Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag :: History

Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag Jim Morrison is the lead singer of the classic rock and roll band "The Doors". Jim Morrison not only was the lead vocalist in the famous sixties band, he was also the writer of most but not all of The Doors songs and the author of many poems. Susan Sontag is an accomplished author. Some of Susan Sontag's works include essays, reviews, editing, novels and short stories. Although at first Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag appear to have nothing or very little in common, both because of Jim Morrison's main influence coming from author Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed in existentialism (a body of ethical thought centering about the uniqueness and isolation of individual experiences in a universe indifferent or even hostile to man, regarding human existence as unexplainable, and emphasizing man's freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of his acts), and Susan Sontag's writings following a style of existentialism, both Jim Morrison and Susan Sontag's works focus constantly on relating the message of placing blame on oneself in order to obtain a more perfect soul. Born James Douglas Morrison on December 8 1843 in Melbourne Florida to parents Steve and Clara Morrison(Hopkins, Sugerman 5). A few months after the birth of Jim Morrison, Jim's father Steve and his mine layer were sent off to fight in World War Two. For the next three years Jim's mother Clara, was forced to raise Jim with only the help of sympathizing relatives who believed in ideas such as "Children should be seen and not heard ... Ignore something unpleasant and it will go away... "(Hopkins, Sugerman 5). This constant barrage of negativity may have been one of the first factors leading to Jim's beliefs in existentialism. The way in which the negativity lead to Jim's belief is that through the constant attack, Jim began to feel as if he were responsible for all of the mishaps occurring in the family. This feelings that Jim had, showed his first signs of becoming an existentialist, because feelings of responsibility are one of the common characteristics of many existentialist authors, musicians and artists. A second event in Jim Morrison's life, that may have been a reason for Jim becoming a existentialist occurred while Steve Morrison, Jim's father, was driving through New Mexico when "They [The Morrison Family] came upon an overturned truck, and saw injured and dying Pueblo Indians lying where they had been thrown on the asphalt" (Hopkins, Sugerman 6).