The short story “Virgo” in Jess Walter’s book We Live in Water is set in modern times which gives it a familiarity for the audience. For something that maybe unfamiliar is that he creates the protagonist to have a psychological problem. The author uses mental illness as an important part in his story, because the story is about the protagonists failing psychological health. This was caused from his parent’s lack of knowledge about mental disorders and his school’s fault for not educating him or his parents about mental illnesses. The protagonist has issues with his social skills, which are caused by the lack of treatment that he has never received from his schools and parents, then as a result attempts to commit suicide at the end of the …show more content…
This is because his disorder was overlooked when he was younger, thus causing further complications in his adult life. Even when his father thought something was not right he still didn’t know what it was. Later in his father’s life he even says that “you make people uncomfortable” (Walter 62). Which shows that he sees that there is something that is wrong with his son but he can’t address it from his lack of knowledge about the problem. Of course, it isn’t entirely his parents fault for not knowing the signs of his psychological problem, because after all they were never taught anything about it. For Trent to have ended with a happy ending his parents would have had to be educated about the topic, so that they could notice the signs early on in their child’s life. However, since Trent’s dad was never educated about mental illnesses he did not think to have his son tested. Not having parents know about these changes in their children can have dire consequences. For example, “without better education for adults, thousands of young people are at risk of alcohol and drug misuse, self-harm and suicide” (Sprinks 7). The signs of Trent’s mental health were around his parents for his entire life, sadly, they didn’t know what they were. Because of this, later in their son’s life he has trouble letting go of an ex-girlfriend pushes him to …show more content…
His emotions of seeing after a long period of time kick his mental illness into over drive and caused him to act in the moment. The opposition might say that Trent, in his rage of seeing his ex happy with her new boyfriend, finally snapped and tried to run them over with his car. Thus killing them and not trying to commit suicide. I disagree with this claim because he seemed content with their happiness. In both observations Trent has mental troubles, however, the assumption that he attempted to commit suicide seems more likely. Throughout the short story Trent is angry, however, he is more sad and hurt. This causes him to keep questioning why Tanya did not choose him even though he tried to make their relationship work. I do think that Trent snapped, however, he did in such a way that in his ache and sorrow blinded him into looking for the only way out that he could find, and that was
By examining William’s personal struggle with the mental disorder of major depressive disorder the devastation this illness causes on the functioning of individuals is clearly highlighted. More importantly, the narrative reveals the importance of receiving help quickly after the onset of symptoms. The unfortunate truth of the illness of depression is that a large percentage of individuals wait many years to receive help and a small number do not even receive treatment for varying reasons. As a result of the individuals with depression who do not seek immediate help due to not understanding that what they are experiencing is an atypical response, the afraid of being stigmatized and learned helplessness, the mood disorder of depression acts like a silent
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.
The creation of a stressful psychological state of mind is prevalent in the story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Ophelia’s struggles in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, and the self-inflicted sickness seen in William Blake’s “Mad Song”. All the characters, in these stories and poems, are subjected to external forces that plant the seed of irrationality into their minds; thus, creating an adverse intellectual reaction, that from an outsider’s point of view, could be misconstrued as being in an altered state due to the introduction of a drug, prescribed or otherwise, furthering the percep...
In the movie, Silver Linings Playbook, it all started with a man named Pat Solitano who had a mental disorder. He was recently released from a psychiatric hospital and now resides with his parents. He had lost his wife and his job and life just was not happening in his favor. His aim was to win back his wife, which happened to be quite difficult in his case. That is until he met this widowed woman named Tiffany Maxwell, who promised to help him reach out to his wife if he returned a favor and danced with her in a competition. Pat wrote letters to his wife and in turn Tiffany delivered them. We later find out that Tiffany was the one all along writing back to Pat and that she had fallen in love with him. Directly following the dance competition,
From the very beginning of the article, Solomon expresses his views on how such horrific disasters can be controlled and avoided if it was not due to the flaws in society. Starting from the title of the article, Solomon lets his readers understand that incidents such as that of Aaron Alexis’s are avoidable by using the phrase “Avoidable Tragedy” (Solomon). With this strong title, Solomon guides the readers towards the idea of stigma and how mental illness is directly attached to a strong social stigma. Stigma, which means disgrace, has a powerful negative affect in the society. The stigma that society imposes upon mental illness “causes them [people] to hide their mental-health status from those around them” (Solomon). With this statement, Solomon is trying to get across the idea that society’s corrupt thinking of the negative and spiteful outlook on mental illness is causing people to hide their troubled mental health from everyone. This leads to tem n...
The characters Ed and Emily are both disturbed people who cannot bear to lose the person they love. In conclusion to losing their loved ones they decide upon murder, although Ed does not kill his ex Terri he does threaten to do so. Emily murders her lover to keep him from ever leaving her side. Ed threatens to kill his ex in order to scare her into staying, but when that does not work he kills himself, not being able to live without her. Both characters show signs of possibly having mental illness or just simply being unstable. One example of this is in “A Rose For Emily”, in paragraphs 26-28 it talk about how Emily would not let the town’s people bury her father. It says, “She told them that her father was not dead” (406). Emily was clearly not capable of dealing with the death of her father, she did not want to let him go. Another example of how the characters display being unstable is in, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. In this short story is says, “Terri said the man she lived with before Mel loved her so much he tried to kill her. Then Terri said, ‘He beat me up one night. He dragged me around the living room by my ankles. He kept saying, ‘I love you, I love you, you bitch’” (411) The characters from both of the short stories showed signs of how they were incapable of dealing with
Oftentimes, in the public, people have to be “normal” to be successful and accepted. Author William Saroyan believes that society steers people to be conform and fit in, but he disagrees. In the short story “Gaston,” Saroyan shows that carving a unique path can turn out to be erroneous. Through symbolism and contrast, Saroyan conveys the theme that society does not always accept people’s differences.
When you think about different types of mental disorders in the human body what comes to mind? You may think of the most common disorders like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, or maybe obsessive compulsive disorder. For all the mental disorders that people face on a day-to-day basis have some type of treatment to control it. This can either be prescribing the patient with medicine or providing them with therapy. The short story that I would be discussing about is the Yellow Wallpaper. The Yellow Wallpaper was created by an author by the name of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a Hartford, Connecticut native that was a well-known feminist during the nineteenth century. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story that surrounds many different topics. The narrator is living in a time period where women were looked down upon and mental illnesses were misunderstood. The narrator of the story suffers from post-partum depression and is recording her journey in a journal. Her husband, the typical man at the time, put her on “the rest cure,” as he believed that mental illnesses should be treated like physical illnesses. He brings her to a house far away from other people and makes her stay in the nursery. The nursery had shabby yellow wallpaper which sickened her, but intrigued her at the same time. The rest cure was basically confinement, both physically and mentally. She was deprived of any form of creativity, this included writing, which was one of the things that kept her sane. This “cure” eventually leads to the decrease of her mental stability as she becomes more and more obsessed with the wallpaper. In order to convey a story with so many themes lots of literary devices were used. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses symbolism and characterization to explore themes about the lack of understanding of women and their mental health.
Girl, Interrupted (Mangold, 1999) is a movie which walks us through the conditions of various mental illnesses, their impacts on their victims and those around them, and effective treatment methods. The movie takes a more cognitive-behavioral perspective to explain various aspects and types of mental illnesses. Lisa Rowe is one of the characters in Girl, Interrupted, who is diagnosed with a particular type of mental condition. Lisa was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder. According to DSM-IV, this condition is a pattern of the violation of the rights of other people and disregarding them. Individuals with this type of mental illness, otherwise known as sociopaths, do not conform to the social norms regarding practicing lawful behaviors (Derefinko & Widiger, 2016). They undertake activities which warrant their arrest, like harming other people or property.
Conduct is taught at a young age when a parent wants the child to live up to certain standards; however, not everyone follows to their parents’ expectations. As people grow older, different phases begin to show; either the phase changes the personality or the person gets over this stage and lives on with life. Every person is different and behavior patterns affect certain age groups more than others. Mental illness drags kids and adults into discovering the negativity in life and medication to act appropriately with those around them. Zero self-control with medication will lead to consequences depending on the person’s thought process. Modern authors describe those with mental illness and challenges to an impossible recovery and the viewpoint of those without mental conditions.
The essay, “Walk to Morning”, by Joseph Boyden details the failed suicide of the author. If one was to describe said story with a single word, no word would do better than the word decision. What is evident to the reader in the beginning of the story is how the author was mistreated the night of his attempted suicide, claiming she “was, saying nonsensical things and being mean to me”. At any time during this sudden change of attitude, the author could of made a decision to inquire about the cause of this sudden hostility. If this action was taken, perhaps his girlfriend would of at least explained the causes of why she wanted to break up with him or at least give him some meager sort of comfort following the break up.
It tells the story of a person, family and community in which individuals suffer from mental disorders much the same way as people do in the real world. Not only did I find this movie quite accurate concerning mental illness but I also established some important messages concerning mental illness in today’s society. The film takes into account that mental illness is a part of society and overall has a positive outlook on it. Their illnesses don 't define their identities nor are they even the main point of the story. In coming together, the characters find the mutual support that enables them to approach their struggles and redirect their lives in a more positive direction. To some degree, this film addresses stigma and the fact that persons with mental illness should be allowed to participate in society over being kept in a hospital, in other words, it gives
While watching the movie A Beautiful mind, I couldn’t help but feel glad the movie got the accolades that it did because everyone involved in the making of this endearing portrayal of schizophrenia truly warranted. Also, I understand the book to be wonderful, my aunt has it and I will be borrowing it soon. It pleases me to see a movie that gives a glimpse into how perplexing the world can be from the onset of schizophrenia and across its lifespan, plus I really got drawn into the characters (real and not real) making it easy to identify with them and be able to empathize with their triumphs along with their struggles. The movie touched me on a personal level especially when he said to her he believed in the value we decide to put on things when she gave him the handkerchief on their first date (which he kept with him throughout the movie for “luck”).
In the novel Silver Water, by Amy Bloom, the narrator Violet shows us the difficulties not just herself, but her entire family faces with the burden of their youngest, Rose. Rose suffers from a type of mental illness that is not specified, but as we can tell has serious repercussions. The whole family cares and works the best they can to help Rose make it through life, but sometimes it’s just not that easy of a thing to do. Throughout the story, Violet the sister, takes care and loves Rose as much as she possibly can but in some ways it can sort of be a burden. In the novel Silver Water, the narrator exposes the effects a mental illness can have on a family.