The Fear Of The Nightmares

My grandma once told me, “If you stay up too late at night, the boogeyman will get you”. I never believed her but I knew I wouldn’t want to see the Boogeyman if he actually existed. Most people would actually want to watch these horrible beings. In this case, they would want to view a horror movie such as “Friday the 13” or “Nightmare on Elm Street”. It is part of our Human Condition to be attracted to the films and asking for more. Stephen King’s claims in “Why we crave horror” asserts us that humans crave horror to face our fears, to re-establish our feelings of normalcy, and to experience a peculiar sort of fun.

Life can be seen as a continuous story. It has a beginning and an end, and every event has its own impact in the story. Fears can be a result of specific events that made an impact strong enough to cause it. We turn everyday objects, situations, or ideas into fear, but, why? Fear is a natural response, our reflexes are based on what we know, and when something unknown is presented to us our first reaction is to seek for awareness. For example, children tend to have more fears than adults do. Their understanding of things is still developing, therefore, it is too narrow to comprehend some things further than what they can see, as darkness. Adults’ understanding on this is supposed to be fully developed, but yet, a fear as nyctophobia, the fear of the dark, is something that can follow people throughout their whole lives, as stated in “Nyctophobia: From Imagined to Realistic Fears of the Dark” by Joshua Levos and Tammy Lowery Zacchilli,“It may be that the unrealistic fear of the dark that is seen in children might have transformed into a more realistic fear of the dark in adults.” The lack of certainty puts us in an anxious state. Humans have always looked for ways to avoid the dark. From oil lamps to electric light, early humans invented ways so they could see in the darkness, which shows that humans have always been scared of the dark. But the question remains, why are humans afraid of the dark?

The allure of fear is interesting for some people for several reasons. These people have another perspective of how they react when they see something scary or read it. They don’t react the same way as other people that don’t like scary things. Other people like to be scared. Some people motivate others by saying to them they are not so scary and everything that is happening there is not real, since they use fiction elements, like characters, details and scenarios. These scary elements have real details but also have scenarios that are not real, this means it is magical realism. This thought of liking scary things is a physiological problem. Scientist make an article showing proof that there is a big pole of people that like scary scenarios.

Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat(Websters Dictionary).Fear is something that our lives have adapted to rarely use as our ancient predecessors have.In our day and age the concept of fear comes through the stress of work. We humans no longer fear a cold nor do we fear storms as our houses protect us and on average our life spans are longer as old in the Paleolithic was 33 while currently it is 71.5(Wikipedia Life Expectancy). Why then is our fear so extensive that it can make us freeze up? “The answer is our legacy of ancient fears, the result of having spent millions of years running from predators. Our fear response is more influenced by the ancient species we struggled to escape than any modern challenges.”(The evolutionary legacy of having been prey.By Rob Dunn) This is one of the statements about human life. If this is so how do we develop from terror to finding fear fun?

Arriving back at his apartment, Booker found Tom curled on the couch, his gaunt face a mask of misery. Dressed in ill-fitting sweats, the borrowed clothing swamped his slender frame, giving him the appearance of someone much younger than his twenty-five years. There was a bucket next to the couch that smelled faintly of vomit and Booker averted his eyes, unable to stomach the sight of the foul smelling liquid. His lower body ached, and all he wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to bed. For the first time since Tom’s arrival, he was aware of the enormity of what he was taking on. He could say goodbye to his carefree bachelor’s life, he was now responsible for a sick and emotionally damaged

With a weary grunt, Booker shifted the bag of groceries in his arms and kicked his apartment door closed with his foot. He had planned to be home early so he take Tom out to dinner as a birthday surprise, but as usual, work had ruined his plans. When he had rung Tom and explained that he would be home late, he had expected him to react moodily, but instead, he had received a sympathetic response. It was a sign that their relationship was now on stable footing. Tom was more open about his feelings, and they argued less about the trivialities of everyday life; they were moving forward.

The first real installment of fear was when Wiesel and his father were in the cattle cars on the way to the concentration camps, he was scared on the ride there and he realized how much worse things would become once they arrived. Wiesel however, was not the only one who realized this, one of the prisoners in the cattle cars was Mrs.Schachter, who was treated very cruely by the other jews once she began to scream, “Fire! I see a fire! (wiesel 24)” Wiesel along with other jews tried to calm her more for their benefit, to keep fear out of their minds, yet Wiesel did feel empathy for her son, who tried to calm his mother and remain calm during the situation. At this point in the story, the cattle cars mainly show how physically and mentally challenging it was to be crammed into such a small space with scared, hungry people, and how Wiesel began on his journey to survival.

When you think of fear, what do you think of? Do you think of something you are absolutely terrified of and do not want to think about or something else. Fear is programmed in your brain as something you want to stay away from for  safety.  Like when we touched a hot pan and burned ourselves now we will not do that again for fear of being burned. Mr.King states three claims that we go to horror movies to have fun and that we go to feel normal and the last one That we go to face our fears but is that really true?

“The Gift Of Fear,” a psychology book written by Gavin De Becker, is an extremely useful and informative read. It gives valuable advice about how to act upon human intuition, how to recognize threats, and defines what real fear is and it’s purpose. I found the book to be extremely interesting. This book provided me with a sense of understanding on violence and fear and I feel much better prepared when it comes to recognizing dangerous situations.

For the longest time Spike a 6-year-old boy spike was scared of clowns, it started when he walked in on his mom and dad watching a scary clown movie. Ever since then the poor little boy could not get over his fear. Poor little spike could not go to the circus, birthday parties or fairs.

Having endured an hour-long grilling from Fuller about Booker’s disappearance, Tom exited his superior’s office feeling more than a little dispirited. Astute enough to know something had happened at the fraternity, his captain had badgered him relentlessly about the hazing case, but Tom had remained stubbornly tight-lipped and had revealed only the bare facts, much to Fuller’s indignation. Now Booker was gone, his rape was his own private hell and not something he could readily share with his friends. It was the source of his social withdrawal during the day, and a nightmare he relived in vivid color when he closed his eyes at night. But Tom felt he had no choice. To admit his failure as a police officer and more importantly,

Watching the water glistening and shining was always so peaceful. Your arms rested upon an old wooden railing, which creaked with every movement. You leaned forward to watch a fish leap out of the water, flying into the air for a moment, before returning to the lake. As you heard the loud creaking of the railing, you tried to lean back, but before you knew it you’d lost your footing and felt yourself plunged into the lake’s depths, a scream escaping your lips before water surrounded you.

Tom’s body visibly stiffened. But as much as he wanted to pour his heart out to his best friend, he was too ashamed. In his heart, he knew if he divulged his secret, their relationship would never be the same. Not that it would be Penhall’s fault; he was a kind and compassionate man who would lay down his life for his friends. But Tom was astute enough to understand Doug would never be able to look at him in the same way if he knew seven men had brutally sexually assaulted him. It would forever be the elephant in the room; the unspoken, yet inescapable fact that would eventually drive a wedge between them. However, despite his apprehension, there was now the matter of Booker’s disappearance to take into consideration. If his friend was in danger, holding back vital information about the Pi Taus could prove costly. But even though he had a complexity of feelings for Dennis that had him questioning the very foundation of his sexuality, he could

After an excruciatingly uncomfortable cab ride back to his neighborhood, Tom paid the driver, and ignoring the curious stares from the many bystanders going about their Saturday morning business, he hurried into his apartment building. He felt vulnerable wandering around in public in his underwear, and he longed for the sanctuary of his home, free from the scrutiny of prying eyes. While he recognized he had acted irrationally, spurred into action by the ferocity of Booker’s kiss, it was the second time his lover had pounced on him and forcefully tried to demand what should only be given freely, and the uncharacteristic behavior unnerved him. Something wasn’t right, but as much as he loved the dark-haired officer, he was too afraid to hang around and find out exactly what was going on inside his head. He needed space, and although he didn't want to admit it, he also needed time to reevaluate their relationship. A ripple of uncertainty was slowly gaining momentum inside his mind, and he was no longer sure if committing to Booker so soon after his rape was the right thing to do.

Fear is a recurring theme in Stephen King’s The Shining and is essentially what the entire novel revolves around. The fear of the unknown and their own ignorance causes most, if not all, of the characters to make unpredictable and unreasonable actions . This fear especially affects the Torrances during their stay at the Overlook. The Overlook is supposed to be a sanctuary where they could heal their past wounds and work together to become a more solid family unit. Unfortunately, their extended stay at the Overlook has the adverse effect.