Challenges in Lives of Oedipus the King, Chris Mccandless and Rob Ford

Pursuing a dream, ideal, or goal is something almost everyone wants to do. If you study mythology, you might discover that some mythic figures have the same concepts such as hubris, hamartia due to pursuing their dream. Depending on the ideal or goal, there may be a cost of pursuing it. Three mythic figures that relate to the following topic are Oedipus the King, an American hiker in the past named Chris McCandless, and a contemporary figure who was our last mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. Before pursuing a goal, you may want to consider what type of ripple effects some of these figures experienced due to their decisions, and the actions they took to achieve their dreams or goals. Oedipus the King, Chris McCandless, and Rob Ford all experienced downfalls and failures from pursuing their goals.

Oedipus the King was a mythic figure whose goal resulted in a downfall for him. His goal was to become the King of Thebes and at the end, ripple effects started to occur. Hamartia happened due to Oedipus’ altercation with his father which resulted in killing his own father which is a fateful action. This is where the downfall began to occur even though he became king afterwards. He realized his mistake a long time after he committed the murder. This led to him suffering by blinding himself, because fate and his actions led to a downfall that was caused by himself. Summarily, Oedipus reached his dream of becoming king of Thebes. However, due to his mistaken action in the past, which was the murdering of his father, he did not continue as being king of Thebes due to his incident. This led to his downfall, and his consequence was blinding himself.

As we know, Rob Ford was our last mayor in Toronto. His goal was to become mayor of Toronto and was elected in 2010. However, his bad choices and decisions in society led to his downfall and dismissal of being mayor. His public use of illegal drugs was not a good influence or example to Torontonians. He was charged and accused of drinking and driving, as well as assaulting his wife. While being mayor, he was known for insulting others as well. In another incident, Rob ford passed through the rear door of the vehicle rather than the front door. His drug use affected his public behavior. For example, when Rob Ford was on his way to city hall using a taxi, he made racial slurs towards the driver. In March 2013, former mayoralty candidate Sarah Thomson accused Ford of inappropriately touching her as well as stating comments that were inappropriate while posing for a photo at a political function. Afterwards, in a radio interview, Sarah Thomson suggested that Rob Ford was on cocaine, “I thought he was, yes, but I don’t know,” Sarah Thomson said. “I went back and looked up, you know, what are the signs of cocaine use. I looked it up and you know sweaty, talking quickly, out of it, arrogant — all these things were on there. What I read on Google, I would think he’s either on that or some other substance … he was definitely out of it.” Ford responded on his radio show by saying that Thomson’s story wasn’t true and commented on Thomson: “In my personal opinion, I’ve always said I don’t know if she’s playing with a full deck from the first time I met her.” Rob Ford was also known to have hubris, which caused him to try to do too much at once, which was a factor in his failure. His budgeting was the issue. He suffered in his downfall by being diagnosed with cancer which was a major reason why he got dismissed from being mayor. Although, Rob Ford admitted to some of his past mistakes while being mayor, it was too late, and Rob ford was resigned. To sum up, Rob Ford pursued his goal as being mayor, and made wrong decisions due to bad management, and having too much on his plate while not knowing how to handle it. All his incidents had a reason for his downfall and the dismissal of being Toronto’s mayor. This was Rob Ford’s consequence.

‘Into The Wild’ features a main character named Chris McCandless who had a similar direction in life as Oedipus the King and Rob Ford. Chris’ intention was to stay out in the wild with limited resources and no company. If you read between the lines in the story, part of his intent was to get away from his parents because of his anger and disagreements with them. He was unprepared for the wild and he had limited resources which was a factor in leading himself to his downfall which was starvation leading to death. Chris’ ignorance and hubris caused his downfall. Chris was a very ignorant person in a way that he didn’t like to be told what to do. His characteristics are similar to Oedipus the King and Rob Ford. The characteristics include determination, stubbornness, passion, and disconnection. He believed that life was best lived alone, in nature, which was a major factor in his decisions to go out into the wild in Alaska. He also tried to do accomplish too much at once. Chris McCandless gave all of his savings to charity, and got rid of all his resources needed to hike in Alaska. Hamartia came into place when Chris realized that he wasn’t prepared and needed help. Unfortunately, it was too late, and Chris McCandless could not survive without food. He suffered in his downfall by eating some poisonous berries which led to his death. This was Chris McCandless’ consequence.

In conclusion, there are three different characters who went in same path in life, Oedipus the King, Rob Ford, and Chris McCandless. They were determined people who had the passion to pursue their goals. All of the characters did successfully reach their dream. However, the outcome was not pretty. These 3 characters were all over confident in their respected situations. Oedipus’ hubris was caused because he was a ruler over Thebes, which is a big role. Rob Ford became mayor and ever since, he had been making some mistakes and bad decisions as well. Chris McCandless was unprepared for the wild and was too confident which led to hamartia in all of the characters. We can learn that there are costs of pursuing a certain goal. And to prevent this, we need to control our desire or passion for something