In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus relates the idea of an old story with an overarching concept that connects hopelessness, happiness, and the absurd. I would agree with the notion that to imagine Sisyphus happy is to recognize that hopelessness can necessitate happiness; however, I would argue that it runs counter to freedom to say that one must. In my opinion, one can imagine Sisyphus happy, but if you don’t then that is a viable and permissible choice as well. Nevertheless, to understand this writing better, we must first understand what Camus means by the absurd—the idea that we have a desire and yet we know that we will never be able to satisfy that desire. For example, a person might eat something, however, that desire to eat has not fully gone away. This is related on a philosophical level because …show more content…
Why does Sisyphus endlessly push the boulder up the mountain? It is because his actions are in spite of the idea of the absurd. He recognizes the futility of his task, but rather than toil in his hopelessness, he fights back. Camus says that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy,” and this is because if Sisyphus is satisfied in his life then he doesn’t seem hopeless, he is exemplifying freedom, revolt, and passion. He has scorn for the gods and in that way Camus is commenting on how we should live our lives. Camus states about Sisyphus, “His fate belongs to him.” In this way, if we imagine our lives as hopeful then we can escape the mundane. If one works at an office job where they do the same task day in and day out on repeat, they might turn to suicide; however, should they go about their work with a smile on their face then they are revolting against the very institution which forces them in to these conditions in the first place, and they are freeing