With her extensive knowledge of mental institutions and mental illnesses, Susan Vaught draws readers to her completely creepy and fascinating novel Insanity intertwining the accounts of four young people who find themselves tormented beyond their imagination in the Lincoln Hospital. It is a place where the living and the dead cannot find peace. Forest, an 18-year-old girl, works the graveyard shift at Lincoln Hospital, her colleagues and herself knew this when she asked for the job. Lincoln is a large state mental institution, a great place for Forest to earn some money to pay her college tuition. Along with hundreds of extremely unstable patients, it also has hidden underground tunnels, bell towers that ring surprisingly, and a closet that carries more than donated clothes. A dead husband of one of Forest's patients shows up late one night apparently accompanied by an advocate of the Devil, Forest drops all sense of reality and all judgment of time. Horrified, she understands she has a role to play, and when she does so, she discovers a heritage that she never anticipated. In his paper, I will take an in-depth look into five archetypes: the journey, the task, the orphan, the fairy god mother and the quest in Vaught’s work. The Task Forest has just grown out of …show more content…
the foster home and is now working at Lincoln hospital with the desire to earn enough money to pay her college. Darius also works at Lincoln for the same reason, and his girlfriend Trina has left college for an internship at the same institution. Levi was slain and later brought back to life by his grandmother (the fairy god mother) who is a witch. He inhabits the halls of Lincoln, assisting the newly dead to cross over and keeping tabs on all of the malicious spirits. Despite all of them living in different times, they all encounter a series of paranormal experiences, linked by their relationship to the ghostly, haunted Lincoln. The Journey Insanity pushes readers into a world of ghosts, mystery, demons, and among other kinds of paranormal activities. There is dark magic, darkness and rage brewing. There is the paranormal ability that comes with the Medoc blood, and there is also evil and plenty of witchcraft. The narrative is told from the various perspectives of Forest, Levi, Trina, and Darius. All the three advance a distinct paranormal story. The story shifts from one prospect into another without a warning before we get to understand any of the characters and the perspectives are all told in the first person. It is hard to determine when the point of view is changing because it is all told in the first person. It is disappointing that we do not get to know about the past of Forest, Darius, Levi and Trina, and why they are all moved to Lincoln Hospital. The Orphan Forest is the Orphan, who was previously in a foster home. From the outline, you think Forest is going to be our principal character but she only is for a short time. In the next few chapters, you get to understand a little about Forest and how she came to work at Lincoln Psychiatric Hospital. Here is where things began to get a little off for me. Forest works a double shift on Halloween. The maintenance staff discovers bones in one of the tunnels. Then Forest notices two men running down the empty hallway, men that are ghosts. Once she realizes helps Decker, one of the men, she ends up getting fired from Lincoln and then we are taken into a new part of the book. There is mention that Forest goes to the Bell Tower at the hospital. Therefore, I cannot figure out if she is alive or died and just has this mysterious "Madoc blood." There are so many questions left unanswered then we are taken on to a new part of the book. The Fairy god Mother Levi’s grandmother has magical powers that she uses to raise Levi from the dead. She understands a lot about ghosts and the world of evil spirits. Levi walks home alone at night even though his Grandma had told him not to go out at night since "death was walking on two legs". The unthinkable happens to Levi. Imogene was spunky and wise. She had a lovely granny southern accent. Levi’s Grandmother has a lot of supernatural power. Ghosts in the hospital are afraid of her. At some point, she shares her skills by teaching Forest. The Quest The hospital in the novel was on some kind of hell mouth that allowed spirits and ghosts to come back from the other side.
It involves too much fighting from one viewpoint to another. The bad guys were impressive, and the fight placements were excellent but there was too much. Forest cares about her friends to a point of putting herself at risk to keep them safe. Forest even cares for the spirits and souls that she supports, as long as they are not evil. If they are evil, she does everything in her power to stop them; she is very powerful. The whole novel is all about fighting spiritual ghosts after spiritual ghosts. When the characters defeated one spirit, another spirit pops up that they have to
fight. If you like scary, creepy and disturbing ghost stories, Insanity is for you. Vaught uses several archetypes and writes scary scenes with some nasty demons and insane patients. Each situation is different, and a unique magical trick is pulled out of the hat to take control. As far as characters, well, they are not normal but we get to know them. Each character has complex magical powers. In all stories, the danger builds to a crescendo, and then there is a significant confrontation among good guy and the evil spirits eventually there is a victory.
In Mary Downing Hahn’s “The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall,” Downing Hahn shows that sometimes the best of people who deserve the best end up getting the worst. In this companion book, you will see the difference between the two main characters; Sophia and Florence. You will also find out about the setting and what dangers can go on at Crutchfield Hall. You will see what something in the book symbolizes, including the cat and the mice, and the cold. I will show you Sophia’s mind and her thoughts, and what she is planning on doing, more about her death, and possibilities of what could’ve happened.
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
Many people on this earth will commit a sin, they find they wish they had not, and 1 in every 5 Americans suffer from a mental illness. In a story named “Young Goodman Brown” by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the people in his story have all sinned and meet with the Devil. Then in another story named “The Yellow Wallpaper” by the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character is suffering from a mental illness while her husband, a psychiatrist, tries to help her, but in doing so only makes her condition worse. Throughout both literary texts of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Young Goodman Brown,” the authors show numerous entries of Gothic Literature. And although “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Yellow Wallpaper” share similar Gothic elements, the two stories are very much different.
Forcing someone to take medication or be hospitalized against their will seems contrary to an individual’s right to refuse medical treatment, however, the issue becomes complicated when it involves individuals suffering from a mental illness. What should be done when a person has lost their grasp on reality, or if they are at a risk of harming themselves or others? Would that justify denying individuals the right to refuse treatment and issuing involuntary treatment? Numerous books and articles have been written which debates this issue and presents the recommendations of assorted experts.
There is a fine line between sanity and insanity, a line that can be crossed or purposefully avoided. The books The Things They Carried and Slaughterhouse-Five both explore the space around this line as their characters confront war. While O’Brien and Vonnegut both use repetition to emphasize acceptance of fate, their characters’ psychological and internal responses to war differ significantly. In The Things They Carried, the narrator and Norman Bowker carry guilt as evidence of sanity. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim and the innkeepers carry on with life in order to perpetuate sanity. Both authors develop a distinct theme of responding in the face of the insanity of war.
Schizophrenia in The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wall-Paper," does more than just tell the story of a woman who suffers at the hands of 19th century quack medicine. Gilman created a protagonist with real emotions and a real psych that can be examined and analyzed in the context of modern psychology. In fact, understanding the psychology of the unnamed protagonist is well on the way to understanding the story itself. " The Yellow Wall-Paper," written in first-person narrative, charts the psychological state of the protagonist as she slowly deteriorates into schizophrenia (a disintegration of the personality).
The two texts emphasized in this essay include Elyn R. Saks’ The Center Cannot Hold : My Journey Through Madness and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. “There were many days when I believed I was nothing more than the Lady of Charts - a crazy woman who’d faked her way into a teaching job and would soon be discovered for what she really was and put where she really belonged - in a mental hospital” (Saks 263). Saks entire life was a struggle because of the mental illness she had since a young age, schizophrenia. Most of her younger years were lived being misunderstood by her parents and peers alike. She turned to options like substance abuse and self harm to cope with her deteriorating situation in life. There came a point where she realized that she was better than her illness and was able to overcome it with the help and guidance of a few mentors. Now, Saks is a very successful assistant dean, as well as a professor of law, psychology, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at the University of Southern California Gould Law School. Saks also went on to receive the award for MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and write her book. Joseph Campbell was also very successful in the same way because he wrote a book that is very complex and still relevant in this day and age. Campbell made the mold and Saks’ life fits it
The media effects coupled with predisposers, precipitants and facilitators can have dire consequences on their own, but the last subject for mass murderer that demands attention is mental illness. In order to distinguish between the various kinds of mental illness and criminal culpability, this paper will analyze the criteria for ‘insanity’ developed by Cohen and Coffin. The victim is innocent and there is no reasonable way the perpetrator should consider them an enemy. The motive is unintelligible, delusional, unrealistic, and inappropriate for the nature of the murder. The method is ill-planned and often requires a situational weapon such as a blunt or sharp object. No attempt for secrecy, concealment, to avoid guilt, or to evade capture. And there should be queer behaviour illustrated before and after the fact such as depression, suicide attempts, etc. This point does not mean to convey that mass murderers and serial killers are insane by the same definition for they are usually calculating, patient, pursue the most prolific and in some cases sadistic methods, and realize their actions are wrong. However, it is important to recognize that they are clearly exploring sociological deviance and their mental instability is a contributing part. Teams of socio-scientists researching Jonesboro and Paducah cases found the shooters were: socially marginalized from bullying/teasing, had family problems, failed to attract attention from authority figures, had an availability of guns, and suffered from mental illnesses making them more vulnerable than other youths. Perhaps the media would not have such a far reaching and tight grip on people’s lives if it were not for the culture where children are reared. The weapons that are ...
The struggles of mental illness can be located anywhere, at any time. The short story ‘’Man From the South’ ’ definitely demonstrates insanity throughout its whole plot. The author Roal Dahl is excellent for disturbing the reader’s mind with his highly creative imagination. Generally, this story that is taking place in Jamaica is about an elderly man questioning another one about his abilities to use a lighter. Consequently, the man comes up with a bet. This crazy bet consists of going up to his hotel room and to watch the young man light his lighter ten times. If the young man succeeds, he wins a brand new Cadillac, but if he doesn’t, the man must condemn his left pinky immediately. In this short story, there are many indicators that the elderly man has some kind of mental issues.
In the early 1960’s, Ken Kesey worked in the psych ward in a veterans hospital as an aide. During the course of his job, Kesey realized the administrators were giving patients experimental LSD to cope with their mental illnesses. After seeing this being done, he started to wonder, who is mentally stable and what classifies a person as insane (Kesey)? With this in mind Ken Kesey wrote, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This classic novel depicts the image of a psych ward under control by the manipulative, Nurse Ratched. The patients on the ward are lifeless; every waking moment is scheduled and controlled, until one day when a new patient, Patrick McMurphy arrives. Patrick McMurphy brings life back into the patients and helps them push the boundaries. With McMurphy on the ward there becomes a new normal. When answering the question of what normalcy is, Kesey uses character development, symbols, and motifs to give insight of the psychological well-being of others and how it shifts with positive and negative changes.
The next most pivotal stage in Susanna Kaysen’s hero’s journey is the call to adventure. This is when she first admits herself into McLean mental hospital. This introduction to a new world and and environment is a transition that is not easy for Susanna. Ultimately, the choice was hers to enroll to the mental hospital, but she was heavily encouraged by her psychologist to go. “‘I’ve got a bed for you,’ he said. “It’ll be a rest. Just for a couple weeks, okay?’” (Kaysen 8). Susanna agrees to go at the end of the week, on Friday, but he immediately he snaps back with “No. You go now,” (8). The
The sheer number of portrayals of mental illness in fictional films, television programs and, in this case, literature is substantial and has been primarily responsible for perpetuating certain myths and stereotypes about mental illness. In most cases, people who are portrayed with mental illnesses are commonly exhibited as being violent and/or aggressive, but are also frequently depicted as eccentrics, seductresses (in the case of women), self-obsessives, objects for scientific observation, simpletons and/or failures. One or more of these such labels can be applied to the characters examined in both The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Holy
Insane. What comes to mind when someone is thought to be insane? Many may think that an insane person is anyone who is in a mental hospital. This is not always true though, as being “insane” is defined as, “being in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction, seriously mentally ill”(Define Google). In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the theme of insane is shown throughout the book, while at the same time, it points out that not all are insane.
One of the main causes for her insanity is the treatment she is receiving by her husband. Right when the story begins the narrator moves into a home with her husband and new born child to stay for a few
The basis of insanity is upon M’Nagten Rules (1843) which set forward the principles of a defence when the “defendant had a defect of reason” or a “disease of the mind” and was not able to understand the nature of the act they did or did not know what they were doing was wrong. These three conditions must be proved for the defence of insanity to become available. Insanity is available for the all cases that require mens rea except for strict liability cases.