Lost, Metamorphosis, Riverworld, and the Theme of Enigma in Writing

You might be wondering what these three very different pieces of writing have in common. They share a common and very important theme and behind that theme is a secret.

In the television series Lost our group of characters are on an island and they have no idea where, why, or what is going on. In Kafka's metamorphosis the main character wakes up one morning to discover he is an insect, and in Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld saga every person that ever existed one day wakes up on the bank of a 12 million mile long river. So what do these three have in common?

The writer in each case has taken a very common theme and delivered it in a unique way. The theme is enigma and mystery. Why is all this happening and what is going on? Now, you can look at it from this level and be done with it. But the real point of the writing and of the circumstances of the characters in each piece is to mirror our human existence. Each work makes you look at your life and your existence and hopefully makes you think twice about it. Is your life no less enigmatic than just crashing on a mysterious island? Do you take for granted that your physical being is "human" in shape? Wouldn't it be normal if you were, we all were, insects? And for all purposes didn't you just kind of wake up one day? Might not have been on the side of a river but that's not really relevant. You just kind of came into existence and awareness. And well isn't it all kind of strange?

This is the real task and goal of the writers in these three pieces of work. By posing a set of circumstances that are really bizarre, enigmatic, mysterious and puzzling they are saying to us "Isn't the life we consider real just like this?" An enigma isn't it?

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