The Lines Between Sanity And Insanity - 1064 Words

The lines between sanity and insanity are commonly tested in young adult literature. Shown to be entirely based on individual perception, sanity or insanity attempt to form a reflection of the characters’ personalities. In society, as shown in the novels, people are often too quick to write off nonconformist as crazy or insane. Girl, Interrupted and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest both illustrate how society’s stern view cause them to treat mental illness unethically and take away from individualism. Minds may be altered through prescribed medication until they are faded husks of what they once were, As seen in both Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, those who do not conform to society are shunned and their personalities, the very things that make them individuals, are broken. The patients in both of these novels either become more paranoid or drugged into a nearly unconscious state. Personalit ies and individualism is lost at the hands of unethical and ineffective medications and procedures to fix the diagnoses of itchy-handed doctors. Minds may be altered through prescribed medication until they are faded husks of what they once were. Those who don’t fall into social norms are out casted and quickly written off as crazy or insane. They are placed into institutions in an attempt to fix them or in other words remove them from society until they are acceptable. At the start of the novels the reader has a fairly set opinionShow MoreRelated Explication of Emily Dickinsons I Felt a Funeral in My Brain873 Words   |  4 Pagesintense anguish and suffering as they sink into a state of extreme madness. The poem is a carefully constructed analysis of the speakers own mental experience. Dickinson uses the image of a funeral-service to symbolize the death of the speakers sanity. The poem is terrifying for the reader as it depicts a realization of the collapse of ones ment al stability, which is horrifying for most. The reader experiences the horror of the speakers descending madness as the speakers mind disintegratesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Hamlet - Sanity Vs. Insanity1742 Words   |  7 PagesMrs. Joyner Sanity VS. Insanity â€Å"Hamlet represents the mid period of the growth of Shakespeare s genius, when comedy and history ceased to be adequate for the expression of his deeper thoughts and sadder feelings about life, and when he was entering upon his great series of tragic writings† (The World s Best Essays from the Earliest Period to the Present Time). Hamlet’s actions are entirely too extreme for him to be faking his insanity. Hamlet is constantly on the brink of insanity, or so it seemsRead MoreArgumentative Essay On The Fall Of The House Of Usher1169 Words   |  5 Pagesbuilding, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit†(paragraph 1 lines 6-7). Poe starts with how the house makes the narrator feel a depression, or a gloom, that he can’t shake. Poe then goes on to the physical description by detailing, â€Å"... the simple landscape features of the domain- upon the blank walls- upon the vacant eyelike windows- upon a few rank sedges- and upon a few while trunks of decayed trees...†(paragraph 1 lines 11-14). The Usher mansion strongly resembles a haunted house. In modernRead MoreEssay on Insanity: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe1165 Words   |  5 Pagesenigmatic and veiled narrator. The storyteller makes us believe that he is in full control of his mind yet he is experiencing a disease that causes him over sensitivity of the senses. As we go through the story, we can find his fascination in proving his sanity. The narrator lives with an old man, who has a clouded, pale blue, vulture-like eye that makes him so helpless that he kills the old man. He admits that he had no interest or passion in killing the old man, whom he loved. Throughout the story, theRead MoreEssay about â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† 1448 Words   |  6 Pagesregarding the murder of the old man. Moreover, he makes us believe that he is in full control of his mind but yet suffering from a disease that causes him over acuteness of the senses. As we go th rough the story, we can find his obsession in proving his sanity. The narrator lives with an old man, who has a clouded, pale blue, vulture-like eye that makes him so vulnerable that he kills the old man. He confesses that there was no interest, no passion whatsoever in killing the old man, whom he loved. ThroughoutRead MoreCosi Essay Dale Tilley1643 Words   |  7 Pagesof Love, Fidelity, Sanity and Insanity in Cosi? In the play Cosi Louis Nowra challenges the important themes of love, fidelity, sanity and insanity within a range of dramatic techniques. Cosi is set in Melbourne, during the early 1970’s. Numerous political and radical events were occurring. The Vietnam War protest was raging, the sexual revolution was rolling, and mental illness was still misunderstood and mistreated. Due to these contexts, love, fidelity, sanity and insanity are big issues thatRead MoreGirl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen1305 Words   |  6 PagesConformity: A Precondition of Sanity Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting â€Å"normal†. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’sRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Mark Twains Letter To Twicher, Hartford945 Words   |  4 Pageskeep the reader interested. He emphasizes that the only way the murdering of innocent people can stop is by silence. Mark Twain mocks people based on their sanity and insanity and creates a division between the sane and insane people. Twain creates this border by saying that everyone has moments of insanity, but once they pass the sanity line and stay there for a while, they are considered dangerous. One example of him calling people insane is when he uses exaggeration and says that the people areRead MoreEssay - Reconciliation779 Words   |  4 Pagesthe story you could ask yourself; what is sanity? And where do we draw the line from a person being sane, to a person being insane? The question about sanity is a valid subject to discuss after reading â€Å"Reconciliation†, because the main character and narrator Laura seems to be quite strange and she doesn’t seem to know how to interact with other people. These things are shown very early on – as well as the first small signs of her being on the edge of sanity. At first she forgets to bring proper footwearRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart957 Words   |  4 Pagesemphasis on his personal life and personal insanity, we get a glimpse inside the world that might be our own minds as well as stories that teach us life lessons as well as make our blood curdle and ponder over the deep emotions of Poe’s life. Stories such as the Tell-Tale Heart teach us of these life lessons. In this story the narrator attempts pleas of sanity by disclosing his meticulous plans for killing the old man convince the reader of his insanity. Through various methods that Poe uses; emotional