Theme Of Reality In The Underpainter

PRT: Illusion vs. Reality (from The Underpainter) An illusion, in itself, is just a false reality. It is a reality to portray our lives with ideal outcomes. Such illusions are fantasizing about money, fame, power, etc. Individuals largely create their own illusions, to drown out some emotional unfulfillment in life. Yet, some individuals believe that their illusions are a reality. As such, when an individual recognizes that their illusion is false, they will attack others. They will attack those who revealed the illusion. They attack others, as they are unsatisfied with their inadequacy, and sense of failure. In, The Underpainter, Rockwell goes to visit a past acquaintance, Austin. When Austin goes up the stairs, the author stresses the individuality of Rockwell. Described as being someone who gallops up the stairs, as opposed to trots or walks up a flight of stairs, the eccentricity of Rockwell is developed. When Rockwell is received by Austin, he is described as “uncharacteristically overdressed.” From this, the author is able to develop that it is not a regular visiting. When Rockwell and Austin exchange pleasantries, Austin notices that Rockwell is not like himself. Described as being “unusually solemn,” and “studied and measured

When we lead ourselves to believe our illusions, we can find ourselves trapped in an unrealistic perception of life. These illusions are attempts to distract ourselves from the reality that we are not satisfied with life. When these illusions turn out to be false, we often attack those who revealed the illusion to us. This is perhaps to hide our anguish, and feelings of inadequacy. These illusions are almost always damaging to us; however, to view life in a realist perspective is often too hard. We do not like to look at ourselves as imperfect beings, so we create these illusions to hide our imperfections; hide our dissatisfactions. It all seems so