I embody every characteristic of the egotistic

Humans are a self-centered and selfish species. David Foster Wallace is absolutely correct when he says "there is no experience you have had that you are not the absolute center of." In the "day-to-day trenches" of everyday life, it is only ourselves who we pay attention to. It frustrates us to have to get up early everyday, sit in school for 7 hours, and go home to do another couple hours of homework.  However we pay no mind to the 2000 other students that share our same routine, or even the teachers who must wake up earlier, stay after school later, and go home to grade homework even longer.

This idea is even more prevalent in literature. Even though a book might be about fictional characters entirely different from ourselves, we are still the centers of attention. We react, then assign motives and emotions to characters based on our own personal experiences and opinions.

In The Bluest Eye it takes an entire chapter of narrative in Cholly's perspective to understand his backstory, and how all the experiences he had leading up to the rape of his daughter caused him to do it out of love and tenderness, instead of lust and rage. It then takes the reader to sympathize with him, or choose to antagonize him even further.

In The Great Gatsby it seems like Gatsby buys a huge home, and throws extravagant party just because he can- to show off his wealth. In reality, he moves to East Egg so that "Daisy would just be across the bay." Actions and feelings can only be truly be comprehended by the doer, or one with the exact same perspective as the doer. In Gatsby's case, his spending was all done because he was lovesick, and it still takes the reader to interpret whether his actions are romantic and noble, or if it is scandalous for him to pursue a married mother. The beautiful thing however, is that both views are entirely correct at the exact same time.