Comparing the Sisyphus of Greek mythology to the repetitive routines of modern life, Revolutionary Road explores the human struggle and choice to overcome the futility of meaningless labor and boredom.
In Greek mythology, the Sisyphus is sentenced to a terrible punishment for deceiving the gods. He is ordered to roll a large boulder to the top of a high rocky mountain in the underworld. Sisyphus pushes the boulder with all his might, but the moment it reaches the top, its own weight causes it to roll back down the mountainside. So Sisyphus is forced to climb and climb and climb forever. The harshest part of this punishment is that it never ends. A miserable fate of mindless labor without any achievement or reward. It symbolizes the feelings of futility and frustration that humans face in life.
A similar punishment was used in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Jewish prisoners were assigned the task of moving high piles of earth from one side to the other. It’s not known if this was done in one day or if it took several days. But once they had moved all the dirt to the other side, they had to move it back to its original location. Why did they choose this repetitive labor as the harshest punishment? It’s unlikely they wanted to inflict physical pain. If that was the goal, torture or execution would have been a better way to go. Their labor had no purpose, no outcome, no change, no hope. There is only empty repetition and unfathomable eons of time.
In the end, isn’t the most frightening thing the boredom and emptiness that comes after a lifetime of useless labor? A week of waking up, working, eating, sleeping, and repeating the same. The real suffering begins when the question of “why” arises in the midst of boredom. We can feel this sense of meaningless repetition in our daily lives. Waking up at the same time every day, doing the same things, meeting the same people. A mechanical life, where everything moves within a set orbit, can sometimes make us feel lethargic and even unmotivated. We try to find a way out, but is there really a way out?
Revolutionary Road is the story of two men and women at a crossroads, at a moment of boredom and disillusionment. The movie maximizes the helplessness we feel in our daily lives. In the first scene of the movie, at a party with music playing, the eyes of two people meet: April and Frank, soon-to-be husband and wife. In a corner of the hall, they’re having a conversation. April asks Frank what he does for a living, and he replies. “I’m a dockworker, but on Monday I get a fancier job.” April, a night cashier at a diner, laughs and replies, “I don’t mean what you do to make money. I mean what interests you.” This short conversation hints at the longing and dissatisfaction that lurks within both of them. A longing to do what they really want to do, to pursue a meaningful life, not just work for a living. However, these longings are gradually drowned out by the reality of their marriage.
After the party, the movie skips ahead and jumps straight into the boring seventh year of their marriage. April is in a play. She dreams of becoming a theater actress, but her lack of acting skills ruins the play. “You were the best,” Frank mumbles to her in frustration. The next scene shows Frank going to work. It’s a sea of people wearing the same bowler hat, wearing the same suit, and heading to the same company. It’s not easy to spot Frank here: they all live the same way, in a similar trajectory. The daily commute to work, the endless meetings, and then coming home to spend time watching television. As this monotonous routine repeats itself, the passion for life fades.
April used to be a woman who wanted to be different and free to be herself. Frank was a man who didn’t want to be like his late father, who only worked for the company. But when she realizes that she doesn’t have what it takes to fulfill her dreams, and he realizes that he’s just like everyone else, all that’s left is a boring routine. Just like Sisyphus. The life they dreamed of and the life they have now are so different. And that difference creates a deep conflict within them.
Feeling suffocated by her empty life, April suggests to Frank that they move to Paris. She wants to start a new life, find something she wants to do. After much deliberation, Frank accepts his wife’s offer, and the two of them are excited about the prospect of going to Paris and feel rejuvenated for the first time in a long time. But on the eve of his resignation, the president of the company, impressed by a paper Frank has submitted, offers him a promotion, which sends him reeling again. Unable to let go of his comfort and familiarity, Frank declines April’s offer.
What confuses them is that, paradoxically, their current life is just about bearable. They have a nice house, a nice car, two kids, and a house that everyone envies. They have enough money to last them for a year or so. It’s not an easy question: do you stay in this meaningless life, or do you take the risk and leave? Sisyphus asks, should Jews rebel? Frank and April make completely different choices.
April is the one who leaves. “If living a meaningful life is crazy, I’m willing to be crazy,” she tells her troubled husband. She desperately wants a meaningful life. A life that moves her, a life that makes her feel alive in every moment. When her neighbor asks her, “Did you want to out,” upon hearing of her departure for Paris, April replies, “No, I wanted to in.” Her current empty life is “out” to her, and she can leave without regret.
Frank, on the other hand, is a “stayer.” For him, the stability of the present is more important than the unknown challenges. So when the opportunity comes to make his current life more stable, he is easily swayed. He can be seen as representative of the majority of the public in that he has been pursuing a life of economic stability, a life that others envy, and a life of the so-called middle class. Of course, he is not unaware of the emptiness of his current life. However, whereas April’s desire to be special is pure, Frank’s is much less intense and artificial, created by others. “I never wanted to be like my dad,” Frank says, complaining of his boredom at work, and during an argument, he yells, ‘I’m tired of being a dull husband for you.’ Even his desire to be special is a product of comparison with others, or of trying to be what others want him to be. This is why Frank, who has vowed not to live like his father, can only reply, “I want a promotion, too,” when his boss says, “Your father would like a promotion.”
In the end, the movie shows how the emotion of boredom threatens our daily lives. In the modern world, we live our lives rolling boulders like Sisyphus. In order not to lose the meaning of life in the repetitive routine, we need to constantly ask ourselves questions. What am I doing this for? What is the life I truly want? Only when we find the answers to these questions will we be able to escape the punishment of Sisyphus.
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