Defining Reality and what is Right as a Central Theme

It is interesting that in The Home and the World, Candide, and Faust there is a common theme of the search for what is right. In The Home and the World citizens search for the "right" answer to the Swadeshi movement and try to figure out how they should reshape and define not only their homeland, but themselves, specifically in Bimala's case her free-will and sexuality. In Candide, perspective is analysed in its impact on the larger world around the characters. In a way it explores the concept of the truth and right in the world through the radically different opinions of it in a way dichotomous characters. In Faust, Goethe allows readers to follow along Faust journey through such a seemingly normal reality that is turned upside down when he makes a pact with Mephistopheles, this pact with the devil which so skews Faust's previous reality completely makes the plot and protagonist, even the reader, lose clear sight of the original and true reality. Faust's request in itself of Mephistopheles to give him the worst and let him feel no pleasure is in itself so unworldly. This intangible concept begins to turn the tables in the novel. After this event Goethe's slowly explores the human condition and right and wrong through Faust's journey and the difference between Faust before and after the pact. Faust's reality becomes so skewed that it reaches a point where he raises to his lips the poison that he himself has brewed (732-735). Suicide is often accounted for by those with conditions that cause humans to lose sight of reality. I believe the search for the concept of reality and truth is the driving force in this novel. What is so appealing about the concept of the devil and why similar archetypes constantly can be found in literature spanning all time periods, is because the theme of of reality and truth runs rampant in the collective unconscious. Human nature urges to define a a truth or reality and that it what I believe ultimately drives Faust to raise the poison to his lips, not his extreme suffering but because he cannot form hope in a reality he cannot even grasp. I believe that at the base of many examples of world literature we can find this concept and not only can we definitely in Faust but I believe exploring wrong and right to define a reality is the driving force of the novel.

This theme can be found in many current examples of media, musics, and writing as it truly is a theme ingrained in the collective unconscious. A extremely recent example of the appeal of this concept is the popular movie Inception where movie watchers watch the impact of changing realities in defining one's truth. Similarly in the movie Adjustment Bureau discovering that reality might be skewed causes the main character to take charge of his life and define what is real to him on his own. This concept is not only found in recent media but throughout the history of literature and I believe it to be important to Faust's journey in Goethe's Faust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJ0TP4nTaE