Autonomy In Cat's Eye

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character is constantly being told what she is and is not able to do such as “But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there;… (Gilman)” This is an excellent example of her feeling oppressed, because her husband feels that he knows her capabilities better than she does. Another example of this is “’What is it little girl?’ he said. ‘Don’t go walking about like that—you’ll get cold.’ (Gilman)” This is an example of John thinking that her condition is so bad, she has to be treated like a child, constantly telling her what and what not to do. In “The Story of an Hour” the shows she has felt depressed with “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. (Chopin)” After receiving news that her husband passed away in a train accident, she felt as if the burden of doing things for her husband was lifted, and that she could do the things she wants to do.

“The experience of abuse and trauma is overwhelming emotional pain that threatens the soul and avoids all rationalization.” (Dr. Bill) ‘Speak’, a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson helps you consider how others actions could permanently damage someone’s future and mindset. Melinda Sordino’s past peers incidentally haunt her, making her feel damaged and ghostly. Melinda’s thoughts altered making her think that her speech negatively affects everyone, which is the result of Melinda’s schoolmates bullying her, making her struggle in being positive. Students at Melinda’s school make her feel isolated and even unable to deliver speech by having unhealthy thoughts about herself, resulting in Melinda feeling dirty and cold. Furthermore, throughout the school year, Melinda’s past distress obstructs her maturation process.

In the novel Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, a young girl, Melinda Sordino, is entering high school after a distressing summer, because she was raped. As the book progresses, Melinda’s actions transform her from mentally unstable to finally feeling free. Melinda thinks that her parents do not pay attention to her, and while she is hiding in her closet, she decides to, “[I] open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of [my] left wrist” (Anderson 81). Melinda’s hurtful actions of self-harm reveal her desperation for her parents to notice her, and how mentally unstable she is. Regardless of how she acted, Melinda changes throughout the book and towards the end, she acts with conviction in the girl’s bathroom with Ivy. Ivy is

Laurell K. Hamilton spoke in great words that, “there are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” Hamilton embodied a central state of mind of a person who is mentally ill. The wounds mentioned are those caused, and worsened, by traumatic events and public perception of a person with a mental illness. The women in the short stories that have been read embody an internal injury caused by an outward force. In “Story of an Hour”, “Rose for Emily”, and “Yellow Wallpaper” it is impactfully shown how traumatic life experiences can lead to and worsen mental illnesses.

Cambridge (2016) defines autonomy as the ability to make a decision without any influence from any individual. Similarly, it is the freedom for someone to exercise their own will or action (Dictionary.com 2016).

She allows herself to believe all she is told. She also allows herself to believe that being treated as she is is going to make her better, when in fact it is only making her worse. Her being sent up in a room, like a penitentiary will add loneliness to her illness. Her being told not to write or not to go and see family and friends, again, adds to her loneliness. She is separated from society. Therefore, she feels as though she is alone in society. She gives into the fact that the male-dominated society would rather her alone, than be with lots of women and cause chaos. She gives into everything the world wants instead of listening to her inner self. She ignores herself, causing her to act out in madness. When one does not listen to one's inner self, he or she is then turning away from his or her conscience. It's like the "devil and angel" episode that has been seen in numerous cartoons. If the person listens to the little devil, it will end up being the wrong decision. It the person listens to the little angel, it will be the right decision. The narrator listens to almost neither. She allows what is happening to happen and does nothing but sit back. This would cause anger inside anyone.

When Jeannette suffers from awful burns that cover huge swaths of her body, instead of being afraid of fire, she becomes obsessed with it. Constantly lighting matches when she shouldn’t, and, furthermore, participating in the activity that cause her to get burned in the first place. She recalls how, “A few days after Mom and Dad brought me home, I cooked myself some hot dogs.” showing her resilience and mental hardiness (Walls 15). Logically, she knows the the incident with the fire isn't a common occurance, so she chose not to be afraid of it. Seemingly, her only hang ups about the incident are the scars she received but even so, they are a relatively slight blow against her self esteem. Another instance highlighting the theme of mental resilience occurs in Welch, when Erma sexually abuses Brian, and they all resolutely decide to ignore the likelihood that their father experienced the same thing, “‘Don’t think about things like that,’ Lori told me… And so I put it out of my mind.” (Walls 148) Not the healthiest way of dealing with something like that, but it shows that their capacity for dissociating and emotional pain tolerance is frighteningly high. Under normal circumstances, sexual abuse is not an easy thing overcome. In each incident of mind over matter, although both aren’t necessarily positives instances of it, the Walls show

Melinda Sordino was just a young teenage girl trying to have some fun. Now, she is loathed by afar for something nobody understands. During a summer party, Melinda drunkenly fumbled for the phone and dialed the cops. As she enters her freshman year of high school, her friends refuse to talk to her, and she escapes into the dark forests of her mind. “I am Outcast” (Anderson 4). But something about that party was not right. Something she tried not to relive but to forget. “I have worked so hard to forget every second of that stupid party, and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can’t tell them what really happened. I can’t even look at that part of myself” (Anderson 28). Depression is a

1. True or false? The principle of autonomy assumes that you are free from the control of others and have the capacity to make your own life choices.

For example, Melinda is driven by a habit of gnawing on her lips and speaks about the mannerism along these lines: “ I can’t stop biting my lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know.” (17). This quote emphasizes that Melinda chews her lips as a way of expressing herself; her post-traumatic stress disorder involuntarily presents itself outwardly. Biting her lips also epitomizes Melinda’s fixation on not talking.

She attempts to hide this effect among others with her coping mechanism, sarcasm and hiding. She even hides from herself for most of the story. "I get out of my bed and take down the mirror. I put it back in my closet, facing the wall"(Halse-Anderson 17). Not being able to look at one's own face in the mirror is a sign of deep and destructive sadness. This is supported by the following."It’s normal for survivors to have feelings of sadness, unhappiness, and hopelessness. If these feelings persist for an extended period of time, it may be an indicator of depression"(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | RAINN |). These are emotions Melinda experiences in her days of freshman year. She especially feels them when her "friends" abandoned her. Though her friends of many years left her she made a new friend named Heather, whom she liked to call "Heather from Ohio". "I stumble down the hall […] till I find my very own door and slop inside and throw the lock, not even bothering to turn on the lights, just falling falling a mile downhill to the bottom of my brown chair, where I can sink my teeth into […] my wrist and cry like the baby I am."(Halse-Anderson). Heather abandoned Melinda just like the rest of her friends but she felt this even more because she began to like being around her. This is the state Melinda is left in after receiving the we're-not-friends Valentine from Heather."Deliberate self-harm, also called self-injury, is when people inflict physical harm on themselves, usually in private and without suicidal intentions. Some survivors of sexual assault may use self-harm to cope with difficult or painful feelings"(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) | RAINN |). She has pattern when she's sad and she stayed true to it. She'd isolate herself and inflict pain upon herself. Melinda falls victim to the effect depression because couldn't find another way to let out her emotions,

She was sexually abused as a child by her father. She rationalized his abuse as a desire to be closer to his only daughter. However, Tracy failed to realize that if her father was lonely and frustrated, he had alternatives to molesting his own daughter. Tracy attributed his sexual abuse to him being lonely and frustrated. Another example is Louise as she was spending her life waiting for her idealized father to come back. Unable to face how callous and irresponsible he had been she used extensive rationalization to keep him godlike. Her rationalization enabled her to deny her rage at him for abandoning her. These two examples show how victims can make the unacceptable acceptable with even the worst

A trait that stands out in the book is the symptom of bodily memories. In Melinda’s case, during a frog dissection in her science class, she remembers the opening up and even says, “She doesn’t say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut – I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, feel the leaves in my hair.” (81). One of the other symptoms that Melinda has is self-harm. The first time that this is shown in the book, Melinda says this, “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep?” (87). Melinda also has a hard time talking to her parents about the rape to which she says, “How can I talk to them about that night? How can I start?” (72). Some victims recover from such a traumatic experience, while others don’t and live a lifetime of depression and must undergo intense therapy. In Melinda’s case, she finds redemption by talking to her parents and the guidance counselor, and putting her faith into her teachers, friends, and her art project at school. Because rape can affect anybody anywhere, everyone should be aware of the circumstances, and how to deal with it.

In my book Siobhan is unintentionally rude to people and discourteous responses seem to be the norm with her. In my life I understand how she feels because when you're in a petulant mood everything irritates you regardless of who it is and what they're saying. Although you don't mean to, things simply come out nasty and you only realize and regret it after its already been said. Words in my text it explains how a patient named Mikey blames himself for the death of his sister and hurts himself as a punishment for what he did. I can connect this to one of my friends who is in a similar situation. So I understand that Mikey does this; because since his sister can no longer eat, sleep, or laugh because of him, he doesn't deserve to either. When

Independence or personal freedom is an aspect that most individuals seek in their lives. Although some individuals may need the help of others in order to gain these features, others are already endowed with autonomous thoughts and reflect it in their behavior. Deci & Ryan (2009) claim that autonomy is one of the basic and universal psychological needs that is necessary for the well-being and flourishing of all people. The development of autonomy comes in different forms for all people. The research discussed throughout this paper will reveal and evaluate how autonomy develops in individuals and whether showing autonomous behavior is positive or negative.