Madness in Post-War US Writing

The narrator builds a case of his sanity for the longest time. But the idea of the mind builds to where he is stuck in hatred for one item of a pleasant old man that annoyed the narrator that leads to his mind showing some illnesses. But does this mental illness show weakness or is it a sophistical mind of a genius? This was the major question that is under tremendous debate amongst this idea. Through many discussions of Poe’s ways of writing this short story it lends hand to an idea that Poe might be expressing both views of the subject of mental illness.

Quickly, curiosity invites the reader to discover what could be so terrible that would cause a person such great affliction. This story is a classic example of Poe’s writing. One could surmise the afflictions Poe’s experienced in his own life were reflected in the character Roderick. Works Cited Fall of the House of Usher, The http://www.online-literature.com/poe/31/

Post-war Insanity “This is a novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet Tralfamadore, where the flying saucers come from.” Insanity is a major theme in Kurt Vonnegut’s life and in turn his novels tend to be a release for his thoughts of mental illness. Vonnegut’s characters tend to embody him or at least characteristics of himself. His characters generally suffer from mild insanity and therefore hints that Vonnegut himself is possibly mildly insane. In each of his novels there are characters that are highly related to Vonnegut such as Kilgore Trout, Billy Pilgrim, and Eliot Rosewater. Each of these characters appear in different novels to help develop the plot and continue the relative theme.

In... ... middle of paper ... ...reader to gain inside thought into how bad the mental condition is affecting him as his behavior allows for further indication of craziness as a result from the schizophrenia. The evidence presented in this play for the scientific explanation of this literary classic is quite prominent as it gives an insight into what a schizophrenic acts, thinks, and behaves like. Works Cited Adams, Gordon. “To thine own self be true”. American University, 2012.

He describes the killing as helping himself by ‘rid myself of the eye for ever’. Poe focused more on the psychology of his characters and he often turned them into madness. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of Poe’s most famous short stories, just as well as being one of the classics of the gothic genre. In the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the common elements of a gothic story are viewable from the very beginning. One of the earliest sentences is “why will you say that I am mad?” and this gives a kick into the direction of people’s fear of insanity and evilness.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson This novella, although unapparent, is intertwined with many allegorical undertones. Stevenson uses the book to criticise Victorian society and its hypocritical existence. The most significant thematic concern of the novella is the continually revisited theme of the duality of man and the camouflaged evil that lies deep within the human race. Stevenson was writing before the period in which the great psychologist Sigmund Freud was researching the human mind, so in some ways Stevenson was ahead of his time in resolving the 'mystery of the mind'. Stevenson's novella, after being added to by his wife on the book's revision, contained much evidence of these theories of the human psyche.

The Romantic and Gothic eras of literature were ages of exploring the dark inner workings of the mind beyond rational reason.The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Imps of the Perverse " by Edgar Allan Poe delve into the effects of irrational actions fueled by characters ' emotions which often lead to drastic unintended consequences and obstruct the characters from paths to self-advancement ultimately leaving readers to question the true enemy of man: the mind. While the outside world can be a hostile environment filled with predators and disease, the mind and heart still prove to be the most deadly enemy to the cold advancement of men and women alike. Nathaniel Hawthorne intended for his novel to be a Romance novel where he could explore

Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories consist of horror, death, and emotional theories. His literary works are based on his personal background with his own fears stated in the article Poe’s the cask of Amontillado by Roger Platizky identified, “Montresor's obsession with the revenge fifty years after the act, Poe's own fear of premature burial, and the cultural fear of live interment complicate” used in the short story The Cask of Amontillado “psychological and historical ways” (Platizky) and portraying similar characteristics in the narrators of his stories. Nevertheless, Poe is considered a manic depressant, he frequently wrote while under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Perhaps this kind of behavior could explain why he used such depressed detail in his writing of things he feared in real life. The stories explain his focus on exactly how fixated behavior has a negative concern on narrator or central character in finding death and fear that manipulates their life by the end of each story like in the short stories The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Cask of Amontillado.

Edgar Allen Poe: A 19th Century Genius or Literary Lunatic? Confusion, fear, wonderment, shock and horror—just a few words of many to describe the emotions Edgar Allen Poe’s tales are known to elicit. Critics say that Poe was well ahead of his time in his ability to examine the human psyche and create characters that really make the reader think, if not recoil in horror. One particular theme Poe quite often repeats is that of madness and insanity. He is known for his wonderfully twisted tales involving such characters as an unstable brother with a mysterious ailment (The Fall of the House of Usher,) a methodical murderer (The Tell-Tale Heart,) and an enraged, revenge seeking, homicidal maniac (The Cask of Amontillado.)

The Red baron realistically portrays the misguided notions that war is somehow noble, but as the story progresses the reality and horror of war reveals itself The works of Richard Gabriel and George Mosse contribute to the argument. Gabriel argues from a psychological standpoint. He proposes that throughout history, war has always been so horrible. In fact the ability of man to endure the psychological impact of this horror is so low that most soldiers that survive are in some way mentally damaged by the experience. Mosse argues that the idealization or romanticization of war can be traced back to how war is portrayed by writers and how it influences idealist.