On a very general level, we are all the same. All humans share the same basic characteristics regardless of age, race, sexuality, or gender. This means that, at the most basic, instinctual level, a seventeen year old high school student from Simi Valley and an eighty-seven year old Somalian fisherman are exactly the same. These shared characteristics are collectively termed our human nature. We cannot understand why we act in such a way, it is only natural, instinctual, a reflex. Yet, these reflexes are the unifying characteristics that connect us to our fellow humans all across the globe. One such characteristic is a person’s natural desire to set and strive for an impossible goal. This goal is true of all humans, across all areas, across all of time. By examining Kiwi from …show more content…
and Fiorello Bodoni of Ray Bradbury’s “The Rocket”, we see that this natural human behavior to set and work towards an unattainable objective can be used to spark positive change in our lives and the lives of those around us. The progression of Kiwi’s heroic journey through Karen Russell’s novel Swamplandia!, proves that all people continuously and repeatedly set and strive for goals throughout their life. In the beginning, Kiwi, as do all human beings, looks to the future with great excitement and a feeling of opportunity. This optimism is best evident when Ava says “’What little test are you studying for?’ I asked him once, and he looked up with clouds for eyes and said, ‘My Future’” ( Russell 29). The physical act of Kiwi looking up towards the sky as he answers