idering people decide morality, not a Supreme Being. Existentialists have insisted that personal experiences and acting on one's own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth. Accordingly, truth is subjective. Thus, the understanding of a situation by someone involved in that situation Is superior to that of observers. Even though one person may view a situation as immoral, existentialism maintains that only those involved can determine morality (May, Rollo).Existential novels and short stories include themes of moral individualism, freedom of choice, and responsibility, as well as alienation from the world. Franz Kafka, an existential writer, expressed his views in the short story' The Metamorphosis." In this tale, the hero, a hardworking insurance agent, awakens to discover that he has turned into an enormous insect, four feet in length. He recognizes his familial rejection as he is left to die alone ("Metamorphosis" Kafka, Franz). Many Existentialists focus on an absurd nightmare of the world and life.Appleget 4Another major theme is the world itself specifically what can be known about it. A pre-existentialist writer, the novelist Dostoevski, said that the universe does not make sense. There are no underlying patterns that can be perceived by everyone, on the basis of which everyone agrees: "This is what the world is all about." Life, and the world itself, is often unpredictable and capricious (Timur, Gunung).All attempts to find or impose an order on the world must fail because no single human mind nor all human minds together can adequately perceive all possible facts, make sense of them, and put them into an ordered scheme. If there were such an order or scheme, it would mean that everything is determined as it is for the flower and the fish. Humans would not have free choice but would be fated to whatever course their lives take (Edwards, Paul). This inability to comprehend the world is compounded by individuals' inabi...
