Transformation Through Love and Travel: 'North by Northwest' in the Context of Iyer's "Why We Travel" Gabrielle Anderson College

Contemporary American society expects that a person reaches specific destinations as they move through their life’s journey. Gender is the major factor that determines these “normal” destinations for people, which are so ingrained in every aspect of life that it is uncomfortable when anyone deviates from the expected path. In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, North by Northwest, a case of mistaken identity introduces the audience to the main characters, Eve Kendall and Roger Thornhill, who are initially isolated from society as they do not act according to their expected societal roles. Eve is 26, and unmarried, without children. Roger is also unmarried, twice divorced, and no children as well. They are thrown together as the story progresses, initially working towards two separate goals, but eventually bonding into one. The journey the two characters take, both across the country in search of answers and in their developing relationship, is a metaphor of life’s journey from outside to inside society.

From this journey, a connection can be drawn to travel writer Pico Iyer’s essay “Why We Travel”. Iyer states “Travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness in which we are mindful, receptive,...