Contact and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Analyses

According to Thoreau in Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, "You never get anything but that you lose something." (pg.387)

This is true of Ellie within Contact and the Narrator within Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. Both characters are on quests within themselves, and although they both gain something within their quests, they also lose something. This something is different for both characters. In Contact, although Ellie gains the knowledge that extra-terrestrial life does exist through the replica of her father, she also loses the world's belief in her and existing extra-terrestrial life, for she is not permitted to speak of what happened up on Vega. Elllie also experiences another loss concerning her quest for happiness within her family. Ellie gains the truth about her father, but only in exchange for her mother's death. In Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, the narrator is on a quest to reintegrate Phaedrus into himself, as well as relating to his son Chris. Therefore, although he gains his old personality of Phaedrus he slowly begins to lose his sanity, but he also gains the truth that Chris had actually been carrying him along on the entire quest. Furthermore, it is through the characters losses and gains within their quests that they come to realize the truths within their quests as well as within themselves.