Our Realities Are Subjective

The way the world works differs for everyone. Everyone should build and change who they are and what they believe in depending on the circumstances we all find ourselves in at any moment in time. These moments in time are influenced by many factors, including family, friends and the media. What is real for each individual can be altered due to our own understanding.

People construct their reality in different ways. Everybody finds ways of coping with moments and events, and their own personal way of dealing with harsh truth or difficult circumstances. In Michael Frayn’s “Spies,” the protagonist develops an understanding of how events can be misinterpreted, whilst “The Butterfly Effect” is the story of Evan Treborn’s reality, and how he attempts to reconstruct it to make everything around him better, for the benefit of his family and friends. Reality can also be constructed by our own experiences, or desire for experiences, as shown through the stories of Tania Head and Sonali Deraniyagala.

Evan Treborn in “The Butterfly Effect” is faced with adversities throughout life, including moving away from his friends and childhood sweetheart Kayleigh, growing up without a father and experiencing “blackouts” in which he does something but has no recollection of it. These “blackouts” are suffered in moments of high stress and sexual and physiological traumas. Evan’s reality is faced with constant shifts once he finds out he has the ability to go back in time and change something he did in his “blackout,” which ultimately ends in unforeseen consequences, despite his good intentions. By trying to reconstruct his reality, he ends up making things a lot worse, not only for himself, but his friends and family as well. This suggests that he constructs his own, and the realities of those around him.

Sonali Deraniyagala’s reality was changed dramatically when she was holidaying in Sri Lanka in 2004 when a tsunami struck and wiped out everything in its path. Miraculously, Sonali...