Hessing 1
Mason Hessing
Dr. Alan Hutchison/ Dr. Eden Pearson
Composition 105/ Hum 116
15 November 2013

Fear of the Future

Do you remember a time where fear kept you from doing something important in your life? In the short story, “Twilight of the Superheroes”, main characters Nathaniel and Lucien have a fear of the future. After finding several recurring patterns of fear I decided to write this paper using a psychoanalytic critical form. In the story the patterns of fear create a lasting effect on the two characters lives. Nathaniel is a mid age twenty year old and resides in New York City with some of his closest friends. Lucien is Nathaniel’s older uncle; he also lives in New York and works as an art dealer. Lucien has been very helpful towards Nathaniel in the past couple years by being a mentor and providing him a place to live in the city. Fear of the future as well as life altering events have caused both of these characters lives to be at a standstill. Nathaniel’s life is surrounded by fear and traumatic events which trace back to his parents, Rose and Isaac. Nathaniel’s parents both came from Europe during the Holocaust. This is where the fear started to develop. “Both sailed as tiny, traumatized children with their separate families...” (Eisenberg, 632) This quote talks about Isaac and Rose as young children living their lives in fear of their past and fear of their future in the U.S. Nathaniel was the last of his group of his friends to move to NYC. Amity tried talking Nathaniel into moving several times, “You
Hessing 2 cannot let your life be ruled by fear any longer.” (Eisenberg, 636) Amity told Nathaniel he needed to just take the plunge and move already. Nathaniel knows he is living in fear and needs to get over it. After the talk with Amity, “he’d thought; it was fear that stood between him and the life he’d meant to be leading.” (Eisenberg, 636) Nathaniel’s life is not progressing like it could be. One of the biggest life changing events Nathaniel has experienced is 9/11. After this he started to view the world differently and reflect back on his past. Nathaniel’s life is not going anywhere until he can stop living in fear and decide to take the opportunity given to him from Lucien. Lucien was once a successful man and had a bright future ahead of him until he faced some traumatic events himself. Ever since 9/11 and the death of his wife Charlie, Lucien has a negative outlook on the future and his past. The short story states, “…and yet what he appeared to be living in wasn’t the actual present- it was an inaccurate representation of the past.” (Eisenberg, 645) For Lucien it’s hard to believe he is living in the present, he feels like it’s the past again. 9/11 was a terrible experience for Lucien and forced him to evaluate his life and reflect on his past. The story talks about Miss. Mueller who was Lucien’s 5th grade teacher. A good chunk of time in the story is spent reminiscing being in her classroom. Miss. Mueller gave Lucien and the other 5th graders an inaccurate representation of what the world was like and what their futures held,