One of the types of heroes from the reading this past week was called an “absurd hero.” An absurd hero is a hero who struggles endlessly without hope and signs of success. A perfect example of an absurd hero is Sisyphus, who is punished with an absurd, endless task.
Sisyphus, according to the Greek myth, was punished for all eternity to roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down to the bottom when he reaches the top. He received this punishment from the Greek gods for cheating death multiple times. Once for tricking Death into handcuffs so no one would die. The second time was when he instructed his wife to not bury him so when the Gods took his soul from his body into the Underworld, he would have an excuse to go back and make sure his body was buried. But instead of letting himself die, he remained living for some years after the fact.
Sisyphus’s punishment can be seen as a metaphor for our own human lives. Like Sisyphus, we must struggle without much hope of success. Myths like this tell us as long as we accept that there is nothing more to life than the struggle, then we can find happiness in it. I think another underlying meaning is that we have to appreciate our wins/successes, because they can be hard to come by. To be better people we have to appreciate the things we have and work hard to get what we can out of life.
TheMyth 