Analysis Of A Plague Of Tics By David Sedaris

In the short story, “What I learned” by David Sedaris, Sedaris takes a comical approach as he writes about his journey through college as a freshmen at Princeton university. He speaks about his experiences, from his acceptance to graduation and about his parents and their reaction to him going to college. Sedaris starts by highlighting how the university was today in comparison to how it had been in his day when he was a student. He goes on to explain his point of view of the colleges grading system, a pass-fail system that allowed you to live if you passed or die in a fiery death in the event of failure. Sedaris goes into detail explaining how during the first period of grading the campus had been filled with smoke and the smell of burning

Howard Hughes was a business tycoon, aviator, and film director who had a fear of germs that over time evolved into a phobia. With his fear of germs, Howard develops obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which throughout the film plagues his life with problems and challenges. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric condition in which unwanted obsessions or compulsions are very time consuming and cause a great deal of distress or impair daily functioning (Weis, 2013). This is very much true in the sense of Howard’s condition.

In his narrative titled “A Plague of Tics,” David Sedaris utilizes a large array of strategies in order to make his story ‘great’. One of the many strategies that Sedaris utilizes is the expression of internal conflict. Through including this specific strategy, Sedaris allows for the reader to have a better understanding of his mind, allowing them to further empathize and quite possibly relate to him on a deeper level. At the start of his narrative, he recollects on the night after his encounter with his third grade teacher, Miss Chestnut, when he writes, “I would carefully align the objects on my dresser, lick the corners of my metal desk, and lie upon my bed, rocking back and forth thinking of what an odd woman she way, my third-grade teacher, Miss Chestnut. Why come here and lick my switches when she never used the one she had? Maybe she was drunk” (362). With this glimpse into his opinion on his teacher, Sedaris shows how as a child, in his eyes, he had not done anything wrong, although that was how most adults viewed his actions. He demonstrated that his beliefs were that he was the not in the wrong, but rather the only person doing something right. Along with this moment of internal conflict, Sedaris discusses that his brain would not allow him ‘more that ten consecutive seconds of happiness’ later on in his story. He states that while listening to music, relaxing, and rocking back and forth, a voice would come to him saying, “Shouldn’t you be upstairs making sure

In this book, one boy spends six hours a day washing himself- he suffers from the fact that he will never be clean. This woman continuously checks her stove hundreds of times a day to make sure she turned it off. Another woman in the effort to make sure that her eye brows are even she was eventually pulls out all her hair. There are other characters such as Paul, Arnie, and Morris. These people suffer from a common sickness called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This book is basically a go to guide to finding treatments, as well as lists of resources and references to treating OCD. This book brings the disorder to public attention, describing its symptoms and suggesting routes toward treatment. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder that’s caused by thoughts that also causes fear and or worry. By repeating the compulsion it causes the persons fear to lesson. In my opinion I feel as if this book is a great book it gives you true life

On “A Plague of Tics” While traditionally keeping a light hearted and comical collection of essays in Naked David Sedaris takes a serious in turn in a “A Plague of Tics”. In is matter-of-fact essay, “A Plague of Tics”, uses personification and diction to demonstrate what it is like to live with mental illness which allows those who live a “normal” life to fully understand the impacts of living with mental illness. David Sedaris takes on the perspective of living with mental illness while being ridiculed by peers. “Take me off it whispered” (Sedaris 7). By including personification Sedaris is able to assert the lack of control the boy has over his tics creating the effect that the tics order him around and dictate his actions.

Rather, for years Jennifer Traig let the disease rule her life, aware of the absurdities, but only realizing in retrospect how damaging the were. Her eating habits that began with attempting to keep kosher left her battling anorexia, as nothing with OCD is done in moderation or with sensibility. Though periods of extreme scrupulous behavior do flare up in Jennifer Traig’s life, even to this day, her OCD has been largely managed. Despite the struggles caused by Judaism, or rather her obsessive and inaccurate version of Judaism, Jennifer Traig did not estrange herself from the religion but instead altered her life to fit the actuality of the religion and now practices the rituals in the rational, intended

This essay will introduce some similarities and differences between both symptoms and experiences of six different authors who have been personally affected by obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).  Since OCD is not very well understood by many members of the public ("Escape"), I hope that the experiences of the authors that I researched will be able to paint a vivid picture of what life with OCD is like.

David Sedaris’s Tasteless is an essay filled with imagery and humor. His sarcasm and language really captures the reader’s mind. He takes you through his journey of his eating habits from a boy to an adult. He begins his story with discussing how cigarettes can affect one’s senses, blaming his lack of taste on his smoking fixation. He proceeds to describe his eating habits with elaborate details and analogies, poking fun at himself numerous times. Sedaris tells of a time where he tried to bribe his sister for part of her meal. Then he talks about a cookbook he received from his mother and how by high school he began making pizzas. Although he would be creative with his meals, he never applauded himself once on his abilities to create something

Mental disorders can hinder a person’s ability to make proper decisions and therefore influence their lifestyle, behavior, and actions in most situations. Triggered by Fletcher Wortmann is a memoir about the negative effects of obsessive compulsive disorder can have on a person. The mental state of a person with obsessive compulsive disorder is one of uncertainty most of the time. Though a mental disorder determined many decisions in his life so far, his goal is to prove that mental disorders do not define who a person is. Through long stories about things that typically wouldn’t matter to an average person, it is clearly evident Wortmann is a male author who is very young, but also not as experienced. There is a specific writing style to

Not only does Marlin have OCD but I believe he also suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (pg. 639-641). PTSD is a mental disorder in which an individual suffers from extreme anxiety due to constant reminders of a traumatic past event in their present, everyday life. An example of this would be a soldier. Soldiers go overseas and fight. While over there they see many horrible things. One example is the bombs that armies use. A soldier could be in a situation overseas where he/she is constantly around the loud noises of bomb explosions. Now, when they return home, they are not around these bombs any more but things are continuously reminding them of those events. Slamming a book shut, dropping a plate while you are putting away dishes, dogs barking in your neighborhood, or even cars honking are all examples of daily activities that could remind a soldier who

The following is an overview about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), one of the most difficult psychiatric illness to be understood. The way of doing certain behaviors, thoughts or routines repeatedly is the essential condition of a person with OCD. In general, it is known and described by someone who is extremely perfectionist and meticulous. Unfortunately, they do realize those habits and be able to stop doing it. Common behaviors are such as checking locks, doors, stove bottoms, and lights, hand washing, counting things, or having recurrent intrusive thoughts of hurting oneself or somebody else.

Michel Basilieres "Blackbird" is a very dark, gothic type novel. It deals with terrorism, death, political crisis and familial strife. Accompanying the darkness, however, is a layer of humour and wit shrouding each character. With Black Bird, Michel Basilieres has written a comic and disturbing study of how the October Crisis and the question of Canadian nationalism and identity play out through the disjointed relationships within one family. The plot is full of twists and turns and incorporates many social and political aspects derived, albeit slightly altered, from Canadian history to pull together a story ultimately about a dysfunctional family coming together. The characters in this family are obtuse and often difficult to understand, but even when they do completely ridiculous things like stealing electricity, robbing graves, committing acts of terrorism, or bringing bodies back to life, there is a likable ness about them brought about largely due to the humour imbedded in their personalities, their actions, and the events they partake in.

Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While

Marcus is a twenty two year old man who is a philosophy student. While writing a paper on justice in ancient Egypt, Marcus has found himself preoccupied with the dust on his computer screen. Marcus has extreme worries about the dust on his screen. These are obsessive thoughts that keep running through his head. Marcus tries to calm his thoughts by cleaning his computer screen every hour. This is consistent with compulsions that help ease some anxiety. Marcus knows that his thoughts are weird, but cannot stop them unless he cleans his laptop. Marcus’s symptoms of OCD are correct.

This case study was particularly fascinating in following the life of Karen Rusa and her obsessive compulsion disorder. It is interesting to study her childhood, present life, on-set symptoms she was experiencing, and the treatment she underwent. Though Karen withstood various trials that her OCD and depression effected greatly, I believe she received the best treatment to help her recover.