John Bradshaw, an American philosopher, educator, and consular, once said, "The idea of evil is always subject to denial as a coping mechanism." When confronted with evil, many people choose not to accept the reality of the situation and create their own instead, as a way of putting off the truth until one is "strong" enough to accept and confront it. In Tangerine by Edward Bloor, this attempt to reduce grief often just creates more suffering and hurt. Many characters were in denial which prevented them from achieving true and pure happiness.
Many residents of the Lake Windsor Downs community were in denial about the problems in their community, causing unhappiness and avoidable hardship. For example, after Mike Costello's death, a group
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For example, during the meeting about Erik and Arthur's thievery, Joey called Paul to ask if Paul knew where Arthur was. Paul answered by saying, " He's right here." (Bloor 281) And invited Joey to tell the police Arthur's location. Paul has noticed that denying Erik and Arthur's behavior and letting it slide the two had just been able to hurt more and more families and individuals. By tipping the police, Paul is trying to break this loop and bring Erik and Arthur to justice. Paul hoped that by doing this he will end the circle of pain and suffering. Breaking this loop will also be a way to cleanse Paul of all guilt for not expecting the truth sooner, bringing him to a state of full of happiness and without guilt. After the police arrest, Arthur Paul is asked to write up a witness report. "I started with the basic facts, a paragraph or two, but I couldn't stop there."(Bloor 302) Paul has now had a taste of this happiness and enlightenment and wants to share this feeling with everyone. He wrote the whole truth no gaps no missing pieces that way the truth could be spread and in turn, so would happiness. Happiness cannot be achieved through denial and false realities. It can only be found through the
... to jail. He moved away, and the distance between us seemed to grow bigger and bigger” (280). The reader is left pondering the good character of Steve, the bad friends he spent time with, the doctoring of his testimony, and the information that Steve provided us hinting both at his guilt and at his innocence. We are comfortable with the fact that he has been let free, but has been warned. If he were involved in the crime, at least he may have learned his lesson through his time in prison and on trial. If he were not involved in the crime, at least he is free to start over and move on from the experience.
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.
Denial was also used through the novel as a defense mechanism so that the person can protect themselves from the pain he or she was feeling at that point in time. When Oskar father Thomas Schelle, has gone missing him and his mother both decided it would be a good idea to “fill a suitcase with a poster of Oskar's father and post them all around town they refused to believe that Thomas could have been dead”(For 229). When Oscar and his mother put up these posters it gave them a sense of belief and hope that their loved one may still be alive. Another person the denied the death of a loved one was Oskar grandfather, they believed he was“trying to remake the girl he knew seven years before”, his beloved Anna, who had died in the bombing of Dresden (83). Many Psychologists have said that “ People grieve because they are expecting their loved ones to magically appear even though he or she is really gone”. Living in denial is very hard for a person and it is hard to move on into their day to day routines. Denials help delay the other stages of the grief and this stage usually lasts the longest. One of the first feelings that we experience after Denial is anger. Anger comes after the numbing of shock that something bad just had happened. Oskar puts all of his anger towards his mother because he thinks that his mother does not love his father anymore because he believes she is not honouring his name and memory. Seeing his mother being happy and continuing on with her life makes him think that she does not miss his dad (Foer 170). Oskar was releasing all of his build up anger towards his mother because he felt that it was her fault and that she was moving on without
...onas which cause him to overlap his personas making him overlap his names with his different personas. Paul who has now lost control feels powerless and obediently listens to Ousia about going to the police serving his time and then coming out of prison to live a happy life with her and Flan.
Weiner compares the protagonist’s, Allison Weiss’s, realization of her husband’s cheating to an “infected tooth” (63) to represent her dwindling faith in her husband’s devotion and connect her present situation to her emotions. The imagery of an infected tooth as it decays and rots depicts the deterioration of her husband’s commitment as time progresses. The decaying and rotting tooth also affects an individual’s health. A disintegrating tooth is painful and corresponds to the domino theory: when a small part of the tooth is infected, the rest of it soon follows. Similarly, the realization that Allison’s husband is cheating on her develops in her brain and travels through her body to inflict pain upon her heart.
"Paul’s Case." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 192-209. Short Stories for Students. Gale. Web. 21 Jan. 2010.
"Paul's Case," by Willa Cather, is a story that deals with a young boy who does not feel that he lives a life befitting of him. Upon a close reading, it is evident that "Paul's Case" is ruled by irony and symbolism, which are apparent in the story through the words of the narrator. The irony woven throughout the text builds up to an epiphonic moment, a main paradox in the story, which reveals to the reader Paul's true nature.
John being an honest and truthful man, knew he couldn’t live the rest of his life in a lie, but what he had to do to not live a lie ended in a tragic death for not only himself but for his wife, family, and
Paul is reflected at the very end when the Misfit says “Shut up Bobby Lee, there’s no real pleasure in life” (O’Connor 153). The Misfit recognizes the evil that he has done, and that no good comes from it; there is still a chance for him to rectify his actions.
East of Eden was a novel that explored the roots of evil in its most primal form. Through intricate plot lines and complex characters, John Steinbeck weaved a tale of brutality, cruelty, and isolation. One important character that helped to illustrate the presence of evil throughout the book was Cathy Ames, an intelligent woman who ruthlessly used other people to serve her own needs. When reflecting upon East of Eden, a debate that often surfaces is whether Cathy's evil was a result of nature or nurture. Arguments for and against both sides are in the book. At some times, Cathy is portrayed as a wicked fiend who's aggression stems from nowhere but her own empty heart. Other times, Cathy appears weak and afraid of people who aren't the least bit intimidating. Those are the moments in the book where one must question whether Cathy is truly evil, or just an impatient and self-centered individual.
Pauls's Case is the story of a young man who struggles with his identity. Paul feels that he knows where he belongs, but his family and teachers refuse to support his choices. In the middle of Paul's Case, there is a switch in narration. At this point, the reader can associate with Paul and his problems. Paul struggles with both internal and external conflicts, causing him to be quite a puzzling character. From tha perspective of his family and teachers, Paul seems abnormal. From his perspective, however, he seems misunderstood.
"Paul’s Case." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 192-209. Short Stories for Students. Gale. Web. 21 Jan. 2010.
It is a story that provides the ultimate explanation of how two different people who are witnesses to a crime give completely different psychological recollections of the same event. The author reminds us that truth depends on the telling. Someone must step forward and tell that truth.