Who Am I?

Rysen Barnett

English 102

Cline

22 April 2012 

Who Am I?

The Ryan Bingham story is very unique, but yet not so rare in the hearts of many people in America today. Ryan Bingham spends his days, nights, weeks, months, and years in pursuit of what is to him and admirable achievement. In the novel the benchmark Ryan is seeking is one million frequent flyer miles and in the film it is ten million miles. His pursuit, although for the majority of the reading and film seem very lofty and important, by the end are just the opposite, irrelevant and materialistic. Though the presentation of this story is presented very differently between the novel and movie, the main idea is the same. Up in the Air is about a man who has built a false reality around himself in an effort to muse the seemingly aimless endeavor that is life. Our society has come to follow the path that Ryan Bingham first did, unfortunately many people’s lives ultimately finish on that same path.

In the film Ryan Bingham is a middle aged man who for a living flies from city to city firing people. By constantly being in the air flying, Ryan is able to accumulate an enormous amount of frequent flyer miles. His ultimate pursuit in life is to reach ten million miles. This pursuit and this life in “Airworld” as Bingham calls it, is all he knows. Back home Ryan has a small family that consists of his two sisters, one of whom is about to be married. However, his siblings feel no attachment towards Ryan because he is gone nearly the entire year. Ryan casually states, “Last year I was in the air three hundred and twenty two days, which means I spent forty three lousy days at home” (Reitman). This remark shows the nature of Ryan’s shallowness. He is a man who is undoubtedly materialistic. Although for a time this shallowness is tolerated by Ryan himself, and his goal seen as a worthy cause, eventually he realizes he has been living in a dream world rather than Airworld. The movie helps bring this revelation about through Ryan’s relationships with Alex and Natalie, the novel does it a slightly different way. Eventually Ryan comes to realization that life is better off spent enjoying it with someone and that intimate relationships are important. His internal and emotional journey are the same journeys that many people choose to avoid or ignore in the United States today.

Works Cited

       Kirn, Walter. Up in the Air. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. Print. 

Reitman, Jason, dir. Up in the Air. Dreamworks, 2009. Film.