Optimist vs Pessimist: Indulging and Contextualizing Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism in “Once Again” and “Trisanku” by C.S. Lakshmi

Abstract

Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, developed the idea of ‘learned optimism’ by embracing the idea that an optimistic outlook can be developed through learning. This article discusses the idea of learned optimism, its advantages, and how one may begin to transform their life and thinking. According to the analysis, optimistic personalities appear to have a greater success rate when it comes to reaching their intended goals, even when the pessimistic characters do amazing things in their lives. Both pessimists and optimists achieve things in their lives, but optimists are perceived as having accomplished more. Martin Seligman’s theory of learned optimism is analysed and contextualized in this paper, which aims to evaluate the optimistic and pessimistic personalities found in the characters in the selected short stories of C.S. Lakshmi. Seligman’s concept of learned optimism is well connected with the characters of Loki in “Once Again” and Anjana in “Trisanku”. The characters are also subjected to cognitive distortions of the three P’s: Personal, Pervasive and Permanent to develop themselves to be optimistic personalities through the concept of learned optimism. Seligman also proved that through learned optimism one can change from a pessimistic to an optimistic personality so that they can prevent themselves from depression and anxiety.