Can individuals find themselves struggling between idealism and truth? From the extract, ‘’The Novice”, By W.D. Valgardson, the protagonist is an idealist who struggles to believe that his boat is wrecked and can no longer function . He glamorizes his boat which skews his perception of truth causing his boat to sink . Idealism is significant in an individual life as it causes individuals to view things in a hopeful manner, however when idealism imbalances with reality , it causes destruction and possibly bring harm to oneself and the people around you . Idealism forces a person to come to their senses and accept reality in a harsh and grotesque way . Individuals need to set goals that are achievable but setting unrealistic goals causes a dreadful effect in an individual's life. The protagonist obsession with his boat caused him to set unrealistic goals such as the capability of the boat being able to make it through the storm. He and his crew …show more content…
The main character had to force himself to stop envisioning things in a hopeful and perfect manner, he forced himself to give in and accept reality as it is . ‘’ His faith in the boat had been so overwhelming that he had to force himself to realize it had been destroyed ‘’ . This set back allowed him to move on and change his perspective on the world . He was no longer the close minded individual who was lost in a world full of fantasy and unachievable goals. His ability to overcome the shipwreck challenged him to set achievable goals and become goal oriented. ‘’ Close together, he reassured himself, they had a better chance of surviving than if each was alone , if one of them passed out, the others could keep his head out of the water’’ This demonstrates the change in the protagonist attitude and perspective of the world . He believed that the overall teamwork for survival is greater than the individual