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Reviewed literature about the effects of stigma around mental illness people
The stigma of mental disabilities
Reviewed literature about the effects of stigma around mental illness people
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Do you strive or hope to be something that you aren't? Charlie Gordon is someone who knows what he wants. He is also a person who isn’t like everyone else and he doesn’t want to be different. In this story, there are also many times when Charlie feels upset and challenged, but he knows that he can work through those obstacles. He even says, “I’m not going to give up my intelligence without a struggle”. In “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes uses characterization to analyze the learning ability of Charlie Gordon.
When someone doesn't look or feel a certain way, they feel like they have to change so that they could fit in or not be so different. Society displays a big role in the thought of people changing the way they are. It makes people feel down about themselves and makes them self-conscious about their personality and their appearances. Keyes demonstrates
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Characterization is very important. It helps readers understand the characters’ personalities and complexities. Characterization can also be used to help the audience relate to the character or the issues going on with the character. I can connect to this story because I know someone who has mental retardation. Unlike Charlie she can’t talk like us, so we don’t really know what she is thinking. However we are pretty sure that she can't understand all the things that we can. Similar to Charlie she has had operations, but she has never had one that makes her smarter in any way. While I don't know how she feels, I think that many people shouldn’t stare or judge her because she is different. I wrote this essay to explain that you don't have to be smart or a certain way for people to like you. It is also to show thoughts and feelings of people like Charlie Gordon, who have mental disabilities. Is it good to be the same or should you stand
In both of these stories, the main characters are letting other people control who they really are inside. In the story, Out of my MInd, the main character Melody has a disability where she cannot walk, talk, and she can barely move her body, but this doesn’t affect how her brain learns. She wants to be able to run, walk, and talk just like all the other kids. She wants to have all of these things before she can accept who she really is. This is truly important because it shows the kids that read the book how important it is not to judge people based on if they have a disability or not.
One of the most interesting characteristics of Flannery O’Conners writing is her penchant for creating characters with physical or mental disabilities. Though critics sometimes unkindly labeled her a maker of grotesques, this talent for creating flawed characters served her well. In fact, though termed grotesque, O’Conners use of vivid visual imagery when describing people and their shortcomings is the technique that makes her work most realistic. O’Conner herself once remarked that “anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it will be called realistic.”
A second way Nusbaum supports her argument is by the way that she characterizes and personalizes many of the character’s narratives. Through the narratives of these characters she gives them normalized characteristics that show that the are not that different from “normal” people. “Normal” can be described as a socially constructed vision of what the average person should be like and include many things like a person being able to act on their own accord or a sense of autonomous thoughts. These constructed norms also include the way that people act within relationships and how able they are to interact with other people. These “normal” characteristics are given to many characters such as the relationship between, Teddy and Mia. Teddy and Mia both have physical disabilities but Teddy also has a minor mental disability. Despite these facts, they are able to conduct in a healthy loving relationship where they reciprocate feelings for each other that are sometimes not thought of coming from people with disabilities such as sexual desires to be with one another. Another person that shows many normal characteristics throughout the book is Yessenia Lopez, a girl who is physically disabled and must use a wheelchair. Her actions break many stereotypes and involve her getting into fist fights, starting a protest, and becoming sexually involved with a boy. These actions show a large sense of autonomy and show that she is capable of taking care of herself just as many other people with disabilities are. The way that Nusbaum distinctively gives each character “normal” traits speaks to show that people with disabilities are just that, “normal” people who happen to have
Similes in the story gives the readers insight of not only the fifth-grader but the adult too. “By the time school started that year, Eddy had a keloid like a piece of twine down the side of his face and a black patch he had to wear until he got his glass eye that stared in a fixed angle at the sky,” (Line 56-59). This quote has a simile, which shows how the fifth-grader feels about her cousin Eddy. The simile allows the readers to make a prediction that the fifth-grader and Eddy get along pretty well because the narrator never describes him as scary, mean, or distant. The simile effects the narrator’s characterization because it make the fifth-grader seem gentle and excited to be around people. The character is given characterization through similes. Similes are a key component to characterization because it allows readers to understand the narrator and character in the story. Figurative language is used throughout the story to characterize the adult narrator's memories in the
The search for one’s identity can be a constant process and battle, especially for teenagers and young adults. Many people have a natural tendency to want to fit in and be accepted by others, whether it be with family, friends or even strangers. They may try to change who they are, how they act, or how they dress in order to fit in. As one gets older, society can influence one’s view on what they should look like, how they should act, or how they should think. If society tells us that a certain body type or hair color is beautiful, that is what some people strive for and want to become in order to be more liked. This was especially true with Avery as she longed for the proper clothes to fit into a social group and began to change the way she spoke to match those around her. As a young and impressionable sixth grader, she allowed herself to become somewhat whitewashed in an attempt to fit in with the other girls. However, Avery did not really become friends with any of those girls; her only real friend was
Physical handicaps, for instance, does not lower the worth of that person compared to anyone else. For example, it is not fully revealed that Edna Poppy is blind until well into The Bean Trees. There are hints here and there presented throughout the novel, but Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz have no idea of her disability. Mind you, they weren’t assessing her to find out if there was anything wrong with her either. It isn’t exposed until Edna is alone at the grocery store without Virgie, who usually assists her around. Taylor notices Edna in the store and approaches her, only to learn that Edna had no idea if she had picked up limes, or lemons. It is then that Taylor notices her white cane, and realizes that her dreamy, glossy gaze that hovers above head makes sense now. In this moment she comes to understand why Virgie always announces everyone’s name that is in a room when they enter. After learning of Edna’s disability, Lou Ann and Taylor admit they are shocked. They had no idea. Edna just assumed they knew, and took it as a compliment when they confessed they did not. It is truly a breathtaking moment, symbolizing that not everyone in society is here to judge. There is still acceptance regardless of differences. It is important to focus on who a person is inside, rather than the outer shell, which is much too easy to judge. That is how an amateur seeks satisfaction; by amusing themselves through pointing out other’s
Taking a look at several of the characters in this story is a key way to see the impact that a lack of individuality can have. The first characters talked about in the story are George and Hazel Bergeron. Hazel is a very average human, but George on the other hand has several above average attributes. His intelligence is hindered by a radio that plays obnoxious sounds every few seconds. He also carried a bag of birdshot around his neck. However, the main handicap he deals with is the sounds. The transmitter destroys his ability to think and analyze events and ideas. One example is shown while they are watching the heavily handicapped and extremely average ballerinas. “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.” (Vonnegut 193) This quotation continues to show how the government is now in an all-powerful place. Anyone with the mental power to realize that the government was wrong would have a distraction that would make them abandon the thought. George and Hazel are the biggest example in the story about the heart breaking measures the government has taken against its citizens. They watch their son get taken away, are sad for a bit, and then forget about it like it was an unimportant event that happens every day. They see their son on television, notice it for a few seconds, and then due to loud noises and incompetency they forget about it. The most heartbreaking event of the story is when Harrison is shot by the Handicap General. George returns to the kitchen and notices Hazel had been crying. He questions her about it and she does not know why she cried in the first place. Vonnegut shows here how complete equality takes people away from their humanity and their ability to be human beings. Characterization plays a key role in several of the other
Everyone would love to be intelligent and get good grades and a good job, maybe even invent something new and get money from it. If you had a chance to raise your IQ score by three times what it is now, would you do the operation? Would you take the risk of dying, having mental disabilities, not knowing the consequences? Most people would love to get smarter, but they do not want to get harmed during the operation.
We all are unique in a different way; our body is different just like our face color. Thin, fat, thick, or over weight each one of us is different from everyone else, this is what make us individual. By changing your body it’s like taking away your identity and personality. The author suggest that plastic surgery is being done from one women pulled from exactly the same face structure and mostly they all look the same. Most people think when they get cosmetic surgery done they’re becoming in with their own ideas on what they wanted to look like, but if you really think about most people undergo surgery hoping to look better and to look way different that they use to. It is unfortunate because one shouldn’t feel the need or necessary to alter their face or body to look more beautiful or perfect. People should have a surgery to change their inside instead of outside. Most of the things we do are to feel included and to feel like someone is paying some attention to us. Society don’t really pay attention or care about that one fat girl who sits in the cafeteria by her self with a big nose and an ugly face, but that girl with a long hair, a perfect smile, and face structure is one that everyone remember. It is just so unfair and sad that society have to tell us what beautiful and what
The theme of isolation is utilized in writing to shape the principal characters and provide a particular vision on some crucial aspects of their identities. Authors such as Nancy Mairs in, “On Being a Cripple” Zora Neale Hurston in, “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” and Sherman Alexie in, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, offer us characterization to set the theme of isolation in their writing. In “On Being a Cripple” Mairs examines the public’s view of the disabled, as well as the views they have of themselves, and compare them to her own. In “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston discusses how she embraces being a girl of color in a world where people can be very discriminating. In “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Sherman talks about how reading and writing helped shape his life in a positive way. Every author has their own unique way to express isolation in their writing such as personal experience which provides creditability to the writing and further engages the reader.
However, some will argue that Christopher benefits from his mental state because he likes being alone and has a photographic memory. After finding out that Christopher is suffering from Asperger most will think the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” is about a boy who struggles with Asperger, but the main topic of the book is the difficulties of being a stranger or being different from others. The book gave a little bit of insight of how life can be different for someone with a disability, then for someone who doesn't. which is important to keep in mind that not everybody's the same and some have a special need while others don't. People with disabilities have a hard time understanding concepts and which might seem easy most. Also, it's a concept in life that people should learn because people are going to meet and interact with each other if they want to or if they don’t want to and it's critical to be able to handle different types of
Authors develop characters’ personalities in order to add depth to their story and allow readers to feel more connected to the characters. Beyond this, characterization also allows authors to develop the themes of their stories in a more clear manner. A prime example of this would be in the poem Judith, where the author contrasts Judith and Holofernes’ personalities in order to develop the major themes of heroism and having faith in God.
Society tends to misjudge people base on their appearances instead of their personality. As it’s shown on Cyrano de Bergerac story everyone misjudges people. Cyrano was ashamed of the way he looked, especially with his enormous nose that made him stand out. People didn’t care if Cyrano got his feelings hurt they thought he was a cruel person. Its bad when people tends to misjudge people without even knowing them but they just judge them by their looks instead of their personality. People shouldn’t be ashamed of the way they look and it shouldn’t stop them from accomplishing their goals and express their feelings towards the people they like.
In considering Charlie Wales plight in Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," I believe Charlie is a victim of his own success. As a successful businessman two times over he has burned many bridges behind him and for his well intentions he is blind to that continued fallacy. He does not seem to realize that the success he enjoys now is the envy that brought about Marion and Lincoln's contempt prior to Helen's death.
Susan Bordo states in her article “Never Just Pictures”, that children grow up knowing that they can never be thin enough. They are thought that being fat is the worst thing ever. The ones responsible for this are the media, celebrities, models, and fashion designers. All of these factors play a big role on the development of the standard and how people view themselves. Everyone at one dreams about being the best they can in any aspect. But to achieve that most believe that one of the big factors is outer beauty. So people look at celebrities and fashion designers, and believe that to be accepted they have to look like them. That’s when they take drastic measures to change their appearance because they’ve been influenced by the Medias idea of “beautiful.” This feeling mostly happens in women but in recent years the gender gap has become smaller. Now men also feel the need to look good because of the media. On the TV, instead of having infomercials ...