More handpicked essays just for you.
Psychoanalytic criticism in English literature essay
Psychoanalytic literary critique
The strength and weakness of psychoanalysis in literary theory
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Psychology in Catch-22
Catch-22 is a black comedy novel about death, about what people do when faced with the daily likelihood of annihilation. For the most part what they do is try to
survive in any way they can. The book begins, 'The island of Pianosa lies in the Mediterranean Sea eight miles south of Elba.' That is the geographical location of the
action. Much of the emotional plot of the book turns on the question of who's crazy, and I suggest that it is illuminating to look at its world in Kleinian terms. The
location of the story in the inner world is the claustrum - a space inside the psychic anus, at the bottom of the psychic digestive tract, where everyone lives
perpetually in projective identification, and the only value is survival. If one is expelled from the claustrum, there are only two places to go: death or psychotic
breakdown (Meltzer, 1992). What people do in these circumstances is to erect individual and institutional defences against the psychotic anxieties engendered by
unconscious phantasies of the threat of annihilation. These defences are extreme, utterly selfish and survivalist.
In certain institutional settings they are erected against death itself and correspond to what Joan Riviere called in her essay 'On the Genesis of Psychical Conflict in
Early Infancy' (1952), 'the deepest source of anxiety in human beings' (1952, p. 43). She suggests 'that such helplessness against destructive forces within is
ubiquitous and constitutes the greatest psychical danger-situation known to the human organism...' (ibid.). Isabel Menzies Lyth argues that these anxieties are
re-evoked in the work of nurses, where death is present and imminent. 'The objective situation confronting the nurse bears a striki...
... middle of paper ...
...titutions under duress. 'That's my trouble, you know,' Yossarian mused sympathetically, folding his arms. 'Between me and every ideal I always find
Scheisskopfs, Peckems, Korns and Cathcarts. And that sort of changes the ideal.'
'You must try not to think of them,' Major Danby advised affirmatively, 'And you must never let them change your values. Ideals are good, but people are
sometimes not so good. You must try to look up at the big picture.'
Yossarian rejected the advice with a sceptical shake of his head. 'When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people
cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy.' (435)
...'From now on I'm thinking only of me.'
'But Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way.'
'Then I'd be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?' (p. 436, cf. pp. 58, 102)
Catch-22 follows the protagonist, Yossarian’s experience during WWII. However, the book is nowhere near chronological and jumps from different time periods of Yossarian’s service in the military. The novel depicts many events of where Yossarian
This fear of the unknown is similar to the one shown in Gordon Grice’s essay, “The Black Widow.” In his essay, Grice explains how his fear of black widow made him curious about them. He once feared black widows because most people associated black widows as deadly animals that kill people. However, once Grice said, “I fell, hands first, into a mass of young widows … In about ten minutes my arms carried nothing but old web and the husks of spiderlings eaten by their sibs. I have never been bitten” (47). This revelation for Grice shows that black widows aren’t what he had thought them to be, but in fact mostly harmless to humans. “We want the world to be an ordered room, but in a corner of that room there hangs an untidy web. Here the analytical
Before he takes off, Danby asks Yossarian how he feels, to which he responds, “fine. No, I‘m very frightened,” and Danby replies, “that’s good… It proves you’re still alive” (463). This reminder brings back the point of Snowden’s message: “man was matter… The spirit gone, man is garbage” (450). Still alive, still full of spirit and courage, Yossarian makes the jump to protect his honor and that of his fellow men, which truly marks his heroism. Despite his escapist characteristics, Yossarian’s actions upon the illogic he encounters in the novel highlight his heroic qualities, as does his harboring concern for the well-being of others throughout his experiences. Yossarian proves his worth as a hero through his logic, compassion and, in the end, even self-sacrifice for the sake of justice.
In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this ignorance that apparently fueled the cycle of corruption and immorality on “The Silent Planet.” Using the character Ransom to reveal the effect of memory and morality on fear, C.S. Lewis demonstrates that fear is a quality of the “bent” race (humans), and only by eliminating fear in our lives can the human race become hnau.
Pattanik, Dipti R. "The Holy Refusal': A Vedantic Interpretation of J.D. Sallinger's Silence." Melus 23.2, (Summer 1998): 113, (15). Ebsco.
It reflects trust, intimacy, and responsibility, which are elements essential to any nursing relationship. It is the core of nursing. In the article, “Dimensions of Caring: A Qualitative Analysis of Nurses’ Stories”, an analysis was done on over two hundred stories submitted by nurses around the world, illustrating the point that the practice of nursing encompasses much more than just technical skills. In one of the stories, a nurse stood by the side of a young mother grieving the loss of her baby with nobody else to turn to. This nurse accompanied the 19 year old mother to the cemetery the day after the baby’s death, New Year’s Eve, to bury her baby that had been born at just 22 weeks gestation. She bought her a book on grieving and loss and supported the woman during that difficult time. This nurse did not have to do that—she did not have to go above and beyond for this stranger. But she did. She felt empathy and compassion for this woman and she acted on that. That is what nursing is about, going above and beyond, making emotional investments into the lives of other people. The significance of the actions of this nurse cannot be overstated. We will never know the full impact that this nurse made on that young woman’s life; perhaps she saved her life, or changed the direction of it for the
Catch-22 is one of the most poorly constructed, and distasteful books I’ve ever read. It’s order of events, or lack of order, becomes clear after the very first chapter. In fact “It doesn’t even seem to have been written; instead it gives the impression of having been shouted onto paper” (Stern 50). By the middle of the book it seems every character in the book has lost any sense of morality they may have seemed to have. The novel “gasps for want of craft and sensibility” (Stern 50).
Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. "The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By." Psychology Today (2012).
Parfit uses a famous case of division (or fission), as imagined by Wiggins (1967), to illustrate his claim that identity is not what matters in survival. When A’s brain is split into two parts, each housed within two separate, brainless bodies (B and C) it seems that we have three options. We either believe that:
The nursing profession is formed upon the Hippocratic practice of "do no harm" and an ethic of moral opposition to ending another human’s life. The Code of Ethics for nurses prohibits intentionally terminating any human life. Nurses are compelled to provide ease of suffering, comfort and ideally a death that is coherent with the values and wishes of the dying patient, however; it is essential that nurses uphold the ethical obligations of the profession and not partake in assisted suicide. (King, 2003)
This paper is a first attempt at forming and articulating my own philosophy of nursing.
A nurse’s role in our society today is exceptionally significant. Nurses are somewhat idolized and looked to as our everyday “superman”. “The mission of nursing in society is to help individuals, families, and groups to determine and achieve physical, mental, and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work” (“The Role of a Nurse/Midwife”). Many Americans turn to nurses for delivery of primary health care services and health care education (Whelan). In our country, there is constantly someone in need of health care. There will always be a baby being born or a person dying, someone becoming ill or growing old. Some people due to their physical and/or mental state of health are completely dependent on a nurse and wouldn’t be able to get through the simple obstacles of every day, or achieve the necessary requirements of a simple day without their aid. Not only do nurses help, and assist you when you’re sick, but also act to promote good health to others. They end...
Nursing is a medical profession that involves the care and management of patients majorly in the hospital setting. This paper seeks to illustrate the fact that nursing is both a science and an art. Nursing is a science because it involves evidence based practice, education of the public, lifelong learning for the nurse and administrative roles that are allocated to the nurses. Nursing is also an art because nurses depend on intuition, have the capacity to promote positive change, are understanding and culturally sensitive.
Nursing is more than merely a job, an occupation, or a career; it is a vocation, a calling, a frame of mind and heart. As a nurse, one must value the general good of others over his own. He must devote of himself nobly to ensure the well-being of his patient. However, today’s well-recognized nurses are notably different from nurses of the recent past. Service is the core of the nursing profession, and the essential evolution of the vocation reflects the ever-changing needs of the diverse patient population that it serves. As a profession, nursing has evolved progressively, particularly in its modernization throughout the past two centuries with the influence of Florence Nightingale. The field of nursing continues to grow and diversify even today, as nurses receive greater medical credibility and repute, as its minority representations
One of the most poignant statements that I have heard during my tenure in nursing school is that “Nurses are often the first person that an infant sees at birth and the last person that a patient sees upon death.” Nurses have contact with patients recurrently along this continuum of life, now more than ever. This is due to the world’s aging population and the correlating factor of higher patient acuity (Larson, 2013). This frequent and close contact with nurses has fostered a sense of trustworthiness in the minds of U.S. citizens. This is evidenced by a recent Gallup Poll which listed nurses as the most honest and ethical professionals in America (www.galluppoll.com, 2015). Nurses have the challenging task of providing this trust-worthy,