ENGL 2114

My thank-yous always come out rather labored. I often don't give them at all. People do what they're supposed to do and then wait for you to pile of the appreciation-- they're like frozen-yogurt employees who put out cups for tips.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -There were so many passages I wanted to choose but this moment, where Desi comes to her rescue and expects her to show gratitude, shows so clearly how she views other peoples' actions. It's as if everyone in the world is there to do things for her, everyone owes her without her ever owing them back. People can bend over backward and worship her and it's just Amy getting what's due to her.

If dreams do act as a sort of overnight therapy to soothe the emotional impact of our experiences, it raises the prospect of manipulating our sleeping brains to improve this process. We know that people who have more REM sleep and more intense theta activity during REM are better able to consolidate emotional memories, says Blagrove. If we attempt to hack our dreams by artificially increasing theta waves, it might lead to the incorporation of more waking experiences into our dreams, says Blagrove. This could help us learn better

Dreams as Overnight Therapy by Christopher Bollas -I think that this is important because we are actively learning about how we are able to manipulate our emotional experiences and process through dreams. Increasing our REM sleep and theta waves helps us process emotions and thoughts in our conscious state.

Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; the only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don't mind, I'm the Cool Girl.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -In order to define the unique psychopathology of Amy, you must understand the way she sees other people and interacting with them. This quote is within the first glimpse we get into Amy on the run, and it completely changes the viewers interpretations of her character.

There are many ideas about why we dream. One is that they may have an evolutionary function, to test us in scenarios that are important to our survival. This might explain why people often report being chased or attacked in their dreams. On the other hand, many people have attested to the power of dreams for spurring creative thought, such as Paul McCartney, who says the melody to "Yesterday" came to him in a dream

Decoding Dreams by Rowan Hooper -I chose this passage from Decoding Dreams because I feel this was a big focus of a lot of talk about dreams. Everyone seems more interested in what dreams mean rather than necessarily how they work, myself being one of them. Dreams have the power to tell you a lot of things sometimes, but the thing that I found most prevalent was that dreams can help work out scenarios in which the dreamer might be anxious about. Throughout the project with the dream journal, this kept appearing in my dreams in a way, and it's something that has continued even after I've stopped keeping track of my dreams every night.

Dreaming really does help us process our memories and come to terms with our daily lives. That might sound uncontroversial but we have never had clear evidence that this is the case until now. The finding raises the prospect of hacking our dreams to boost learning, memory and emotional well-being

Decoding Dreams by Rowan Hooper -Short and straight to the point, but this passage alone explains why our dreams show certain part of things that has happened or will happen in our lives. Our dreams has been the process of what we go through and helps us stores them in our memories. When we try to bury things into our brain we think about them more and then this causes us to dream about it.

While these ideas are now out of favor within science, some interpretation of dreams is possible. What you dream about and the emotional tone of the dream probably reflects what your brain considers important. Research shows that if you play Tetris all day long, your brain will decide that Tetris is what you need to dream about. If you are anxious about something, your brain may well give you a dream with anxiety as the dominant emotion. A huge amount of research logging waking experiences and dream content suggests that your experiences in the day can be mapped to the content of your dream — but a lot, perhaps a majority, of apparently unrelated flotsam also creeps into dreams

Decoding Dreams by Rowan Hooper -While trying to interpret my own dream journal, this text and specifically this paragraph helped me better understand, in a very simple manner, why I was seemingly dreaming of certain emotions over certain incidences. What remained with me in the morning was not the specifics of my dreams but how they made me feel.

At the same time, activity in brain regions involved in emotional processes are cranked up, forming an overly emotional narrative that stitches these memories together

Decoding Dreams: 6 Answers to What Goes on Inside the Sleeping Mind by Rowan Hooper -I chose this passage because it explains why dreams have such an impact on us upon waking. The plot of dreams often feels strange and irrational in conscious life but doesn't seem that way at all at the moment. Dreams often feel overly emotional. Situations I've experienced in waking life are usually less intense than similar situations experienced in dreams. This passage is also important in showing that our brain functions differently during sleep than in waking life, which explains why our behavior and reactions to problems presented in dreams may seem unusual or illogical to our conscious selves.

What you dream about and the emotional tone of the dream probably reflects what your brain considers important. Research shows that if you play Tetris all day long, your brain will decide that Tetris is what you need to dream about. If you are anxious about something, your brain may well give you a dream with anxiety as the dominant emotion. A huge amount of research logging waking experiences and dream content suggests that your experiences in the day can be mapped to the content of your dream — but a lot, perhaps a majority, of apparently unrelated flotsam also creeps into dreams.

Decoding Dreams: 6 Answers to What Goes on Inside the Sleeping Mind by Rowan Hooper -I chose this passage because it provides some insight into what dreams mean and proves they can reflect our anxieties and deeper thoughts but sometimes dreams have no meaning. I think it is important to recognize that sometimes there is no deeper meaning for a dream sometimes t is in fact just a dream.

Instead of acknowledging their feelings, asking for help, or seeking appropriate treatment, men may turn to alcohol or drugs when they are depressed, or become frustrated, discouraged, angry, irritable, and, sometimes, violently abusive. Some men deal with depression by throwing themselves compulsively into their work, attempting to hide their depression from themselves, family, and friends. Other men may respond to depression by engaging in reckless behavior, taking risks, and putting themselves in harm's way

Depressive Disorders -I choose this passage because I believe that when we covered characters like Gregor and Nick, they exhibit these symptoms clearly. Especially when we compare the unique male depression to female depression, we see the characters display these traits repeatedly. We found that it isn't at all shocking when traits that go against the traditional concept of what depression looks like are displayed.

Human mental life does not have such a compositional unity to it, although narrative unities can be constructed about people's lives. Instead, I think we endure millions of physic intensities in our life: we have tens of thousands of dreams, we are flung along millions of chains of association, which are never lost upon the unconscious, although what emerges as a result of this journey is not a unitary phenomenon but rather a vast network of desires, memories, interests, curiosities, conflicts, and accidents that simply have been lived by us

Dissemination by Christopher Bollas -I chose this passage because I recall my reaction upon initially reading it - I was shocked by the beauty of Bollas' language and description of life and all of its little moments. In Dissemination, Bollas is attempting to explain that dissecting dreams and their meaning is often difficult, because what Freud describes as psychic intensities aren't always huge, emotional life events. Bollas argues that in just experiencing human life, we live thousands of little physic intensities everyday - and these can be as simple as walking into a record shop.

In the course of a day's experience, while walking along the street, I am unconsciously following differing strands of thought that are part of the act of free-associative dissemination

Dissemination by Christopher Bollas -I picked this quote from Dissemination because I feel like over the course of studying dreams more I have kind of have been trying to actively think more about the connections and trains of thought that I put together on a daily basis as I move through my life. I think it is kind of fun to pick a thought and see where it leads you.

During REM sleep, electrical activity in the brain oscillates at a frequency between 4 and 7 hertz, generating a type of brainwave known as theta waves. Blagrove's team found that the intensity of a person's theta waves was positively correlated with the number of diary items that appeared in their dreams. The researchers also discovered that events that had a higher emotional impact were more likely to become incorporated into a person's dreams than blander, more neutral experiences

Dreams as Overnight Therapy by Rowan Hooper -I chose this quote because I felt like this study was a very interesting one to read about in relation to dreams and our dream journal assignment, but this passage really is the main findings that they had from the study. I find it incredible that there still are so many things we don't really know about dreams but we are still learning more, especially related to dreams relation to events in the waking life.

I came downstairs the other night and found him at the dining room table, his head in his hands, looking at a pike of credit-card bills. I watched my husband, all alone, under the spotlight of a chandelier. I wanted to go to him, to sit down with him and figure it out like partners. But I didn't, I knew that would piss him off. I sometimes wonder if that is the root of his distaste for me: He's let me see his shortcomings, and he hates me for knowing them.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Who will I be then? The question wasn't recriminatory. It wasn't like the answer was the pious: Then you'll be a killer, Nick. You'll be as bad as Amy. You'll be what everyone thought you were. No. The question was frighteningly soulful and literal: Who would I be without Amy to react to? Because she was right: As a man, I had been my most impressive when I loved her - and I was my next best self when I hated her. I had known Amy only seven years, but I couldn't go back to life without her. Because she was right: I couldn't return to an average life. I'd known it before she'd said a word. I'd already pictured myself with a regular woman - a sweet, normal girl next door - and I'd already pictured telling this regular woman the story of Amy, the lengths she had gone to - to punish me and to return to me. I already pictured this sweet and mediocre girl saying something uninteresting like Oh, nooooo, oh my God, and I already knew part of me would be looking at her and thinking: You've never murdered for me. You've never framed me. You wouldn't even know how to begin to do what Amy did. You could never possibly care that much. The indulged mama's boy in me wouldn't be able to find peace with this normal woman, and pretty soon she wouldn't just be normal, she'd be substandard, and then my father's voice - dumb bitch - would rise up and take it from there.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I chose this paragraph because I think this is where Flynn shows us Nick coming into his true self. Till now, and even after, he talks about leaving Amy, but that is all it is. Just talk.

I often don't say things out loud, even when I should. I contain and compartmentalize to a disturbing degree: In my belly-basement there are hundreds of bottles of rage, despair, fear, but you'd never guess from looking at me.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I chose this passage because it is representative of depression and the way many individuals are able to hide its symptoms. It isn't uncommon for it to translate into anger, either, which then we can take a look at generational trauma and the rigidity and anger one can often see in older generations. If we look to Nick's father, we see a man who, till his last breaths, is cursing at women, being hateful and bitter.

I don't know that we are actually human at this point, those of us who are like most of us, who grew up with TV and movies and now the Internet. If we are betrayed, we know the words to say; when a loved one dies, we know the words to say. If we want to play the stud or the smart-ass or the fool, we know the words to say. We are all working from the same dog-eared script. It's a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I chose this passage because it reminded me of everything Bollas wrote in his explanation of the normopath in Meaning and Melancholia. This little passage is taken from Nick's dialogue, when he's explaining how nothing really matters because he doesn't feel like a real person. This passage made me think a bit more deeply about our own society if that's true - if we're all following scripts we've seen somewhere else.

I move slowly, shuffling like my bones hurt, a feverish delicacy descending on me. Everything does hurt. Nick buzzes past me, going up or down, and throws his frown at me snaps "You ok?" and keeps moving before I answer, leaves me gaping, a cartoon with a black mouth-hole. I am not ok. I will be okay, but right now I am not okay. I want my husband to put his arms around me, to console me, to baby me a little bit. just for a second.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I chose this passage because it shows Amy longing for what she truly wants. In this moment she's not being the "cool girl". She wants Nick's affection and I think this is a big part of what causes the later events of why Amy goes missing.

'You were so perfect, with me. We were so perfect when we started, and then you stopped trying. Why would you do that?'...'We're a sick, ****ing toxic Mobius strip, Amy. We weren't ourselves when we fell in love, and when we became ourselves -- surprise! -- we were poison. We complete each other in the nastiest, ugliest possible way. You don't really love me, Amy. You don't even like me.'...'And I swear to you, if you try to leave, I will devote my life to making your life as awful as I can. And you know I can make it awful.'

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I feel like this passage really sums up the shortcomings of their relationship. The bottom line is that they were both pretending to be someone they are not. When that false image became apparent, they fell out of love, they got angry, and their true personalities started to appear. In some sick and twisted way, Nick is right, they do complete each other. Throughout the novel we see this relationship play out that is based on falsehood which is brought out even more by the fact that both characters are constantly lying. Additionally, the last bit that Amy says is quite important as well. It shows her psychopathic tendencies that violence and plotting revenge would be her response to Nick leaving her.

Thank you, Nick. I really appreciate it. Sometimes guys, they make things hard for us just because they can." I was exactly the opposite. My father had infused my childhood with unspoken blame; he was the kind of man who sulked around looking for things to be angry at. This had turned Go defensive and extremely unlikely to take unwarranted shit. It had turned me into a knee-jerk suck to authority. Mom, dad, teachers: Whatever makes your job easier, sir or madam. I craved a constant stream of approval. "You'd literally lie, cheat, and steal—hell, kill—to convince people you are a good guy," Go once said.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I picked this passage because I think it is important to think about when we know how Nick acts at the end of the book about how he wants to be for his kid. This brings up the discussion that we talked about in class: does Nick really want to be a good father, or just he not want to compared to his father.

Nick loved me. A six-o kind of love: he loooooooved me. But he didn't love me, me. Nick loved a girl who doesn't exist. I was pretending, the way I often did, pretending to have a personality. I can't help it, it's what I've always done: The way some women change fashion regularly, I change personalities. What persona feels good, what's coveted, what's au courant? I think most people do this, they just don't admit it. or else they settle on one person because they're too lazy or stupid to pull off a switch

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -I think this passage is important because this is when Amy admits that she has not been this perfect girl that she has portrayed throughout the book. We can also see that she has a personality disorder because she says she changes personalities as much as a women changes clothes which is relatively a lot. Amy, also shows that she is a narcissist because she deflects her personality onto other people saying that she is not the only person that does it to justify her actions.

It's a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless automat of characters. And if all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don't have genuine souls. It had gotten to the point where it seemed like nothing matters, because I'm not a real person and neither is anyone else. I would have done anything to feel real again.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -This paragraph is a piece of Nick's internal monologue. I find this paragraph particularly fascinating because it parallels to the ideas of normopathy that Bollas discusses in Meaning and Melancholia. Nick clearly resents this phenomenon and his participation in it, and wants to feel real in a materialistic world. He is sick and tired of playing a role and of letting characters inhabit him. This is even more thought-provoking when you compare and contrast it with the "Cool Girl Monologue". Amy is a character who wants to keep playing her role, and wants Nick to do the same. She resented Nick for showing his true self, and knew that he, was pretending to be a character that would appeal to her while she was doing the same. Nick wants to feel real, Amy does not, and therein lies their entire conflict.

Cool Girl. Men always say that as the defining compliment, don't they? She's a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny, woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she's hosting the world's biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -This passage from Gone Girl addresses Amy's tendency to adopt personas that help her manipulate others. When she meets Nick, she is willing to become the Cool Girl because she wants to be with Nick, knowing this is what men want. I chose this passage because it points out the unconscious misogyny women play when adopting this role. Despite not all women dressing up in different roles to Amy's extent, many women are willing to pretend to be this Cool Girl in order to get a man. Flynn is pointing out that men who want this type of woman don't actually like women at all and only like masculine characteristics in a feminine body. Nick's father ingrained deeply sexist ideology into his brain. While this is no excuse, it explains why he searched for a woman with the personality and mentality of a standard male who still turns him on. This type of woman is absent from all behavioral femininity, making her superior to all other women. Amy's monologue exposes this way of thinking for what it truly is-deeply misogynistic. It gives men the excuse to perform heterosexual behavior while still disdaining women. Throughout the novel, we see how this is true in Nick, no matter how hard he works to suppress it.

It was true that I'd had this feeling too, in the past month, when I wasn't wishing Amy harm. It would come to me at strange moments —in the middle of the night, up to take a piss, or in the morning pouring a bowl of cereal—I'd detect a nib of admiration, and more than that, fondness for my wife, right in the middle of me, right in the gut. To know exactly what I wanted to hear in those notes, to woo me back to her, even to predict all my wrong moves ... the woman knew me cold. Better than anyone in the world, she knew me. All this time I'd thought we were strangers, and it turned out we knew each other intuitively, in our bones, in our blood.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn -This whole book was a rollercoaster of them not wanting to be together and then realizing they are meant to be together. I was confused as to why Nick stayed and as to why Amy came back. He was ready to divorce her before her planned disappearance, her notes for the treasure hunt made him fall back in love with her just as his words on the video were calculated to bring her back to him. She is a liar and wished him harm, and as we see in this passage he too is a lair and wished her harm. She knew how to hurt him, ruin him, and condemn him based on the fact that she truly knew his ins and outs. He managed to lure a calculated woman back home because even though he may not act as she wants, he knows what she wants. This passage displays why they didn't go their separate ways, why Amy didn't find a man to treat her as she wanted and why Nick didn't go and marry a normal person. Another man would not hold admiration for Amy, there would be no realization or gut punch of fondness. They would divorce her and get a restraining order, he stays because he isn't normal either. This passage is important because it shows Nick is not the victim he claims to be, some part of him wants to stay with Amy because she did these insane things for him. It is an ego boast he can't refuse.

This old woman should be famous for all shes been through-today's angels, her years in sales, the sons and friends-she should be famous for her throughout life. She knows things, she has seen so much. She's not famous.

It Had Wings by Allan Gurganus -Aside from feeling like it she should be rewarded for having to live life, this quote highlights how the main character in the story has this level of grandiosity because of the angel she has just seen. Although it might had been imaginary, the thought that the angel had just visited her to relieve her of her pains and being happy about it, shows sign of NPD.

Can a person who's just sighted her first angel already be mulling about laundry? Yes. The world is like that

It Had Wings by Allan Gurganus -Perhaps I'm stretching the value of this quote, but as I read it, I was struck by the harmful reality of living in our society and the potential human experience we could enjoy. The world is beautiful--can be beautiful--yet we live in a way that dismisses its magic. We live in a society where the future(even though it isn't guaranteed) is more important than the present--I've just seen an angel, yet I'm thinking about what's next. We place value on materialistic things when beautiful people, relationships, and connections have fallen into our hands(backyards). I find this quote also proves the selfishness and narcissistic priorities of many people--can a person who's just sighted a penguin with plastic around its neck already be thinking about their next bottled water? Yes, and these materialistic acts of foolishness(whether big or small) happen every day. Allan wrote this story inspired by a dream he had, and living in the world today often feels like a dream--stubborn, surreal, stupid--yet real.

In the absence of sufficient stimulating and novel experiences, the self gradually loses interest in seeking the spice of life because it cannot remember what this felt like. With nothing enriching to recall, memory itself becomes atrophied; with loss of memory other intellectual capacities dwindle, and eventually there arrives a new matrix of existential psychic positions: a general impoverishment of the ego that is accompanied by a deep and widespread depression. Their fellow compound selves may serve as a group that provides natural admiration, but with the lack of fresh blood and fresh thinking, in the end the euphorias of success and glitter wear off. Although still surrounded by conspicuous wealth and provision, these now serve to objectify their alienation

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -I believe that this paragraph shows us the true meaning of the "Compound" self, and does a great job of summarizing the circumstances as well as the person that Bollas has been describing so far in the text.

He does not have a passion for factual data in order to establish a common knowledge that sponsors a group's creativity...facts are collected and stored because this activity is reassuring. It is part of personal evolution in which he unconsciously attempts to become an object in the object world

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -In this passage, Bollas describes a normopath and their love and comfort in facts and following without question. Our "object world" is a significant source of harm for those with mental disorders and develops serious, widely experienced illnesses(normopathy and transmissive self) that aren't even recognized as such. The dependency on materialistic objects and the lack of thinking for one's self are important topics I hope we will be able to discuss more.

In response to the manic-depressive splitting in the mid-twentieth century, a new form of personality emerged. The borderline mind was divided into two parts - one that perceived the world as idealized and another that could register only the negative. It was the perfect reflection of the split in society.

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -The beginning of this text is prefaced by the existential events recorded in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. And how the people had hit an all-time high in indifference. Bollas describes the unique forms of indifference in response to the world burning around them (normopath, paranoia, etc.). We see this passage fits the idea that the worlds issues had surmounted to an unbearable degree. The people naturally divided themselves to either indulge the senses or rage against the machine. Confiding in material distractions that caused temporary pleasure, evading the imminence of global deterioration. Or share a state of holistic depression. Accepting that the world has no hope for good. That if you can't beat them, watch as the world sink into oblivion.

The dynamics of the anti-globalization movement were driven by a paranoid retreat from complexity, allowing selves and nations to feel that militant positions and military might were sufficient to deal with a world that was out of control. Set against this fundamentalist simplification there was a parallel reality in which those who could afford it increasingly split themselves off, living their lives at a distance from the vast majority of their fellow human beings. In these privileged enclaves, they were removed, too, from the democratic process. Like Trump, they were creating an alternative reality

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -This paragraph talks about the harmful effects of detachment from reality of an entire group of people. The author here views the entire American population as one single brain, that seems to be suffering from split personality. Drawing a very sharp and distinct line between these two groups results in both of the groups viewing the other as something "alien", while also promoting group thinking and creating an echo-chamber of experiences and opinions.

In fact we live in multiple worlds. We walk about in the real and have direct experiences of things which may be highly evocative, but then we walk down memory lane and see these things in a different way. Although from one point of view we exist in the unrepresentable private world of the self's inner life, we also live amongst others: first in the thing we call a family, then in a society, in a nation, and now we find ourselves living in the global community. We are many things to many people; and increasingly our "I" has many "me's

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -This passage, taken from Bollas' Meaning and Melancholia, perfectly conveys something I've always thought is fascinating: no one sees us exactly as we see ourselves. Sometimes, there are versions of us frozen in people's minds that will never change. We are something different to each person we're connected to - which used to really freak me out. It's interesting you can only control who you are to someone else to a certain extent. Bollas describes how we exist inside of our own minds, and how we exist in many other worlds as well - our society, our country, and in the world itself.

Unfortunately, paranoid retreat from complexity fates the paranoid to live within an increasingly isolated enclave, even if they are joined by millions of fellow recluses. In retreat from all who do not share the paranoid's vision of reality, he regards others as "aliens" who threaten the hegemony of paranoia. Indeed, anyone with other ideas is a migrant seeking to cross the borders of the mind. They must be kept out at all costs because they threaten the paranoid's construction of a defensive identity. This has been effective in providing the paranoid self with a powerful and pleasurable sense of cohesion in a world that otherwise seems contaminated by its opposite: by plurality.

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -This text is focused on how paranoia and isolation is detrimental to societies, politics, etc. This passage includes the more narrow insight on how paranoia effects an individual, then a group of people, and zooms it out to societies. We as societies, as described in the passage, like sameness. Paranoia makes the majority afraid of the minority, any individual who is different from the majority threatens to break the chain of cohesion. People tend to alienate and avoid those who do not fit into what they deem is acceptable, which in a world of sameness, is anyone outside of their set group. The passage is important because it displays how paranoia isn't something that pts one person against one other person, it has a much grander impact and puts group against group, country against country. In respect to politics, this paranoia makes it easy for politicians to adhere to the fear of different and play into it to win elections.

In the essay I recounted my experience of interviewing an adolescent, 'Tom', who had attempted suicide after fumbling a ball during a high-school football game. I discovered in the course of the meeting that his family had just moved to that area, a long way from his home of origin, but that neither he nor the family thought this was a big deal. I focused on how Tom's lack of interest in matters of the heart and the mind seemed to be evidence of a personality that 'admitted no inquiry or reflection

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -What struck me about this passage is that as Bollas is recounting this incident, he notes the reactions of the people who heard Tom's story and the stark difference in some of them. He was very moved by Tom but many of the listeners remained stoic, even in the face of this young man's grief. This is very telling about the kind of emotional insulation that's become a big part of what Bollas describes as "normopathic society".

Paranoid thinking works short term because it binds people around powerful affects, and simplifies complex ideas into digestible ones that appear cohesive and therefore assumed to be correct. Through projection, it purifies selves unwanted parts, so that what was internally disturbing- capable of producing persecutory anxiety, guilt, and depression - is dumped into some faecal-other who can be flushed from sight or annihilated

Meaning and Melancholia by Christopher Bollas -I chose this passage because it depicts how powerful and dangerous paranoia can be. I feel like most the time people brush off paranoia or feel like it isn't a big deal when actually it is and it can cause disastrous affects.

Individuals with NPD seek excessive admiration and attention in order to know that others think highly of them. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder have difficulty tolerating criticism or defeat and may be left feeling humiliated or empty when they experience an "injury" in the form of criticism or rejection.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder -I chose this passage from our readings on NPD because I see it as a clear indicator on the truth of living with NPD. We found in our readings that our characters who had NPD struggled with criticism. Dorian killing Basil, for example, was a direct attempt to silence that criticism.

For if femininity is, as Susan Brownmiller has said, at its core a "tradition of imposed limitations" then an unwillingness to limit oneself, even in the pursuit of femininity, breaks the rules. But of course, in another sense the rules remain fully in place. The sufferer becomes wedded to an obsessive practice, unable to make any effective change in her life. She remains, as Toril Moi has put it, "gagged and chained to [the] feminine role," a reproducer of the docile body of femininity.

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo

In the space of a few decades, the female body has been completely transformed by the increasing range and availability of new technologies of representation and manipulation. The technologies include not only the usual suspects - film, video, and print media - but also new medical and surgical procedures, some of which have created entirely new categories of bodily experience.

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -Bordo examines how the representation and perceptions of the female body have changed as a result of new technology in this section. She contends that these developments in technology have altered how women are viewed and represented in society, and have given rise to new ideas and standards for femininity and beauty. This passage is important for comprehending the article's larger issues, which include how gender is constructed, how the body and identity are related, and how cultural standards and conventions affect personal experience. Bordo sheds light on the complicated and frequently contradictory dynamics that influence how we perceive ourselves and our bodies by studying how modern technology have changed the female body.

The bodies of distorted women in this way offer themselves as an aggressively graphic text for the interpreter-a text that insists, actually demands, that it be read as a cultural statement, a statement about gender

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -I chose this passage because it encapsulates agoraphobia, anorexia, bulimia, and hysteria as a form of resistance to the cultural constraints put on women's bodies. The article discusses how these disorders act as hyperboles on how women should act, look and behave. It forces people to take a step and look at the extreme pressures women are under to meet unrealistic standards. Even when the results are not as severe, many women are still left feeling depressed and physically ill, attempting to mold themselves into someone desirable. Cultural standards on women's bodies transcend every demographic block future progress in gender equality.

The intelligible body includes our scientific, philosophic, and aesthetic representation of the body- our cultural conceptions of the body, norms of beauty, models of health, and so forth. But the same representations may also be seen as forming a set of practical rules and regulations through which the living body is 'trained, shaped, obeys, responds,' becoming, in short, a socially adapted and 'useful body.'

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -I like how this passage talked more about society's standards and what it means to not be in the norm. This entire course is over abnormal psychology, but I think it's important to question as well who made this the norm and what has been put into place to make people feel they don't fit that. This points out that a socially adapted body is one that can be used, as in someone who follows society's norms are more included and able to be included, which excludes some as well. I also think this ties well into The Yellow Wallpaper given the idea of hysteria that was around for a long time and the fact that they thought women were just emotional when in reality, nobody really listed to them because they weren't fitting this norm.

Nonetheless, anorexia, hysteria, and agoraphobia may provide a paradigm of one way in which potential resistance is not merely undercut but utilized in the maintenance and reproduction of existing power relations. The central mechanism I will describe involves a transformation (or, if you wish, duality) of meaning, through which conditions that are objectively (and, on one level, experientially) constraining, enslaving, and even murderous, come to be experienced as liberating, transforming, and life-giving

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -The richness in this text makes it difficult to not want to highlight all of it as a passage but I like this one for its focus on power structures and the comfort that many women get from their "conditions" when our freedoms are restricted enough.

The first of these experiments was conducted by Daniel Wegner, who noticed that when we are trying hard to ignore or suppress a thought, it often just keeps coming back. He suggested that this is because we have two psychological processes at work at the same time when we try to suppress a thought: an operating part that actively suppresses it, and a monitoring process that keeps an eye out for the suppressed thought.

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -This passage demonstrates how our mind physiologically copes with daily events, stressors, and negative emotions. It also shows that these thoughts do need a place to go, they need to be worked through and processed, and that nothing can truly be suppressed. This is an issue in our present culture, especially amongst men. Men are told that vulnerability is a weakness, and that they must fulfill certain roles in their lives in order to be men that are worthy. This needs to change, because we are naturally emotional beings and are capable of higher order thinking.

For if femininity is, as Susan Brownmiller has said, at its core a tradition of imposed limitation then an unwillingness to limit oneself, even in the pursuit of femininity, breaks the rules. But, of course, in another sense the rules remain fully in place. The sufferer becomes wedded to an obsessive practice, unable to make any effective change in her life. She remains, as Toril Moni has put it gagged and chained to the feminine role a reproducer of the docile body of femininity

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -This passage from Bordo perfectly addresses the problems that women face when they are suffering from being culturally accepted for the bodies they have. Women suffering from this obsess over unrealistic standards for themselves that they don't make real changes into their lives.

The rules for this construction of feminity(and I speak here in a language both symbolic and literal)require that women learn to feed others, not the self, and to construe any desires for self-nurturance and self-feeding as greedy and excessive. Thus, women must develop a totally other-oriented emotional economy. In this economy, the control of female appetite for food is merely the most concrete expression of the general rule governing the construction of femininity: that female hunger--for public power, for independence, for sexual gratification--be contained, and the public space that women be allowed to take up be circumscribed, limited...

The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity by Susan Bordo -This passage is important because it describes the difficulties and limitations imposed on women. I love that she points out that as women, we are generally described as more emotional, nurturing, and selfless(although it's possible these attributes have been forced upon us)--but we also love ourselves and enjoy things other than the home life everybody expects us to want. I realize the truth in this passage is what made it difficult for me to see Amy Dunne as a narcissistic antagonist because it was liberating and refreshing to read about a female lead who took control after men continually tried to keep her in a box.

Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe -As proof of this passage, Edgar Allan Poe is an incredibly skilled writer as he can manipulate what we see and feel through his vivid descriptions: I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow--you can feel the suffocation while reading this phrase. I chose this passage because I believe Poe is describing more than a room and perfectly paints the experience and setting of the mental state of a person suffering from paranoia and fear. Many things--books and instruments---usually used for expression and comfort failed to activate or energize the tortured soul. I'm to do something as simple and vitally life-sustaining as breathing, yet it is done with difficulty and pain. My gloomy, hopeless, and dark presence drags and inflicts all around me---as seen by the narrator becoming infected by Rodericks's superstitious beliefs the longer he stays with him.

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe -This story, a famous example of Gothic fiction, began with a paragraph that establishes the tone and mood for the entire work. The phrases intentionally convey a sense of dread and foreboding to highlight the barren and dismal nature of the scene. The word "melancholy" used to describe the House of Usher quickly conveys that it is a place of tremendous grief and anticipates the tragic events that will take place. This paragraph of the literature is crucial for setting the overall tone of the novel and preparing the readers for the eerie occurrences that will take place. It also prepares the ground for the investigation of concepts like degeneration, madness, and the psychological impact of loneliness and despondency.

Who, in this tired and overworked family, would have had time to give more attention to Gregor than was absolutely necessary?

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -- Short and simple, but deep and meaningful. I think this passage works as an overarching principle considering the gist of the story. We see in the case of Gregor, being needed but not wanted sent him into his unique experience. Which can be categorized as a scene of spiraling depression. A monotonous yet demanding work life consumes his being. He works solely for the support of family, where little to no time is granted for personal indulgence. Not to mention his so-called family and their lack of empathy, graciousness, understanding, etc. Although, his family is what's key in this passage, and in the story. Serving as the culprit for Gregor's unfulfilled life, revolting transformation, and lonesome death.

Often he just lay there the long nights through without sleeping at all, scrabbling for hours on the leather. Or he nerved himself to the great effort of pushing an armchair to the window, then crawled up over the window till and, braced against the chair, leaned against the windowpanes, obviously in some recollection of the sense of freedom that looking out of a window always used to give him. For in reality day by day things that were even a little way off were growing dimmer to his sight; the hospital across the street, which he used to execrate for being all too often before his eyes, was now quite beyond his range of vision, and if he had not known that he lived in Charlotte Street, a quiet street but still a city street, he might have believed that his window gave on a desert waste where gray sky and gray land blended indistinguishably into each other. His quick-witted sister only needed to observe twice that the armchair stood by the window; after that whenever she had tidied the room she always pushed the chair back to the same place at the window and even left the inner casements open.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -I chose this paragraph because I think it does a great job of clearly showing us Gregor's mental state without talking directly about it at all.

On hearing these words from his mother Gregor realized that the lack of all direct human speech for the past two months together with the monotony of family life must have confused his mind, otherwise he could not account for the fact that he had quite earnestly looked forward to having his room emptied of furnishing. Did he really want his warm room, so comfortably fitted with old family furniture, to be turned into a naked den in which he would certainly be able to crawl unhampered in all directions but at the price of shedding simultaneously all recollection of his human background?

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -I chose this selection from part 2 of The Metamorphosis because I feel like it is one of the best kind of emotional representations of the transformation that Gregor underwent in the story. It is honestly one of the sadder parts of the story for me to read just because I feel like there is a lot about depression or certain personality disorders that can be portrayed metaphorically by the idea of Gregor's room becoming empty.

He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time", he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other traveling salesmen live a life of luxury.For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk!

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -I picked this passage because it highlights the main character's main point of concern whiiling how he feels about everything that is happening. I believe it really focuses on the feelings of a person who is wanting to change but is scared because of how it might affect those depending on them, completely ignoring their personal needs. A person that gives more than he/she receives.

He would often lie there the whole night through, not sleeping a wink but scratching at the leather for hours on end. Or he might go to all the effort of pushing a chair to the window, climbing up onto the sill and, propped up in the chair, leaning on the window to stare out of it. He had used to feel a great sense of freedom from doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced, as what he actually saw in this way was becoming less distinct every day, even things that were quite near; he had used to curse the ever-present view of the hospital across the street, but now he could not see it at all, and if he had not known that he lived in Charlottenstrasse, which was a quiet street despite being in the middle of the city, he could have thought that he was looking out the window at a barren waste where the grey sky and the grey earth mingled inseparably. His observant sister only needed to notice the chair twice before she would always push it back to its exact position by the window after she had tidied up the room, and even left the inner pane of the window open from then on

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -I think I picked this passage because to me it's very representative of the way your perspective of life and the things you were once very familiar with changes with a depressive episode. Gregor is finding that an activity he once enjoyed brings him joy no longer; his small world has become foreign to him.

He slid down again into his former position. This getting up early, he thought, makes one quite stupid. A man needs his sleep. Other commercials live like harem women. For instance, when I come back to the hotel of a morning to write up the orders I've got, these others are only sitting down to the breakfast. Let me just try that with my chief; I'd be sacked on the spot. Anyhow, that might be quite a good thing for me, who can tell? If I didn't have to hold my hand because of my parents I'd have given him notice long ago, I'd have gone to the chief and told him exactly what I think of him. That would knock him endways from his desk! It's quite a queer way of doing, too, this sitting on high at a desk and talking down to employees, especially when they have to come quite near because the chief is hard of hearing. Well, there's still hope; once I;ve saved enough money to pay back my parents' debts to him- that should take another five or six years- I'll do it without fail. I'll cut myself completely loose then. For the moment, though, I'd better get up, since my train goes at five.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -In The Metamorphosis, Gregor's stress was overtaking his life. In fact, he was already so stressed, that when he turned into a bug he did not give it much thought. Instead, Gregor's focus was still on his duties of taking care of his unemployed, indebted family. This is a contrast to when his family finds out about his state and locked him away. Once Gregor was of no use to the family, they cast him off and helped themselves instead of returning the favor to Gregor.

"And what now?" said Gregor to himself, looking around in the darkness. Soon he made the discovery that he was now unable to stir a limb. This did not surprise him, rather it seemed unnatural that he should ever actually have been able to move on these feeble little legs. Otherwise, he felt relatively comfortable. True, it seemed his whole body was aching, but it seemed that the pain was gradually growing less and would finally pass away. The rotting apple in his back and the inflamed area around it, all covered with soft dust, already hardly troubled him. He thought of his family with tenderness and love. The decision that he must disappear was one that he held onto even more strongly than his sister, if that were possible"

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -This passage from Metamorphosis emphasizes how highly Gregor continued to think of his family, even though they'd let him down when he most needed their support. His family takes no notice that he'd been slowly starving himself, and when he finally makes the decision to die, all he can think of is how much better off his family will be without him. Throughout the story, Gregor gave everything to support his family although they were exploiting him for money. He's an extremely altruistic person and remains so until he passes away. He ultimately sacrificed his life - both as a man and as the vermin - for the comfort of his family.

Gregor hardly slept at all, either night or day. Sometimes he would think of taking over the family's affairs, just like before, the next time the door was opened; he had long forgotten about his boss and the chief clerk, but they would appear again in his thoughts, the salesmen and the apprentices, that stupid teaboy, two or three friends from other businesses, one of the chambermaids from a provincial hotel, a tender memory that appeared and disappeared again, a cashier from a hat shop for whom his attention had been serious but too slow, - all of them appeared to him, mixed together with strangers and others he had forgotten, but instead of helping him and his family they were all of them inaccessible, and he was glad when they disappeared. Other times he was not at all in the mood to look after his family, he was filled with simple rage about the lack of attention he was shown, and although he could think of nothing he would have wanted, he made plans of how he could get into the pantry where he could take all the things he was entitled to, even if he was not hungry. Gregor's sister no longer thought about how she could please him but would hurriedly push some food or other into his room with her foot before she rushed out to work in the morning and at midday, and in the evening she would sweep it away again with the broom, indifferent as to whether it had been eaten or - more often than not - had been left totally untouched. She still cleared up the room in the evening, but now she could not have been any quicker about it. Smears of dirt were left on the walls, here and there were little balls of dust and filth.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka -This passage gives us a really great picture of different aspects of Gregor's deterioration. It displays his neglect of his own health in the fact that he hardly eats and his room is covered in dust and filth. It displays his disconnection from his life outside the home, from work, from friends and family, etc. We seem to see him giving up and he can't quite tell what he's feeling, whether it's rage or despair or numbness.

Narcissism as a cover for insecurity is an important issue, as many people assume that narcissism can be cured with even more self-admiration. It can't. "If Michael had more self-esteem, he wouldn't be so disrespectful," they'll say. The truth is that Michael might be disrespectful because he thinks he's better than you are and feels his needs are more important than yours. More self-esteem, especially if it crosses over into narcissism, might only make that problem worse. Thus it is very important that programs seeking to work with school bullies be very careful when trying to build their self-esteem, as narcissism might be an unintended consequence. Bullies need to learn respect for others. They already have too much respect for themselves.

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M Twenge & W Keith Campbell -I chose this paragraph because it addresses a very common misconception about Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Social media has turned heavy words such as narcissists into "pop terms", and these are thrown around so frequently and more often than not, do not carry the actual meaning of NPD. This notion that traits of narcissism are just a way to cover up insecurity is not only wrong, but also extremely harmful because a) it erases the psychological definition of the term, b) incorrectly labels people who do not have NPD and c) wrongfully villainize people who do suffer from NPD. It is imperative to realise that NPD is a personality disorder that is usually present due to no fault of the individual. The paragraph also talk about the dangerous repercussions of trying to build the self-esteem of a narcissist.

Many self-help books maintain that loving yourself is a cure-all. If we just believe in ourselves, this advice goes, anything is possible. The 2007 megabestseller The Secret promises that you can get anything you want (especially material things) simply by visualizing it. (Apparently neither of us authors really wanted to win the MegaMillions jackpot, because we didn't.) Interviews on Larry King Live about Lindsay Lohan and other young stars' troubles with alcohol and drugs, The View's Joy Behar said, "They have everything you'd ever want in life- they've finally achieved their faces on TV. Meanwhile that little voice inside is saying, 'you're not good enough. Not good enough.' And yet there are people who live in poverty who say I am good enough. It's all what you think of yourself." According to this view, young stars like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton wouldn't have as many problems if they just loved themselves enough.

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M Twenge & W Keith Campbell -Self-love does not cure mental illness in itself This passage from The Narcissism Epidemic explains that self-love is not the remedy it is made out to be in today's society. Although the writing is rather passive-aggressive, the authors make a valuable example of how manifestation, self-love and success cannot guarantee happiness or health.

Narcissism is not just a minor aberration or a harmless quirk; it's not just excessive self-love or vanity. At its core, narcissism is a deeper, more profound disorder that robs people of the capacity to empathize with others, to feel connected, and to respect anything beyond themselves and their own desires

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M Twenge & W Keith Campbell -Twenge and Campbell's article, which examines the growth of narcissism in modern culture, centers on this line as one of its main arguments. They contend that narcissism is a severe psychological condition characterized by a lack of empathy, a concern with image maintenance and self-promotion, and a contempt for other people and the larger social environment. This passage is essential for comprehending the article's larger themes, which include the influence of cultural values and social norms on people's psychology and behavior, how technology and media affect how we perceive ourselves, and the difficulties in cultivating healthy relationships and communities in an era of rising narcissism. Twenge and Campbell underline the necessity of tackling narcissism in modern society by portraying it as a more serious psychiatric condition.

Not everyone enacts their political disenchantment through mass murder. So what else are the millions of infuriated selves supposed to do? Perhaps they can find strength in numbers and a murderous form of politics that channels paranoid rage. When political movements are based on paranoid ideas, the group process becomes all the more dangerous, as isolated selves discover that there are millions of other people who share the same views. The retreat into paranoia then becomes even more deeply assuring and confirming.

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge & W. Keith Campbell

Today's culture rains enough narcissism to get everyone wet

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge & W. Keith Campbell -I pciked this short but powerful passage because it captures the modern time wanted appreciation of everything and anything. Sometimes disguised as "self love", people get full of themselves that they stop caring about what other people feel as long as they are pleased and content. I also like the part where it mentions that kids already have high self esteem because they grow up thinking that they are special, which of course comes from the parents. So when it says that everyone gets wet of enough narcissism, we see this with the chidrens already worked on minds. I would also like to add that a couple of comments won't work into a child mind, rather the constant allabation towards their existence might.

A popular poster proclaims, 'The most important thing is how you see yourself,' above a picture of a small orange kitten looking in the mirror and seeing a large lion. Thus, this teaches, it is important to see yourself as much better -- bigger, stronger, more capable -- than you actually are. And maybe quite a bit better

The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean M. Twenge & W. Keith Campbell -This passage points out a large issue with Twenge and Campbell's argument in that they tend to hyperbolize the issue at hand. Throughout the argument, the authors take healthy self-esteem and blow it up into narcissism. This poster reference is a prime example of that. It is simply a poster about believing in yourself yet Twenge and Campbell see it as completely self-centered and self-consuming. Sure, the poster could be stretched to show what they are trying to argue but no one truly looks at that poster and thinks to themselves that they can be "much better" than they actually are -- just maybe a bit better.

I fancy that the answer is this. It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us. They give us an impression of sheer brute force, and we revolt against that. Sometimes, however, a tragedy that possesses artistic elements of beauty crosses our lives. If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are no longer the actors, but the spectators of the play. Or rather we are both. We watch ourselves, and the mere wonder of the spectacle enthralls us.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Not one blossom of his loveliness would ever fade. Not one pulse of his life would ever weaken. Like the gods of the Greeks, he would be strong, and fleet, and joyous. What did it matter what happened to the colored image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -Dorian, at this point, have given his soul to the pursuit of beauty in himself. Blasphemy and all, Dorian is beginning his slide into deep into malignant narcissism.

She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiselled lips curled in exquisite disdain. There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people who he has ceased to love. Sibyl Vane seemed to him to be absurdly melodramatic. Her tears and sobs annoyed him.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -For context, this is after Sibyl's performance where she is told that Dorian no longer loves her because she cannot act, even though she claims she cannot act because she's so in love. I think this really showcases how heartless Dorian is, but also some of his narcissistic traits, given that he only wants to be with her when she's perfectly presented to him and his friends, but when she has any feelings, it's annoying to him. Especially given what comes after this interaction between them, he really shows in this passage how he only cares about himself and his appearance.

'How sad it is!' murmured Dorian Gray, with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. 'How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. I will never be older than this particular day in June.. If only it were the other way! If I who was to be forever young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that- for that I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -I chose this passage because I think this is when we really start to meet the narcissistic Dorian Gray. He starts to see his true self in the painting and can't cope. He wants the image others perceive of him to be the image Dorian Gray has created for himself in his head. He wants to remain young and beautiful.

How sad it is!' murmured Dorian Gray, with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. 'How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. I will never be older than this particular day in June.. If only it were the other way! If I who was to be forever young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that— for that I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -I found this passage to be particularly helpful in the notion of mirroring Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Dorian is unable to even imagine when he is not young and considered "beautiful" and "youthful."

'Years ago, when I was a boy,' said Dorian Gray, 'you met me, devoted yourself to me, flattered me, and taught me to be vain of my good looks. One day you introduced me to a friend of yours, who explained to me the wonder of youth, and you finished a portrait of me that revealed to me the wonder of beauty. In a mad moment, that I don't know, even now, whether I regret or not, I made a wish. Perhaps you would call it a prayer ....

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -The choice of this passage beautifully surmises the text as a whole. It was tempting to choose one of many paradoxical assertions Lord Henry spouted off. Or the crudeness of Basil's intrusive dialogue. Rather, a crazed Dorian makes this remark to prelude his murderous actions (killing Basil). I like how the passage starts with Dorian claiming his boyhood. Insisting upon the theme of purity and innocence in youth. Where Basil is said to have ruined that delicacy by mere infatuation and flattery. Assisted by the catalyst of Dorian's vanity, Lord Henery. A long bout with narcissism and paradoxical outlooks on life lead Dorian to unparalleled turmoil and destruction. It is key to mention how Dorian contrast a wish from a prayer. Giving an emphasis on the delivery of his want. This attest to how Dorian was utterly entranced from the very beginning with his beauty and youth. As if he demanded he stay that way, no matter the tradeoff (selling his soul).

Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. Of course, they are charitable. They feed the hungry and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion—these are the two things that govern us. And yet—

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -This is where the change begins in Dorian Gray. This is when Lord Henry invites Dorian to realize the truth of his nature and forgo the governing structures that keep one moral. In fact, I think a lot of Chapter 2 could be used to represent this but this passage encapsulates Henry's broader philosophies very well in my opinion.

For years, Dorian Gray could not free himself from the memory of this book. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it. He procured from Paris no less than five large-paper copies of the first edition, and had them bound in different colors, so that they might suit his various moods and the changing fancies of a nature over which he seemed, at times, to have almost entirely lost control. The hero, the wonderful young Parisian, in whom the romantic temperament and the scientific temperament were so strangely blended, became to him a kind of prefiguring type of himself. And, indeed, the whole book seemed to him to contain the story of his own life, written before he had lived it

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -This part of the passage Dorian is starting to realize that his past could possibly come back and ruin the person that he is acting like he is and because of that he tries so hard to avoid it. He had not freed himself from the reality of how cruel he can really be. Dorian wants to erase his past and act as if he is a good person.

He looked round and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. He smiled and ran his finger along the blade. It was still wet.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde -This quote is towards the conclusion of the novel, when Dorian Gray has gone insane and must face the results of his deeds. His complete lack of regret and empathy is highlighted by the horrifying description of him grinning as he touches the bloody knife. It also serves to highlight the violence and depravity that had been hiding beneath Dorian's endearing façade throughout the book. This quote emphasizes the novel's major themes, particularly the dangers of vanity, hedonism, and moral depravity. It also emphasizes the idea that genuine beauty and kindness must come from within and cannot be acquired through external methods. Dorian has evolved into a hideous character at the book's conclusion, driven insane by his own ambition and incapable of being saved.

He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direc tion. I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more. He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -I chose this part of the passage, towards the beginning of the story, because I feel like it highlights their relationship prior to being in the room with the yellow wallpaper and that her isolation is meant to "protect" her and make her better. Her husband controls her life and everything she does but refuses to listen to her. She's made to feel crazy by him regardless of how she improves or gets worse in terms of her mental health. Given the time this story came out and when it takes place, it makes sense but makes even more sense that he is a big stressor in her life, even if she doesn't really realize it.

Well, the Fourth of July is over! The people are all gone and I am tired out. John thought it might do me good to see a little company, so we just had mother and Nellie and the children down for a week. Of course I didn't do a thing. Jennie sees to everything now. But it tired me all the same. John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don't want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so! Besides, it is such an undertaking to go so far. I don't feel as if it was worth while to turn my hand over for anything, and I'm getting dreadfully fretful and querulous. I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time. Of course I don't when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone. And I am alone a good deal just now.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -I chose this passage from "The Yellow Wallpaper" because it shows how not to treat postpartum depression. The narrator was not taken seriously when she said she was sick, and the prescribed isolation for her "nervousness" deprived her of anything she enjoyed. Her husband's image as a doctor was more valuable than his wife's proper care; at her most vulnerable, he took her to a rural house and dropped her there. She fakes her true feelings around her husband because she doesn't trust his treatments (valid). However, in private (which is most of the time), she is anxious and depressed.

I lie here on this great immovable bed—it is nailed down, I believe—and follow that pattern about by the hour. It is as good as gymnastics, I assure you. I start, we'll say, at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it has not been touched, and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion. I know a little of the principle of design, and I know this thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition, or symmetry, or anything else that I ever heard of

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -If the yellow wallpaper is an allegory for depression, then this paragraph refers to the refusal of depression to follow a certain logical pattern. It shows her trying to make sense of her depression, and to find meaning in it. Her failure to come up with a definite conclusion of the pattern is an indicate of the hopelessness people suffering from depression encounter. It also makes me think of about the romanticization of depression and people who try to find something valuable, or do something substantiative by leveraging this medical condition, but ultimately fail.

It makes me tired to follow it. I will take a nap, I guess. I don't know why I should write this. I don't want to. I don't feel able. And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way-it is such a relief! But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -This particular passage is important because we see the consequences of how the main character is being treated. At the beginning of the text the narrator loves to write and find great joy in it, slowly we see her find something she once loved as too much effort. We also see how John has not helped her case and made it worse, he has alienated her not only socially from others, but mentally makes her feel like a burden. This passage is interesting because it seems like she still finds relief in writing at this point, I took this as her still being able to turn her mental health for the better which of course does not happen thanks to the treatment of those around her. While John thinks she is getting better because she has stopped complaining to him, but really she is further succumbing to depression. Not only does she not want to write or be active she now does not think herself capable which is important to her demise at the end. Gilman wanted to show how women can be affected by postpartum depression and expose the treatment that was available for women at the time and how many women suffer even more due to the ideas of men.

John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -This passage from The Yellow Wallpaper illustrates Jane's husband's tendency to dismiss any symptom that is not rationally based on logic to him. I chose this passage because this seed of doubt he plants within her results in her inability to trust her perception of reality. Her depression is clearly disrupting her way of life, yet John has not allowed her to process her grief in a healthy manner. He tries to tell her there is nothing wrong when there is obviously something wrong, he just refuses to acknowledge it. John constantly tells Jane what will make her feel better. He tells Jane she needs rest despite Jane knowing herself better than anyone. Even though it is her body and she is the one suffering he acts like he knows her emotions better than she does. John telling Jane there is nothing to suffer over is like telling her what she is experiencing isn't real. This constant discounting of her truth leads her not to know the difference between what is real and false. John causes Jane's depression to progress into psychosis.

But I must not think about that. The paper looks at me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had! There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -This passage from early in The Yellow Wallpaper I believe portrays some of the repeating motifs within the story of the inanimate seeming alive, something extraordinary. I feel like in my mind it the wallpaper is representing the narrator's depression, and by seeing a disgusted face in the wallpaper it is almost like she is looking within/back at herself.

This bed will not move! I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner -- but it hurt my teeth. Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horrible and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision!

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -This passage shows the desperation one feels when they are experiencing depression. It feels like entrapment, and this can be the source of the frustration that a depressed individual expresses. She describes this wallpaper in heinous ways, allowing the reader to see that she's in nearly constant discomfort. She is forced to look at this wallpaper all day, which also allows her to find everything wrong with it.

I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal -- having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition. I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus -- but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -This is the first time that the woman opens up about how she is truly feeling instead of stating things so matter-of-factly. It foreshadows what is to come throughout the story and a reason behind why her condition got so bad. It is an interesting point of comparison in the pressures that are placed on women and men within societal roles and the impact that plays on mental health which is an important theme throughout the story.

Our dreams are nothing more than wishes that we are looking to fulfill in our waking lives. Some of these wishes are relatively innocent, and in these cases our dreams picture the wish just as it is. However, there are other wishes that are so unacceptable to us (such as sexual or aggressive impulses that we can't admit to or act out) that our dreams have to censor them. Such unacceptable wishes are typically suppressed by the conscious waking mind but turn up in the dream in an unrecognizable and often bizarre way

Was Freud Right about Dreams after All? by Josie Malinowski -For this text, it is incredibly important to understand the previous literature -- specifically that of Freud. The text shows that there is a certain amount of validity in Freud's claims of the connection between thought suppression and our dreams. Yet where Freud's theory was based in speculation and lacked scientific explanation, this text summarized the scientific research proving the connection between thought suppression, the psychological processes at work, and the reappearance of suppressed thoughts in dreams. Where Freud failed, this text picked up the slack yet it was Freud's theory that prompted this particular inquiry to begin with.

..it has been found that people who are generally more prone to though suppression experience more dream rebound, and that suppressing a thought not only leads to more dreams about it, but also to more unpleasant dreams.

Was Freud Right about Dreams after All? by Josie Malinowski -I chose this because dream rebound has been happening to me for a long time. Throughout the whole day, a thought that i been trying not to think about or "suppressed" becomes relevant someway or another in my dream. Dreams also take different shape but are still based around that suppressed thought. I also think it's I'mportant to be aware that dream rebound is real and it might be the explanation to those weird intertwined dreams people have.

In some of my recent research, I found that people who generally try to suppress their thoughts not only dream about their emotional experiences from waking life more - in particular unpleasant situations - but also have worse sleep quality and higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression than others. In fact, we know now that suppressing thoughts is related to a whole host of mental health concerns.

Was Freud Right about Dreams after All? by Josie Malinowski -In the articles attempt to question Freud and prove/disprove his claims on dreams, this passage neatly cleans up any mess left by him. In an empirical fashion, the author gives a researched based answer to the phenomenon of dreams Freud pointed out. Or the suppression of "deviant" thoughts in waking life becoming the bane of our dreams. It is said that Freud did not hit the mark, rather he was onto something worth observing.

The first of these experiments was conducted by Daniel Wegner, who noticed that when we are trying hard to ignore or suppress a thought, it often just keeps coming back. He suggested that this is because we have to psychological processes at work at the same time when we try to suppress a thought: an operating process that actively suppresses it, and a monitoring process that keeps an eye out for the suppressed thought. Thought suppression is therefore complicated and can only be achieved when the two processes are working together harmoniously. Wegner suggested that these processes might fail during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. During REM sleep parts of the brain that are needed for thought suppression - such as those involved in attention, control, and working memory- are deactivated. We know that a large number of our dreams come from REM sleep, so Wegner hypothesized that we would see a lot of suppressed thoughts making a reappearance in dreams.

Was Freud Right about Dreams after all? by Josie Malinowski -I chose this passage from "Was Freud Right?" because the idea of suppressed thoughts reappearing was a new concept for me when I first read this. The mind is a powerful entity, and connections between dream content and mental well-being could be utilized to self-monitor our I would like to look more into how our suppressed thoughts infect our minds when we aren't conscious.