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Walter White From Breaking Bad

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In many science fictional/dystopian literatures, a character is faced with a problem that puts his or her life in danger. This problem causes the protagonist to reinvent his or herself in order to continue on living. Two excellent examples of this phenomenon would be the character Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead, written by Robert Kirkman, and the character Walter White from Breaking Bad, written by Vince Gilligan. Both characters live in a dystopian world, in which “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad”, according to “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” written by Urduls Leguin (LeGuin). Although they are two complete different shows, both protagonists reinvent themselves in order to survive, but not always …show more content…

He is saying that if we all share the same characteristics of a human being, then we also share this hidden insanity. The difference is that some are accepted by society, while others are rejected by society. The different insanities are people’s way of dealing with problems. He explains “if we are all insane, then insanity becomes a matter of degree. If your insanity leads you to crave up women like Jack the Reaper or the Cleveland Torso Murder, we clap you away in the funny farm” (King 2). This is an example of what is socially accepted and what is not. He informs the audience that murdering is not acceptable in society and that consequences of such an insane act can put one in jail. In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, everyone lives in a dystopian world, “a fictional world where everything is perfect”; in this dystopia, a small boy suffers for everyone’s wellbeing (LeGuin). These people have an option to face their problems or ignore them, but facing their problems leads to the consequence of destroying their utopia. By walking away from their problems, it will lead to the misery of an innocent child. Rick and Walter both face the problem of either walking away or confronting their problems; by doing so it changes their views of what is insane and …show more content…

He is humble man working two jobs struggling to support his family. Unfortunately, he becomes diagnosed with stage four Lung Cancer (“Pilot”). With this knowledge, he begins to fear the idea of leaving his family with no money. With his background in chemistry, he begins his own meth lab in order to provide money for his family (“Pilot”). This is an example of how he has to reinvent himself in order to enhance his life. He changed from a hard-working citizen to a law-breaking meth maker. As he continues down this law breaking path, he advances into more extreme crimes. These crimes involve murder, arson, and several other felonies. In the episode “Half Measures”, Walter murders a drug dealer that was threatening to kill his best friend/ meth partner (“Half Measures”). This is an example of how his behavior has changed throughout the show. Mr. White evolves to protect his family, but in the process he reinvented himself in a negative matter in order to survive in his dystopian

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