Lester Burnham Essay

Eric G. Wilson was born in 1967, and attended Appalachian State University, Wake Forest University, and the City University of New York where he gained a Ph.D. Wilson is currently a professor at Wake Forest University who teaches courses on British and American Romanticism. He has written many books, and “The Miracle of Melancholia” was published in the Los Angeles Times. I have never really thought too much about the effects that sadness can have on people, especially the positive effects. After reading the first paragraph of this piece, I was a little skeptical but as I continued to read, the author’s argument further developed and I now agree that sadness can have positive effects.

Many individuals have the power to alter their perception, but many people have disorders to comfort and confront their psychological perspectives. In the film, Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell explains how psychological disorders are maintained within Pat and Tiffany, and explaining their theoretical personalities to three sub categories: psychodynamic, biological and trait, and sociocultural. The psychodynamic perspective looks at the topographical and structural model created by Freud. In continuation, the biological perspective is based on the genetic traits, and the Big 5 personality traits. Finally, I'll discuss the sociocultural perspective which a based on the environment factors in one's life. All of these perspectives

Abraham Lincoln was born Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, He was the son of Thomas and Nancy and he was named for his paternal grandfather. Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation which had separated from another church due to opposition to slavery. As Abraham grew up, he loved to read and preferred learning to working in the fields. This led to a difficult relationship with his father who was just the opposite. Abraham was constantly borrowing books from the neighbors.

The richest man in the world, in his time, was Andrew Carnegie. His story of success was truly one of rags to riches. After coming to the U.S. from Scotland as part of a working-class family, he moved from job to job, eventually becoming more influential and gaining a large sum of money. Soon he was using his wealth to contribute to many public services, such as libraries and schools. Andrew Carnegie's life and actions have left a long-standing legacy and have contributed greatly to the American way of life, particularly toward education.

When I was told to choose a movie to perform a psychoanalysis on a character. I did not know what movie to choose. After watching the two hour long film on the multiple characters that seemed to be struggling to find their inner happiness: American Beauty. I knew that I should not look any further. One character that especially stood out was, Lester Burnham. A forty-two year old father with a mid-life crisis. In the film, American Beauty Lester Burnham is portrayed as an ordinary man, with a perfect life, but of course that is far from the truth. From the outside, Lester seems to have a perfect salary, and a perfect family who lives in a perfect neighborhood. In reality, things are not

Henry Ford was one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in creating the automobile assembly line, it was his controversial characteristics and unorthodox approach towards administrating the Ford Motor Company which resulted in the conglomeration of one of the most successful corporations in the world. At the turn of the century everything was booming! The growth of the economy and stock market increased the job opportunities as well as morals. As a result of this industrial revolution, out of the woodwork came a humble yet driven man, Henry Ford. Between the five dollar/day plan, his policies on administrating the company, and his relations with his customers, Ford was often presented as a suspicious character. This

The name of John Wilkes Booth conjures up a picture of America's most infamous assassin, the killer of perhaps the greatest president of the United States. However, J. Wilkes Booth (as he was known professionally) led a very prominent life as an actor in the years preceding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This period of his life is often forgotten or overlooked.

Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey on March 18, 1837 his friends called him “Uncle Jumbo” or “Big Steve”. He had nine siblings but I could only fine one, his sister Rose Cleveland, who was born in Fayetteville, New York on June 13, 1846 and died on November 22, 1918. She was the first lady for him from 1885 to 1886 in the first of his two inconsecutive terms. Until in 1886 Grover married Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston who became the first lady to Grover Cleveland from 1886 to the year 1889 and then again, because he was the 22nd and 24th president, from 1893 to 1897. She is still the youngest first lady that is wife to the president. Grover’s Children were, Ruth Cleveland, Esther Cleveland, Marion Cleveland, Richard Cleveland, and Francis Cleveland. Ruth was born in 1891 and died in 1904. She died at the age of 12 from a bout of diphtheria. Esther was born in 1893 and died in 1980. Marion was born in 1895 and died in 1977. Richard was born in 1897 and died in 1974. Francis was born in 1903 and died in 1995.

Depression is something serious that ruins the lives of many. In “The Depressed Person” by David Foster Wallace, he introduces the reader to a person who suffers from depression but also is narcissistic; someone who hungers for attention and makes and situation about them. There’s a difference in depression alone and depression that is accompanied by narcissism. Being sad and keeping to yourself is symptomatic of depression, but being sad accompanied by the need to blame others as well as having a grandiose view of one’s self would be more representative of depression with narcissism. This combination brings an unhealthy lifestyle and burdens ones around the sufferer. The Depressed Person may not reach out

          President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of relief, recovery, and reform that aimed at solving the economic problems created by the Depression of the 1930’s, was referred to as the New Deal. The Great Society was the name given to the domestic program of the U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson. Both programs had similar yet opposing points.

Behavioral symptoms, which Lester established, incorporate: withdrawal, decrease in work performance, reckless behavior, acting out, and relationship problems (PsychNet-UK). These are a characteristic of those witnessed in adolescents diagnosed with adjustment disorder, although we see Lester identify with adolescents so much through his thoughts and actions that it seems appropriate. The specification “disturbance of conduct” refers to the violation of societal norms which for Lester includes nearly every act he took in reaction to his stress: lusting after the underage Angela and later nearly having sex with her, buying drugs, and blackmailing his company. Since a time frame within which the story takes place is not specified-except for Lester mentioning in the introduction that he will die in less than a year-the ability to diagnose his disorder as acute or chronic is rather dubious. Acute adjustment disorder lasts less than six months while chronic adjustment disorder may last six months or longer (PsychNet-UK, n.d.). It would be tempting to say Lester had a midlife crisis and leave him undiagnosed. For two reasons this is incorrect. First, the notion of a midlife crisis as its own mental

The film American Beauty centers around the stereotypical suburban family—i.e., the father with the office job, the mother with the minivan, and the teenage daughter who is discontent with her life. However, this merely a façade, because there are more issues in this family than just these baseline descriptions of them. To begin, the patriarch of the family, Lester Burnham, is facing a midlife crisis, which is characterized by symptoms such as “Feeling restless and wanting to do something completely different…confusion about who you are or where your life is going, daydreaming, irritability, unexpected anger…sexual affairs, especially with someone much younger, [and] greatly decreased or increased ambition”. (Psychology Today, 2015) Lester displays all of these symptoms at some point in the movie. First, he wants to do something different and also has decreased ambition when it comes to his career. He suddenly quits his job as a magazine editor and advertising executive, then blackmails his boss for $60,000 dollars. Then, he takes a job as a fry cook so that he can have as little responsibility as possible. This shows him wanting to hold on to his youth because of the discontent that he has with his life. All of this is along with the fact that he sold his reliable car and traded it in for a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, which was a car that he admired in his youth. He also begins to work out to impress Angela, his teenage daughter’s friend, who is the object of his sexual

It is not easy to create continued quality design over a 40 year span. While it's simple to credit "talent" in such circumstances, it is more useful to focus on the work process of the artist instead. Lester Beall was obsessed with the idea of creating contemporary design that looked towards the future instead of the past. He wanted to move on from the current style that was popular among other graphic designers. To do so he turned towards Europe. There he discovered many exciting techniques that he used in his work. By combining the elements he saw in avant-garde European art and his own passion of photography he created a unique style that created iconic design. His philosophy was to "'integrate the elements in such manner that they will combine to produce a result that will convay not merely a static commercial

People that didn’t reach their goals may blame society and its issues for their failure and unhappiness, even for their debt. However, some people lack success because they gave up to easily, and settled for what was most convenient instead of working hard for what was most beneficial. Having to sit back and watch everyone around you succeed can lead to depression and enable a person to discourage themselves and even attempt to sabotage the lives of people who achieved all they wanted in life. “For them life becomes a continuous ground hog day of limited and unsatisfying experiences” (Henry). Ground Hog Day was a movie that portrayed a world where the man changes but the world stays the same, but in depression, a man stays the same continuously as the world changes around him and so he ends up envious and angry, resulting in a bitter life. The individual not only gives up on himself, but his negative attitude stimulates people to give up on

The proxemic patterns in the film are also important in showing the relationship between the characters and Lester’s progression in his transformation. For example, in the scenes where Lester, his wife Carolyn, and his daughter Jane are having dinner, they are all placed in social proximity to each other. The dinner is made out to look like a traditional social gathering, which portrays Lester’s family as separated and disconnected from each