Will O' the Wisp Response

Response to Will O’ the Wisp
Will O’ the Wisp by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle is a story about a man with many problems involving drugs and a very unfulfilling life who ends up committing suicide. The story is very well written by La Rochelle and the imagery of Alain’s world is well described. This novel was very interesting to me as it was the story of a man who destroyed his life purely for philosophical reasons.
This story touches on many themes, including masculinity. This theme was particularly interesting to me as one of the reasons Alain was committing suicide was the fact that he had relied on others his entire life. Alain was getting by in life by relying on women; a girlfriend of his was encouraging him to leave his wife for reasons including the fact that she doesn’t make enough money. Though it was expected for a woman to rely on a man for money when this book was written, Alain’s unfulfilling dependant life led him to suicide. This contrasts with many stories in which a woman commits suicide, such as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Anderson’s The Little Mermaid where women committed suicide because they lost a man. This really illustrates a difference in traditional views of men and women.
Will O’ the Wisp was a very touching story about one of the many reasons people take their own lives, and it shows a very realistic view of drug addiction illustrating the despair and hopelessness it causes. I enjoyed it very much and was enamored by Alain’s world and the depression that comes with being a dependant drug addict.