What is reality? By definition, it is the world or the state of the world as it actually exists, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. The subconscious, however, is a powerful thing, and with that, a person would be able to imagine a wide array of things, and that in itself, could be their reality. What in the brain allows a person to separate reality and fantasy? How much of a role does reality play until a person’s own imagination stimulates inner-change? Tony Kushner’s Angels in America explores this very question as a play full of great imagination and a peculiar loss of touch with reality. Harper and Prior must embrace their always-changing fantasies in the play to affect a progress in their selves, towards an improvement of the mind and physical situation. Some fantasies delicately oscillate between nightmare and informative visions, displaying the many ways the subconscious hinders or aids one on the path to self-improvement.
The opening scene of the play Millennium Approaches establishes the necessity for progress through physical and mental anguish. Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz eulogizes Louis’s grandmother, Sarah Ironson’s, and commends those who have bettered their lives through their physical migration. The Rabbi praises the people who “crossed the oceans, who brought with us to America the villages of Russia and Lithuania . . . [who] carried the old world on her back across the ocean,” (1:16). Though seemingly discussing immigrants, he intently speaks of those who use progress as a means of coping with the despondency of past lives. Clearly, the ones who move forward with full realization of their pasts are the brave and noble ones; their long and perilous journeys towards the future, whether involving p...
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...n joined with the very real history of the past.
The different types of fantasies often converge at a point where subconscious releases its true inner-workings and desires. Certain emotions and realizations locked deep in the mind are oftentimes comprehended when tragedy occurs, forcing one to internally deal with outside catastrophes. By redefining the notion of “insanity” and a “loss of touch with reality,” more and more people are able to realize that the line between the real world and the visceral world is very fine. When a problem strikes, the mind has a natural response: fight or flight. Whatever the response, a certain mental exercise is embarked upon and the body responds to tragedy is any way it knows. Kushner demonstrates how fantasy and reality unite to effect change in a person, resulting in a true progress forward, towards a better and happier life.
This chapter is composed of concepts that try to differentiate between reality and what is actually happening in your mind, and are we living in a matrix? The Vats and Demons idea creates a vivid
The almighty American dream, commonly misconceived as the property of those who reap great materialistic wealth, has been analyzed and sought after through generations. However, this dream, “could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country” (Goldberg), and the numerous success stories of impoverished beings proves this. This subjectiveness stems from the great diversity within human nature and the variation of goals and pleasures. The characters in novels such as The Glass Castle, To Kill a Mockingbird and the play, The Crucible, act to portray several attempts towards achieving this dream. Ultimately, the almighty American Dream manifests itself through the novels as the desire to accomplish stability and content within one’s
In her story, “Greenleaf”, the author Flannery O’Conner shows us that people can sometimes blind their factual vision of the world through a mask of dreams, so that they would not be able to make a distinction between reality and their dreams of reality. O’Conner unveils this through the use of point of view , character, irony, and
Everyone, at some time in life, will experience fear. But, often fantasies are created in one's mind to escape that fear. Ethan Frome uses his fantasy as an escape to the entrapment of his marriage and the fear of public condemnation.
In the onset of the play, Kushner establishes the theme of progress as a central component of his story by having Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz, while conducting a funeral service, relate the tale of Sarah Ironson’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean. After discussing her struggle “for [her] family, for the Jewish home”(16), the proctor continues by expressing his belief that “such Great Voyages in this world do not any more exist”(16). Though, in our initial experience with this theme, Rabbi Chemelwitz argues that people can no longer make “voyages”, meaning progress, the actions and thoughts purported throughout the extent of the play by multiple characters counteract this belief and demonstrate what it means to make progress in a modern context. Prior, the prophet, when he addresses a committee of angels in his visit to Heaven, vocalizes his impression of what the human experience is: “We’re not rocks—progress, migration, motion is…modernity. It’s a...
What is reality? This is the question Philip K. Dick poses in his book, Time Out of Joint. Dick strategically uses literary devices such as narrative structure and symbolism in order to comment on one’s perception of what is real, and what is fiction. By making “time out of joint” and allowing a shift in moral power within his novel, Dick exposes the feelings of paranoia and insecurity that were experienced during the fifties, when Dick wrote this novel, but implies that there is hope that peace can still be attained.
The novel explores the predatory nature of human existence. It explores loneliness, isolation and friendship. A major theme is that of the illusionary nature of 'Dreams'. In particular, 'The American Dream'.
The mind is a very powerful tool when it is exploited to think about situations out of the ordinary. Describing in vivid detail the conditions of one after his, her, or its death associates the mind to a world that is filled with horrific elements of a dark nature.
Imagination and reality are often viewed as opposites. People are told to stop playing pretend and to face reality like an adult. However, in Alison Gopnik’s short story, “Possible Worlds: Why Do Children Pretend,” she discusses counterfactuals and how humans of all ages experience these counterfactuals. Gopnik’s definition of a counterfactual is the product of hope and imagination, also known as the woulda-coulda-shouldas of life. These counterfactuals include all the possible scenarios that could have happened in the past and all that could happen in the future. Scientists have proven that knowledge and imagination go hand in hand and without imagination, pretend, and fantasy there would be no science or opportunity for change. In the text, Gopnik explains how even babies are capable of
The power within the mind provides people with the opportunity to create an illusion of one’s life. These illusions sprout from dreams that often are unobtainable, as they strive to reach perfection in life which is known to be impossible. The mind crafted images provide people with an outlet to escape the terrifying truth of reality. Shielding oneself from reality is only a temporary solution, and can create social struggles as well as tension. The struggle between wanting to live in a fantasy of dreams to escape the world, and accepting the hardships of reality has existed in society since the beginning of time. Tennessee Williams demonstrates that many fall into the temptation to escape reality by living in an imagination where truth and responsibilities are neglected in his novel The Glass Menagerie.
Imagine being a young girl dreaming of becoming a woman and flying like a super hero over your neighborhood, seeing everything that happens at night. Then, you wake up to realize you are still a young girl sleeping in your room with white “princess” furniture. This is part of the narrator’s dream in the story “Volar” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, but what exactly does this dream mean? Many details can be interpreted by analyzing the character and theme, both by using the reader response approach and the psychological approach made, mostly developed by Sigmond Freud’s theories.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
Through the use of insanity as a metaphor, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, William Blake, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, introduced us to characters and stories that illustrate the path to insanity from the creation of a weakened psychological state that renders the victim susceptible to bouts of madness, the internalization of stimuli that has permeated the human psyche resulting in the chasm between rational and irrational thought, and the consequences of the effects of the psychological stress of external stimuli demonstrated through the actions of their characters.
The idea of people playing pretend and using their imagination may sound silly, but it is in fact not. Imagination has the potential to be used as a utensil. It can used to create multiple universes with diverse outcomes and possibilities. These are what we call counterfactuals. These thoughts are the woulda-coulda-shouldas. “What if I did…?” “I wonder what my life would have been like if…” The list goes on and on. You can use counterfactual thinking to think ahead in the future to plan out your next actions, look into your past to see what you could have done differently or to even watch your present self. In this essay, I argue that imagination and counterfactual thinking can be used as a means to problem solving because counterfactual thinking
The classic stories “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll consist of dreamlike adventures in a crazy world of nonsense. However this nonsense can be deciphered into a complex new system of thinking. This way of thinking can be transferred and directly applied to the mind. How the mind works, its many varying functions, and lastly the unconscious mind can all be tied to Alice. The unconscious mind can be compared to Alice, as can a dreamlike state of mind.