequate and misunderstood. Prufrock's fear of failure is further made apparent by Eliot through the repetition of the question “Do I Dare?”. “Do I Dare disturb the universe”, “Do I Dare eat this peach”. The question is a perfect insight into Prufrock's fear of failure within society. By asking “Do I Dare”, it shows us, the audience, his hesitation to act in society, therefore making Prufrock’s fear of failure quite apparent throughout the poem. The poem addresses the complexities of failure through vivid imagery, metaphorical landscapes, and rhetorical questions, presenting it as an inherent aspect of the human experience, formed by societal expectations and personal …show more content…

Gus Van Sant examines the fear of failure within Will Hunting’s relationship with his therapist Sean Maguire. Hunting is portrayed as lost within his own life, afraid of failure within the constraints of his community. The film even goes so far as to state that failure is not wanted within society, which in turn leads to Will’s fear. "Don't infect him with the idea that it's okay to be a failure, because it's not." Him of course refers to Will Hunting. The film is a consistent adaptation of modern society and how it traps people into the belief that failure is not an option. This mindset plagues society as it gives birth to people who are afraid to make pivotal decisions just because they fear

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