Ordinary People And The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Losing one’s life is clearly a terrible thing, but there is something worse than that; losing faith, happiness, and optimism while still living. When tragedies come into people’s lives it tests their strength and ability to cope with pain. When this occurs, life can change in many ways for the better or for the worse. In some cases it leads to self-destruction, which accompanied by misery that can lead to consequent death. Many popular writers like William Shakespeare, Judith Guest, and Stephen Chbosky created characters who lost their happiness due to disasters that take place. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Ordinary People by Judith Guest, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the main characters face dilemmas that cause

Conrad is a teenager who was deeply troubled by the death of his brother, and he became so depressed that he attempted suicide. After spending some time in the hospital he recovered physically, but not mentally, because he still felt grief. In the beginning of the book Conrad is at home thinking about his life, school and how his life does not have much meaning. One of his thoughts we are given are, “There were one or two guiding principles to get him through the day. Some ambitious plans, also, for putting his life in order. But the details have somehow been lost. If there were ever any”(Guest 5). In this quote people can see into Conrad’s mind to be informed that he does not have much faith since he no longer has even the small details that once made him want to live. He feels that life will never get better therefore, he does have hope in recovering. Another problem that Conrad dealt with is the fact that his mother never shows him affection. His mother has always been a cold a distance person towards him. In the book they got into a fight because Conrad quit the swim team without telling his mom. During their fight Conrad explodes, and says to her “ I’m sure I would have told you...if I thought you gave a damn!(Guest 109). This made Conrad feel even more dissatisfied with life because of the way she treated him. With that, it made him

Hamlet became a very depressed person when his father passed away, and his mom married his uncle within a month. After Hamlet met with his uncle who was now the king and his mother, he stood alone and talked about all his troubles. One of the things he said was “Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on; and yet, within a month- Let me not think on't! Frailty, thy name is woman (Shakespeare 875)!” Hamlet said this because he was overwhelmed emotionally due to the fact that his mother and uncle married promptly after his father’s death. This caused him to lose the will to live, because he felt they had both betrayed his father. Another part in the play that shows Hamlet is suffering is when he says to himself, “To be, or not to be- that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (Shakespeare 1750). This quote Hamlet said, questioned whether if it was better to die, after all he did not have much to live for. Also, he found out that the person who killed his father was his uncle, which caused him even more emotional turmoil. The last painful moment in his life is the death of the woman he loved named Ophelia. When Hamlet returned from England he saw that a grave being dug was actually Ophelia’s.