New Beginnings from New Adventures

The novel, Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson draws the reader in by explaining stories of what can be thought of as fantasies while also implying messages to the life we all live. In summary, the novel consists of a prince finding himself very unhappy. To fix this, a quest is sought out to travel the world and find the wonders not only he is feeling but of the world itself. Rasselas encounters many people in many situations all drawing back to stories that are told with underlying messages. It can be assumed that Johnson truly enjoyed writing the novel such that some of the topics or chapter names are far beyond the norm. One being, The Dissertation on the Art of Flying. Ages ago, flying was unheard of and seemed to be a concept only one could dream. The basis of the encounter mixed with endeavors leads to the idea of seeking out dreams of the impossible, essentially. It was thought that flying is dangerous, impractical, and impossible for humans to act upon leading to a doomed failure. As entertaining as the dialogue comes across, the message of pursing the impossible is still embedded. Many other chapters relay to this idea linking back to the overall umbrella of happiness. Towards the end of the novel, Rasselas has met many people and heard a plethora of stories. What was gathered through his travels is the biggest message of all: your true perspective on life and its happiness in human nature comes from within. Rasselas had many fun experiences accompanied by a lot of laughs and smiles. But, all of this was not something to find but what was felt. We cannot go out and find happiness like buried treasure but rather find it within ourselves and feel it deep within our souls. 


https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/samuel-johnson/the-history-of-rasselas-prince-of-abyssinia


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