A Long Way Down 3

Jess had said at one point in the book that there are an infinite number of reasons one would think to kill him/herself. One person could himself because his marriage is over, and another could kill herself because she has no way out of hers. A marriage ending is initially thought of as a terrible thing, but in many cases, it's good. After all, someone in that relationship opted for it to end, so that person feels the marriage ending was a positive occurrence. Not being able to get out of a marriage can be both positive and negative, as well. Most people who are married would love to know there is no chance of their marriage ending, but there are surely people who wish their marriage would end. I thought this piece showed that life is all about perspective. Not just in whether your marriage ended or not, but in every aspect of life, and how your life goes depends on how you react to all situations. A terrible incident, such as losing a job, could happen, and you could either slip into depression and give up on everything, or take it as an opportunity to go back to school for the career you always wanted but never had time to work towards. I feel this was the theme in the book- to have a positive outlook on everything- because in the novel, many people were positive, such as Martin, Maureen, Jess, and JJ in the end, but there were people who did not, such as the man who did kill himself.