The character of Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger 's novel, Catcher in the Rye, is an excellent example of a psychologically sensitive portrayal of a child with autism spectrum disorder. Although, Holden is never diagnosed in the novel, his interactions with peers and his particular interests show that he is a young man struggling with this psychological disorder. I find this most interesting because the novel allows the reader to enter the mind of Holden to connect and sympathize with the young man and gain a new perspective to his unique disorder. Similarly, the scientific article written by, Jiri Koutek, discusses the social isolation of a sixteen year old male with high functioning autism who was hospitalized for a suicide attempt. The
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a movie following two brothers, Gilbert and Arnie, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, showing their relationship to each other and with the rest of their family. It illustrates how they all cope with Arnie’s disability, and how they all interact with the rest of their community. Throughout the movie, the screenwriter uses the plot to get across the message of how difficult it can be to care for someone with such an extreme disability, effectively portray the communication disorder of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and show how the disorder affects the people around it.
The classic book Flowers for Algernon, which was written by Daniel Keyes in the late 1900’s, explains the story about a middle-aged man named Charlie Gordon and the struggles he faces from having a mental disability. Charlie Gordon worked at Donnegon’s Box Company, but while working there, he was made fun of and called stupid for something he can’t control. Charlie had a wish for all people to love and accept him, but couldn’t understand that there is always going to be someone that wouldn’t like him which made him feel unwanted and unappreciated. Throughout Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes develops a theme of self-acceptance to explain how people shouldn’t change themselves to fit in with others.
n Nancy Mairs essay, “Disability”, she illustrates the lack of representation of people with disabilities in the media. While disability plays a major role in Mairs’ life, she points out the various ways her everyday life is ordinary and even mundane. Despite the normalcy of the lives of citizens with disabilities Mairs argues the media’s effacement of this population, is fear driven. She claims, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about the disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life” (Mairs 14). Able bodied people worry about the prospect of eventually becoming physically impaired. The reason why it is a rarity to see disabled people in advertisements is
The novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes effectively explores the complex human experiences of disability and the impact that it has on individuals and society through its three major themes; Self-realisation , Alienation and loneliness and treatment of the mentally disabled by society. Through these themes this response will highlight the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities and the people in their lives.
As the camera zooms out slowly and we hear crickets chirping, we are introduced to the charming world of “What’s eating Gilbert Grape”. The film that many have come to love, along with its extremely famous actors, was released in 1993 in the United States and directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Endora, Iowa is the home of the Grape family, it’s a small, unchanging town where the main character Gilbert (Johnny Depp) feels trapped and death seems to be the only way out. Gilbert provides for his mother, sisters, and his autistic brother, Arnie (Leonardo Di Caprio). “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is in many ways an unrealistic and demeaning view of autism. Arnie is represented throughout the movie as a burden to Gilbert and the rest of the Grape family,
Analyze how the strong personal voice of a narrator helped you to understand a theme in the written text.
This week’s discussion of contemporary realistic fiction, elaborates on the need for such a literary element be utilized in children’s books. Contemporary realist fiction is evident in the following children book; Wonder, Let’s Get a Pup, How Smudge Came and The Last Stop on Market Street. Kiefer and Tyson defined realistic fiction as an imaginative writing that accurately reflects life that was lived in the past or could be lived as of today. Introduction of this kind of genre to children literature is very important to prepare and ensure that children have a grasp of an understanding of the world around them. Real life situations and scenarios are presented to children with type of literary genre. It broadens the knowledge of children, creates
Autism in psychology is a mental condition characterized by great difficulty in communicating with others and in using language and abstract concepts (Fredericks, 2008). The book “There’s a boy in here” the author is Judy Barron and Sean Barron. It recounts a strange point by a mother and her son, passing the painful years the son underwent through the painful years and the son suffered from autism and his remarkable convalesce. Ron and Judy were a young couple that gave birth to a son who had very different emotional needs.
utism is a disorder of brain development. It is characterized by the inability to interact socially, nonverbally and verbally along repetitive behaviors. A good example is Christopher, who is not able to socialize well with his parents, and at the same time, his utterances depicts that he has got some mental problems. By analyzing the book; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, it is evident that through Christoper, Huddon manages to perpetuate stereotypes about autism.
Imagine being viewed by the world as different. Wouldn’t you want the people around you to understand?
Have you ever wondered what people with autism’s thoughts are ? Do you believe he should’ve been killed? In the book Of Mice and Men by George Steinbeck, Lennie would not make it by himself and he would have had no supervision; therefore George made the right decision.
Oscar is continually haunted by his failure because of the reality that this failure emphasizes: his inability to meet cultural expectations makes him an outcast in both cultures” (Flores 17). This shows that the author thinks it is harmful to ostracize people for being different. This point is illustrated in the book with Oscar being shunned from his peers for being interested in things like language, dungeons and dragons, and videogames. These aspects of his life are only compacted due to him being overweight and considered unattractive by most. If Oscar fit in more physically he would not face as much discrimination about his hobbies. However, Oscar chooses not to hide these parts of himself like some of his peers do, and instead wears his differences as a part of his identity. These differences would not be something Oscar would have to be ashamed of if he lived in a place with different standards where it would only add to his current
Being treated differently based on your physical and mental state is very common in our world. So common, that it is often talked about and written about. Stereotypes are a major focus in Of Mice and Men, particularly stereotypes against the handicapped. There are many instances throughout this book that demonstrates how discrimination against the impaired characters connects to the theme loneliness. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, stereotypes against the disabled greatly impacted the sense of loneliness of the characters.
There are many misconceptions about the autism spectrum disorder and how it is portrayed in the media such as, people who have this disorder cannot reciprocate emotions and does not feel sad or happy. Another myth is people who have this disorder are intellectually disabled. These are all just myths on how autism is portrayed, for this assignment I have decided to choose Dr. Shaun Murphy on the show, Good Doctor. The Good Doctor is a based on a South Korean Drama that has been renewed for an American television show. It is a new show that was released in September 2017. This show takes place in in modern times, the plot of this storyline is primarily about this one character named Shaun Murphy. The Good Doctor portrays a young adult Shaun Murphy, who was chosen to work at St. Bonaventure Hospital which is a prestigious hospital despite having