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When Daru, a French schoolteacher, is forced to take in an Arab accused of murder, his mind suffers from paranoiac delusions. Daru’s doubts about the mental soundness of the Arab leave him feeling abnormally isolated and persecuted by unknown enemies. In “The Teacher” by Arnold Shiller, paranoia forms a self-imposed isolation and creates mental instability.
Living in an isolated region of a French colony, possibly Algeria, Daru does not feel alone. As a schoolteacher, his current state of solitude is created by a snowstorm, a force of nature he cannot control. Daru is aware of the people suffering from the snowstorm, such as his students, and constantly mulls over their situation to entertain himself. Though Daru lives in a remote schoolhouse, this harsh region is home to him because “Everywhere else, he felt exiled” (54). Though physically removed from people, Daru is mentally close and awaiting their return after the snowstorm ends. He cannot be isolated because humanity still envelops his home.
Daru’s paranoia emerges when his friend Balducci brings an Arab accused of murder to his schoolhouse. Daru immediately notices the unpleasant aspects of the Arab, such as his huge lips, feverish eyes, and rebellious look, but he still unties the hands of the Arab with some compassion. When Balducci announces that Daru must deliver the Arab to Tinguit, Daru is surprised and reluctant to do so because it violates his principles. But Balducci’s paranoia begins to infect Daru, and when Daru asks “’Is he against us?’”, Balducci replies with “’I don’t think so. But you can never be sure’” (56). Daru suddenly feels wrathful towards the Arab and all men for their spite, hates, and lusts, isolating himself from others through this new hatred. Thus, Daru silently accepts the pistol that Balducci hands over to him, realizing that it could be of use in the future, possibly for murder. Daru’s flash of wrath passes quickly, though, and he stands fast on his resolution not to hand over the Arab, preferring to insult Balducci rather than violate his beliefs. Once Balducci leaves, Daru feels isolated, though the Arab sits on the floor, because he is afraid of the Arab who, “without stirring, never took his eyes off him” (58). This paranoiac isolation makes Daru stick the revolver in his pocket as a confirmation of his fear, similar to Oedipa Maas’ useless search for human companionship as a confirmation of her isolation.
According to Klasco (2011), psychological disorders "are abnormalities of the mind that result in persistent behavior patterns" that can have an impact on daily tasks and life in general. There are many different groups of psychological disorders, one of those being anxiety disorders, which King (2013) states features "motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts" (p. 448). There are also many subgroups of anxiety disorders, including phobic disorders, in which agoraphobia is included in. Agoraphobia is considered a panic disorder because its’ ability to limit people from doing their daily activities.
The purpose of this book is to address the issues of seclusion from society. Christopher has plenty of opportunities but chooses to give it all up for life in the wilderness. “I had been granted unusual freedom and responsibility at an early age, for which I should have been grateful in the extreme, but I wasn’t.” p.148. “Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the great white north. No longer poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.” p.163. Christopher spends several years on the road.
Daru initiated the Arab morning commute from the schoolhouse an accompanies him on the road for several hours—Until the road divided into two directions. Daru hands him a package of food and money for two days. Daru turns the Arab around and points to two possible directions. If he goes east, he will reach the police headquarters and be punished. If he goes south, he will find the nomads, who will protect him in accordance with their laws of hospitality. Daru starts his return journey and turns to see which direction the Arab has chosen. In the end, given the choice between the road to the prisoner where he would surly be punished or the road to the nomads and freedom, the Arab chooses the road, toward the prison headquarters. Daru returns to his schoolhouse and finds a warning written on the blackboard: “You've handed over our brother. You will pay for this.”(Camus 109.)
Existentialist beliefs express the dilemma in life and again is shown by Daru not being able to decide what to do with the Arab, whether to go against his country, and let the Arab free to choose, or go against his morals, and turn him in, and all life comes to the crossroad dilemma between freedom and prison for the Arab.
Fear is an idea that almost everyone deals with in a lifetime. Terror is a shared emotion, but is provoked in different ways, such as spiders or clowns. A common fear is a fear of being alone physically or emotionally. Isolation in thought tends to grow this fear since original thoughts are difficult to explain if no one else has ever come to the same conclusions. Dr. Theodore Dalrymple in Romancing opiates deals with the same issue. Seeing life in a new perspective can lead to fear of self-validation, madness from being alone in one’s own ideas, and feeling ignored.
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
Cleckley, Hervey M. Introduction. The Mask of Sanity. New York: New American Library, 1982. N. pag. Web.
“At the University of California at Irvine, experiments in rats indicate that the brain’s hormonal reaction to fear can be inhibited, softening the formation of memories and the emotions they evoke” (Baard).
Imagine a teenage boy who is isolated on a faraway island, without food or water. The hot and sticky weather is intolerable, but the rampaging storms are worse. He quickly develops malaria and diarrhea, and on top of that, blood-sucking insects and menacing reptiles lurch beneath his feet. He has no idea what is coming, but he needs to survive. This is the story of a young boy who has to travel to the other side of the world to realize that everything can’t go his way.
The story provides many sources for the boy's animosity. Beginning with his home and overall environment, and reaching all the way to the adults that surround him. However, it is clear that all of these causes of the boy's isolation have something in common, he has control over none of these factors. While many of these circumstances no one can expect to have control over, it is the culmination of all these elements that lead to the boy’s undeniable feeling of lack of control.
Paranoid Personality Disorder is about behaviors of distrust and suspiciousness of other people and believe others’ motives are malevolent. As Shakespeare writes, “And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, With windlasses and with assays of bias, By indirections find directions out. So by my former lecture and advice, Shall you my son” (Shakespeare, 2.1.71-75). Polonius is talking to one of his servant, because Laertes is in France, and Polonius doesn’t trust his son and wants the servant to supervise Laertes. Instead of asking directly to Laertes about his life, Polonius chooses to let the servant “By indirections find direction out” which means let the servant to find how Laertes’ life is. According to the psychology disorder book DSM-V,
The story begins in Montreal, giving us a view of karim from the outside. he gets worked up the interest of girls, and the boys displeasure at this is tinged with give importance to divisions., however, we learn that the sustentation of these teaching room friends is
“Let It Snow” by David Sedaris is a short story that magnifies the extent in which children might go in order to grab the attention of their parents. It is simply short and it is full imagination that would help the reader what it feels to be a child. Sedaris first gives the reader a sense of imagery when he describes the snow storm that cancels school for him and his sisters. After the reader begins to reread he/she might think that the story will be about a snow day but it takes a sharp turn. The story focuses on the hurt and neglect in which the Sedaris and his siblings went through with their drunken mother with the absence of their father. After being kicked out into the cold by their mother, the children are left to think about their relationship with their parents that has been left in the cold. The writer begins to express his feelings towards his parents, especially his mother by providing various details that keep the reader emotionally interested in the story. To the reader it might seem that story is about the children but it is actually focus on the mother. Also Sedaris did an
Albert Camus’ The Guest revolves around the notions of moral justification and solitude with the underlying themes of absurdism and nihilism. Camus personifies absurdism through the protagonist, Daru–whether Daru makes the decision to release the prisoner to freedom or delivers the Arab prisoner into prison does not matter, since Daru allows the prisoner to choose, and the prisoner chooses to be imprisoned. There is also a sense of uncertainty of moral justification–how is one justified in one’s choice of action and on what scale is the justification based on, which is essentially the foundation of Daru’s dilemma. With the internal confliction of Daru’s personal beliefs against abiding superior authority, Daru is faced with two moral dilemmas:
The narrator continues with describing his resentment towards his home life, 'Coming home was not easy anymore. It was never a cinch, but it had become a torture (2).'; This excerpt provides the reader with an understanding of the sorrow that the protagonist feels at the beginning of the novel and throughout the first half. Further narration includes the protagonists feelings of distance from the land and blame that he places upon himself, 'But the distance I felt came not from country or people; it came from within me (2).'; Thus, as the reader, we understand that the narrator has removed himself from the land and his culture.