The Big Question

 In the face of adversity, what causes some individuals to prevail while others fail? 

I have faced adversity in my life, maybe more so than others my age. When I was six years old my father committed suicide. 

Eleven years later I am a healthy, functional, happy teenager. I have proved that tragedy can be overcome, but what specifically made the loss of a parent only temporarily traumatic, allowing me to continue forward into my life in a productive manner? I have many times encountered others my age who have been emotionally crippled by a similar loss in their childhood, and I have wondered what has made our experiences in loss so different, that is to say, why have they failed to released their grief and why have I prevailed. Was it a quality in my personality or something exterior such as sympathy and support that was provided for me? A psychologist would ask 'nature, or nurture?'. 

Some introspection about adversity brought to mind the abrupt change in my family life following the death of my father, but a wide spectrum of misfortunes can qualify as adversity. No matter the gravity of the event, some persevere in the face of adversity while others crumble. This is especially true in literature, which seeks to illuminate the human condition. 

In The Magus by John Fowles, the adverse condition Nicholas Urfe must face against his will is manipulation. At first the lies and facades are straightforward and prank-like. For example Lilly is not actually a ghost that can be in two places at once, she just has a twin sister. However, when the stories Nick is expected to believe become increasingly more realistic, adversity comes in the form of mistrust, in that Nick no longer has any sense of what is artifice and what is authentic.