Over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure of reading some of the greatest pieces of literature known today. This includes: The Catcher and The Rye, J.D. Salinger; Candide, Voltaire; The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald; and A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams. Through out the duration of these novels, it has become apparent that they have a common point. All of these works revolve around the pursuit of life itself. They show that life keeps moving forward, and that we must move with it.

Holden, the protagonist in The Catcher in The Rye, is a prime example of this universal theme. Throughout his journey, Holden embraces the meaning of his life. Even with his troubles, Holden doesn’t give up. He comes close to the edge of emotional oblivion but does not fold. Holden knew that he needed to find himself, he knew he needed to find his reason because even if he did not, life would go on. Everyone he loved would have to move on. If Holden would have folded into depression, the story would have been over and probably would not have become the world renown piece we know today.

In the book Candide, it’s not only the main character who’s looking for a better life. Written in the 1700’s, Voltaire brings an entire cast of characters through struggles. While the book brings an arsenal of strong points towards modern society, it helps us realize what the reason for living is. “We must cultivate our garden.” (120). Not matter where we sit on this earth, we must “cultivate our garden”. We do so by pursuing our dreams of life and happiness. We plant our seeds in this universe by living to the fullest. So in pursuing life, we cultivate our own garden.

A more modern novel than the following, The Great Gatsby, portrays a similar aspect to our theme. Except, it steps aside and makes our point by showing that you cannot relive the past and that you cannot ever escape it. Jay Gatsby was stuck in the past. He did not want to pursue life but relive that which has come and gone. This leads to his demise, showing us that we must “beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (189). In other words, we must keep moving on, learning from our past to better our future.

While the next piece takes on to a different genre, it is still an essential addition to our theme. A Streetcar Named Desire is a powerful play that takes place in the run-down streets of New Orleans. Unlike our other characters, Blanche DuBois shows us the turbulent world without hope, without the pursuit for life. She gives up all her morals in a spiraling depression. Somehow she is lost, torn apart by her past. A past that once knew that she had to keep on moving. We see afterward that Blanche does not wish to pursue life any longer. She wants to live in a fantasy world. A world without hardships. She shows this in scene nine. “I don’t want realism, I want magic! Yes, yes magic!”(117).

In the content of four works we see that this universal theme continues to carry on in literature and in our everyday life. Although the different pieces seem from different worlds, none are science fiction or fantasy. They are a real world portrayal of a common knowledge that some seem to forget. We must keep moving on. We must keep pursuing life, love, dreams, and happiness. We must hunt for what we truly believe in. It’s simply amazing how something so easy to remember can be so easily forgotten.