"Obsession is a commitment; you have to believe in it, because it soon takes you over." A chilling statement made by Pilar Vilades in a New York Times Magazine article regarding how time consuming an obsession can be. This is exceptionally true in cases of OCD. The human mind is truly one of this world's wonders, and watching how a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder behaves will cause one to cherish sanity. However, even those who are considered sane experience their share of obsessive feelings in the more benign form of infatuation. Whichever word is used to describe it, the essence of both words resides in the dominance of one's mind by a single, reoccurring thought.
The Oxford English Dictionary has obsession originally meaning "actuation by the devil or an evil spirit from without" first appearing in 1605, from the Latin obsidere, to beset, occupy. The etymology of obsession shows that it once had to do with malign forces, explaining the reason why today it to used to describe unsatisfactory situations. An obsession has a tendency to play a part of relationships and emotions, namely love. Many upbeat songs voice the not so happy side of obsession. Kylie Minogue's song "Obsession" tells the story of a love gone wrong and how her loved one turned dangerous and "the mind games, driving [her] insane, when [her] life was not [her] own." Another "Obsession" song by Animotion tells the story from the opposite point of view of the individual who is obsessed. "I will have you . . . I need you . . . My fantasy has turned to madness and all my goodness has turned to badness. My need to possess you has consumed my soul. My life is trembling, I have no control." Obsessions usually start with intentions that are pure but, as this song shows, these intentions have become threatening. With this negative aura surrounding the word, it gives it a mysterious quality, making it a perfect name to perk ears up with the mention of the "refreshing oriental woody fragrance" from Calvin Klein. An obsession's downfall is most prevalently seen when the obsession is between two people. An obsession with an object would by far be a safer alternative seeing as how objects are incapable of feeling. Collectors can be described as passionate obsessors.
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) - is characterized by persistent, uncontrollable and unwanted feelings or thoughts (obsessions) and routines or rituals (compulsions) in which individuals engage to try to prevent or rid themselves of these thoughts. In example of common compulsions include washing hands or cleaning repeatedly for fear of germs.
In Cormac McCarthy's 2006 play, The Sunset Limited, McCarthy gives the reader very vague information about the setting and surroundings of the conversation that is occurring throughout the entire work. In the opening stage directions, an essential prop to the play is the "door [is] fitted with a bizarre collection of locks and bars" (3). The image of the locks is referenced a multitude of times within the duration of the play, as the two men, Black and White, sit at a table and debate the ways of the world. This conversation stems from Black saving White from committing suicide the previous morning and ineffectively tries to keep White from leaving to end his life. Throughout The Sunset Limited, the locks and bars of the door represent the overarching
In this painting, color shifts from dark to light, the colors are translucent. The edges and steps of the painting are colored in darker. Near the middle of the painting, it consists of both light and dark shades which get sharper as you get to the edges. While researching color symbolism in Duchamp’s paintings, I was surprised as to what the meanings behind it could possibly be. In the book, “Marcel Duchamp (Avant Garde Critical Studies 2)” by Klaus Beekman, I was introduced to many different beliefs as to the meaning behind painting using this nude, skin like, brown color. This color has both positive and negative meanings, the positive meaning consisting of creation and life. As unlikely as it sounds, this color relating to excrement, also
E. D. Hirsch and Lisa Delpit are both theorist on teaching diverse students. Both of these theorist believe that when teaching diverse students, teachers need to see their students for who they are. Seeing your students for who they are, means you look past the color of your students’ skin and recognize their culture. According to Stubbs, when teachers look at their students equally, no matter the color of their skin, then the teacher is considered colorblind (2002). Being colorblind is not a great thing because we should not treat all of our students the same, since each student is different. It is important to see our students for who they are because our classes are unique. Instead, our classes represent a rainbow underclass. According to Li, the rainbow underclass is the representation of families who are culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged (2008). In order to meet these student’s needs, teachers need to think about the struggles that each student face.
Louise Erdrich and Tim O’Brien both use symbolism to foreshadow of what the future will come to be of the characters. Henry in “The Red Convertible,” his emotions and mental state is shown through the symbolism of the red convertible. The car symbolizes the strong bond between one another. Henry tells Lyman, “When I left the car was running like a watch. Now I don’t know if I can get it to star again, let alone get it anywhere near its old condition” (Erdrich 138). The relationship between Henry and Lyman applies to the condition of their vehicle. Bussey states in her critical essay, “After Lyman damaged the car, Henry had the opportunity to work toward a goal, instead of watching television all day. In this way, the car symbolizes Henry 's
Throughout the novel, 'The Scarlet Letter,'; Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the themes with various dramatic colors. Of the array are the colors green and gold, where green symbolizes different aspects of nature such as tranquility, security, and gloominess, whereas gold represents all that pertains to luxuriance, serenity and goodness. In certain chapters, it seems as if one color is codependent with the other.
Black Humor in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle The phrase Black Humor has the broad meaning of poking "fun at subjects considered deadly serious or even taboo by some"2. This definition is simple, and yet embodies an important idea that is often lost in more complex definitions: the idea that Black Humor can actually be "fun", and provoke laughter. This is not, of course, the only important aspect of the term, and I shall explore some of the other important defining features of Black Humor before moving on to discuss its use in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle3. Many critics have attempted definitions of Black Humor, none of them entirely successfully. The most significant recurring features of these definitions are that Black Humor works with: absurdity, ironic detachment4; opposing moral views held in equipoise, humanity's lack of a sense of purpose in the unpredictable nuclear age, the realization of the complexity of moral and aesthetic experience which affects the individual's ability to choose a course of action5; and a playing with the reader's ideas of reality6.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a disease that afflicts up to six million Americans, however all its characteristics are yet to be fully understood. Its causes, triggers, attributes, and variations are still unknown although effective medicines exist to treat the symptoms. OCD is a very peculiar disease as Rapoport discusses it comes in many different forms and have different symptoms yet have many similarities. One sure aspect is that it appears, or at least its symptoms do, out of the blue and is triggered either by stressful experiences or, most of the time, just appears out of nowhere. One example is a boy who's father was hard on him for being affected by the worlds "modern ways", the boy at a high school party tries LSD ( a hallucinatory drug), after that thoughts of whether his mind was dangerously affected by the drug. What seemed like completely appropriate worrying and anxiety turned into attacks of anxiety, he couldn't shake the thoughts that something was wrong with his mind. Essentially he had "his mind on his mind" constantly and that haunted his days his thought were as follows: " did the lsd do anything to my mind? The thought never went away ; instead it got more and more complicated. There must be something wrong with my mind if i am spending so much time worrying about it. Is there something wrong with my mind? Was this from the lsd? Will it ever get better?" (The boy who, J. L. Rapoport 125,126) Dr. Rapoport promptly put him on Anafranil (an anti-depressant, used for OCD, not marketed in the U.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
Authors use literary elements throughout short stories to give an overall effect on the message they give in the story. In his short story, “Doe Season” by Michael Kaplan, illustrates a theme(s) of the hardships of not wanting to face the reality of death, losing of innocence and the initiation of growing up. Kaplans theme is contributed by symbolism, characterization, setting and foreshadowing.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder that can be best characterized by the recurrent or disturbing thoughts that are labeled as obsessions. Sometime these obsessions can take on the form of intrusive images or the unwanted impulses. The compulsions can come from the repetitive or ritualized behaviors that a person feels driven to perform on a daily basis. The majority of people with the diagnosis of OCD can have both obsessions and compulsions, but most of the times about 20% have obsessions alone while 10% may have the compulsions alone (Goodman M.D., 2013) . Common types that have been illustrated in individual’s diagnoses with OCD can be characterized with concerns of contamination, safety or harm to themselves, unwanted acts of aggression, the unacceptable sexual or religious thoughts, and the need for symmetry or exactness. While some of the most common compulsion can be characterized as excessive cleaning, checking, ordering, and arranging rituals or the counting and repeating routines activities that are done sometimes on a daily basis multiple times in a day.
Obsessions are the unpleasant thoughts or impulses that cause the person with the disorder to have lots of anxiety and edginess. The thoughts may include things such as perfect order of things in a house, perfect hygiene, or the fear that they are going to hurt someone. Obsessions can be violent or sexual.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder has been classified as a type of anxiety disorder under DSM-5, in which there is a presence of obsessions, compulsions or both. Obsessions are defined as “intrusive and mostly nonsensical thoughts, images, or urges that the individual tries to resist or eliminate,” while compulsion are the thought or actions that accompany these obsessions to try to suppress and provide relief. (TEXTBOOK) The obsessions are categorized into four major types, and each is linked with a certain pattern of compulsive behaviors.
In her article "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination" bell hooks argues that the distance between the white and black races created a tense relationship between the two. This tension caused a multitude of problems that are still present today including systems of domination, stereotypes of one another, white naivety of their privilege and fear of white individuals. Similarly, Ruth Frankenberg 's article "White Women, Race Matters" discuss these issues but from the perspective of a white feminist. Many of the same points can be connected to hooks ' arguments because the main aspects with races focus on the idea that whiteness is a perspective in which we see ourselves, others and society and also that whiteness continues to remain
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the main themes surrounds the idea of defining obsession and classic obsessive behaviors. Obsession itself is a force of devastation for one’s social, personal, mental, and physical life. At one point, obsession must be a passion, of which has amazing side effects. The synonym, passion, may resemble obsession in the beginning, though the main difference between the two is that obsession consumes the life that it holds. In the end, obsession ruins us.