Escape In Crowe's David Aames

In all three of the works aforementioned, the protagonist experiences some type of distressing situation from which they crave escape. Carroll’s heroine Alice experiences tedium and follows the White Rabbit as an escape from her boredom, “Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister” (Carroll 1). Although boredom in itself harbors no horrific effect, Alice’s weariness with her surroundings actually represents her fear of the adult world and the expectations that come with it. Her sister’s book offers a perfect metaphor for the adult world as Alice sees no use for a book “without pictures or conversation” (Carroll 1). Such a world—one without color or intrigue—is a nightmare for Alice, an inquisitive girl who enjoys adventure and all that she believes adulthood squashes.
Similarly, Crowe’s David Aames starts his journey when, in a desperate attempt to live a fulfilling life, he signs a contract—approving the cryogenic freezing of his body and resulting lucid dream state. David Aames does so to escape from his current reality—one of pain, ugliness, and without love—and into a specially designed program that erases the anguish currently in his life. Just like Alice and David Aames, O’Brien’s Paul Berlin begins his quest to retrieve Cacciato from “Paris” to escape from the terrors of the war around him. Surrounded by carnage and the possibility of death looming every moment, “died of fright…shot through the nose…died in tunnels. Punnel was dead and Rudy Chassler was dead…They were all among the dead” (O’Brien 1), Paul Berlin escapes the more gruesome side of the war by questing to find a missing solider. Although Paul Berlin does actually go on a physical journey to find Cacciato, the reality is still too overwhelming causing him to imagine a romanticized version of his quest—one with comradery, love, and