Budge Wilson, in “The Metaphor,” writes about Ms. Hancock, a beloved teacher. Charlotte writes a metaphor in seventh grade relating her mother to a cold, grey building. When Wilson writes about Ms. Hancock, she describes her as being colorful and warm. Charlotte saw Ms. Hancock more as a mother figure than her own mother. However, when Ms. Hancock stops being her teacher, Charlotte starts to become more like her mother. Although, when Ms. Hancock dies, she breaks free of the hold of her mother and is “born” a new person. In the end, Charlotte realizes that adults can not see the beauty in people like Ms.Hancock, yet children can. Through juxtaposition, symbolism, and irony, Wilson describes Charlotte’s self-realization of life.
Throughout Kay Jamison’s memoir, “An Unquiet Mind”, she is faced with the challenges of conquering her mental illness while attempting to maintain her normal lifestyle. Jamison refused to question her mental being as a result of the symptoms from her condition, the fate of her career, and above all being deemed normal by society. Manic-depression, also known as bipolar disorder, is defined as a depressive disease that exemplifies alternating moods from high and low points. It also affects one’s thought-process, social behavior, and judgment which can lead to rational decisions with harmful effects. Manic depression is a recurring condition with dramatic and rapid mood swings that are also gradual.
We see throughout Elyn Saks journey the challenges she faces. “The Center Cannot Hold” gives a prime example of how a mental illness can affect someone and make a person face hurdles throughout their lifetime. “The Center Cannot Hold” describes how mental illness was seen through the early 60’s and 70’s; showcasing the different precautions taken to approach on the subject of mental illness. Elyn Saks gives a vivid detail into the accounts of how mental illness is look upon but also how it affects an individual
This short story is an embellishment to illustrate the impact of the Rest Cure. “The story is not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman declared (Siegel, 2008). Similar to Lauren Hale, countless women are able to resonate with Gilman and “The Yellow Wallpaper” (2008). Lauren Hale explains being able to identify with the main character due to her own journey of motherhood and insanity thereafter. Charlotte Perkins Gilman successfully incorporated a realistic insanity into the main character of the short story as well as exposing the mental health diagnoses and cures for the 19th century.
From memoirs on mental illness such as Susanna Kaysen 's Girl, Interrupted to Daphne 's Scholinksi 's The Last Time I
People on medications who suffer from mental illness may not feel like themselves, so many people fear of losing their selves. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes unusual and extreme shifts in a person’s functioning, mood and behavior further conveyed through erratic mood swings. However, the symptoms delusions of grandeur, and racing thoughts get in the way. It’s very important to be understood when dealing with a mental illness, furthermore remember to work out the manic episodes. The author, Adam Haslett, addresses a daily issue battling a disorder in the story “Notes to My Biographer”.
The author writes in a formal tone for parents, teens, and other adults to be aware of the seriousness of mental illness in teenagers. Quindlen tries to connect with the audience by stating that there is “only one solution to ending the ignorance
This quote shows that even though Mairs sometimes has difficulty accepting her illness, she knows that there is a growing acceptance of people who must deal with the difficulties that she faces. This ultimately lends a hopeful and positive tone to an otherwise serious and depressing section of her essay. This contrast in tone, but general feeling of hope is key to the type of emotions that Nancy Mairs is trying to educate her readers about. Mair is successful in using multiple rhetorical strategies to connect with the reader.
Depression is a mental illness that carries a negative stigma. Thus, no one wants to talk about depression, and as a result, the people who suffer from depression often do not receive the help that they need in the way they need to be helped. In his speech “Confessions of a Depressed Comic”, Kevin Breel discusses his own depression and the fact that depression is not discussed enough in today’s society. Breel believes that depression needs to be talked about more as it has become a more major problem nowadays. He also feels that the negative stereotype attached to depressed individuals needs to disappear.
Demi Lovato’s capacitating speech delivered at the National Alliance of Mental Illness Convention brought awareness to mental health illnesses and how recovery treatments are obtainable with the support of the entire community. The hardships and sufferings brought upon by mental illnesses, the positive possibilities created by the passage of the Mental Health Comprehensive Bill, and the effects of communities coming together to help those suffering with a mental health illness, were mentioned in this speech through the usage of rhetorical devices; tone, anecdote, repetition, and aphorism are the distinct devices included in this speech. All a mental health illness victim needs is hope and support while recovering from this painful experience.
This is the case with Susanna, who is the autobiographical main character of the book. She provides a perfect reason as to why it is important that mental illness must be talked about more. Susanna is admitted to the McLean Hospital after she attempts suicide and is then diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She is at first convinced that there is nothing wrong for her, which is something that many patients go through, and is one of the important reasons that mental illness should be discussed more.
Wednesday, October 22 Reading Response 2 “Living Will” by Danielle Ofri is about an author who is a doctor who came across a patient that is suicidal. “They All Just Went Away” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a young lonely girl who finds herself attracted in entering abandoned house and is entranced by other peoples lives and what they left by. Although these stories are very different, I believe both the authors share a similar idea, but different outlooks, of how the main characters in each essay struggle to do the right thing. “Living Will” gives us a better perspective of what doctors today have to face with their jobs. The author, Danielle Ofri, came across a severely ill patient, Wilburn Reston, which really makes her think.
It is evident that change is a natural component in the average person’s life. Some however, are more drastic than others. This is exhibited through the first-person narrator of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wall Paper”, who undergoes a drastic change in her health due to postpartum depression, her relationships with the individuals around her, and her isolation. These changes later develop an internal conflict in the form of a troubling identity plight.
After spending time at two separate privately-run facilities for mentally ill women, on the morning of her departure interview, the novel comes to an abrupt end. In a “biographical note” included at the end of the novel, we learn that Sylvia Plath committed suicide rather abruptly in her own life, at a similar moment in time when everything seemed to be looking up. This novel was published shortly before Plath’s own
“When I discover who I am, I will be free.” ~Ralph Ellison With a cultural identity as unclear as her own, Sarah Howe grew up questioning the human condition, specifically regarding the idea of belonging. Yet despite her great efforts in discovering what it means to have a bicultural heritage, her journey of understanding is forever ongoing.