One of the most fascinating traits of humanity is the tendency to think and create art based on that thinking. Before writing, cave paintings and the oral tradition of storytelling demonstrated the ways in which people expressed their feelings – taking time after winning, if only briefly, the struggle against the demands of subsistence to leave a product behind them, for posterity. Even the earliest recorded examples of literature, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, poignantly express the struggles humanity faced in the face of abstractions such as mortality and grief. Newer bestselling books released last week may have cooler covers and use figurative language in more complex ways than this ancient poem. But the anger and sorrow Gilgamesh felt after a serpent ate the plant of immortality was much greater and more powerful. This is the plant he found after a long and bloody journey. Due to a moment of inattention when he stopped to take a dip in a pool, he lost it to the snake. The absurdity of life comes into its own right now, and while the writings of Samuel Beckett, Joseph Heller, and Sylvia Plath are just a few of many that express the same theme, none will be more clearly brought into focus. value. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Of Experience by Michael Seigneur de Montaigne also reflect the irrationality of existence. These books suggest that what is important in life and what gives it meaning is much more than what we are able to accumulate and acquire during our time on the planet; this is how we respond to what Hamlet would call “the slings and arrows of scandalous fortune” (Shakespeare). The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio was written in the 1350s...... middle of paper ......es. Throughout European history, movements such as the Age of Reason and the Romantic Era represented different schools of thought as a way to find happiness and contentment in life. Boccaccio, Shelley, and Montaigne are just three of many writers who adopted this idea as a theme. Ironically, there may be as many answers to the question of what the meaning of life is as there are people trying to answer it. Works Cited Boccaccio, Giovanni and George H. MacWilliam. The Decameron. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 2003. Print. Montaigne, Michel De. “On experience.” Essays by Michel De Montaigne: 633-88. Print.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Internet. Retrieved December 4, 2011 from http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/hamlet/Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft and Joseph Pearce. Frankenstein. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2008. Print.