The Struggle for being "Present" and Less

    In the novel Less by Andrew Sean Greer our protagonist, Arthur, engages upon a worldwide trip in order to escape the pain of his past experiences being brought into focus through the marriage of his ex. Throughout the novel, Less grapples with remaining rooted in the present as he engages on his adventures, and not dwelling within the past.

 Greer explains that Less declines his invitation to the wedding with the statement "My apologies, but I will be out of the country" (18). He schedules and plans an international trip in order to avoid the mental confrontation that the wedding brings to him, as well as wanting to provide a "valid" excuse to not be attending. By doing so, Arthur not only is overthinking a task as simple as declining an invite, but is mentally providing himself with an alternative narrative. He avoids the thoughts that he is, in fact, still thinking about his past relationship, and engages in the travel to get away from his past experiences.

Most people are "guilty" of creating their own narrative to avoid dwelling on the past. It is a natural reaction to a whole host of situations. But in Less, Arthur has had a stretch of time between his relationship and his current state. The actions taken by Less reflect that he is still attached to the past, to a degree that he will manufacture travel and commitments simply to stay away the guilt of avoiding this wedding, as well as to avoid his persistent thoughts about what he had with Freddy. Arthur is not present, for example overthinking basic interactions such as, “taking a trip around the world is no more terrifying than buying a stick of gum” (45). Thus, Less incessantly overthinks about his interactions with others, and consequently, stresses about the future, and stays rooted in the past.

We all struggle in the search for being present, and living without worry of the past and free from stressing over the future is a goal shared by many. In Less, Arthur struggles with being present to a great degree, using his travel to avoid confronting the thoughts he has about the past, and the stress he receives from thinking of the future. Arthur does make progress, as throughout the book the reader can observe him thinking about his experiences and then coming to terms with what is gone. Less provides an excellent example of the nature of overthinking, and accurately portrays the value in accepting what has happened, and additionally not worrying about what will happen.