The Hitchhiker By Anthony Horowitz: A Psychological Analysis

The True Life episode, I have Schizophrenia, documented the struggles of three adults who suffer from Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder. This paper will focus around Josh and whether he actually has Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a severe, disabling and chronic disorder that affects people. Schizophrenia is diagnosed as a psychotic disorder. This is because a person suffering from schizophrenia cannot tell their own thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and imaginations from the reality. There is continuing debate and research as to whether schizophrenia is one condition or a combination of more than one syndrome that have related features. People suffering from schizophrenia may seem perfectly fine until the time they talk actually talk about they are thinking. People with schizophrenia rely on others for help since they cannot care for themselves of hold a job. There is no cure for schizophrenia, but there is treatment that relieves some of the symptoms. People having the disorder will cope with the symptoms all their lives. There have been cases of people suffering from schizophrenia leading meaningful and rewarding lives. There are five types of schizophrenia namely paranoid, disorganized, residual, undifferentiated, and catatonic schizophrenia. This paper will discuss paranoid schizophrenia.

In life, it is commonly stated that “A man who doesn’t think for himself, does not think at all.” This statement is supported in “The Pedestrian” and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character finds himself bound to the expectations of society and robotically follows every order that is given to him without second thoughts. This leads to him being unknowingly unhappy and having a hollow existence. But as the story progressed the main character became more aware of the person that he truly was, and when he had finally discovered that person, he was truly happy. On the contrary, In “The Pedestrian” a lone individual who is different from society is able to think for himself, thus giving him freedom from the bonds of society and the ability to embrace his individuality. Making him free and happy. In both stories, we see how individuality releases people from the shackles of their society and finally allows them to be truly happy with who they are. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 and the

Schizophrenia is a mental ailment in which the person inflicted is taunted by uncontrollable voices heard inside their heads and very vivid, realistic hallucinations. The voices and hallucinations can be benevolent, but they can also be violent. Many cases constitute of people being told by such voices to hurt themselves or others. People who suffer from Schizophrenia are often isolated from society and admitted into psychiatric wards and mental institutions for the majority of their lives. The general public does not understand the torment that these people go through on a day-to-day basis. In order to give readers insight into the mind of a schizophrenic, the poet Jim Stevens uses the depleting condition and turmoil taking place inside

Everyone tries to avoid bad things in life, but our world is faced with lots of bad or evil activity and Lucille Fletcher´s ¨The Hitchhiker¨ is no different. The character Ronald Adams is faced with an unknown man, Ronald first sees the man on the Brooklyn Bridge and swerves to miss the hitchhiker .As Ronald swerves, he get into a car accident as Ronald sees the man continually the hitchhiker will bring Ronald insanity on the drive to New Mexico, Ronald sees this man many times; he continues to go crazy; he has mood swings and tries to find the man. As Ronald drives, he obsesses over the hitchhiker. In ¨The Hitchhiker¨, Fletcher uses the hiker to represents, evil in order to build suspense in the short story.

The significance of the title can be interpreted in this quote. The story is about a struggle in a psychiatric ward, where many “cuckoos” reside, “Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she’s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts ‘em in pens… wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock… one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest… O-U-T spells out… goose swoops down and plucks you out.” This is where the title comes from, the cuckoo’s nest being the psychiatric ward and McMurphy being the goose who plucks “you” out.

Schizophrenia is responsible for life-long mental illness that presents an abnormal reality to those diagnosed with it. It can cause hallucinations, delusion, decreased motivation and judgement, erratic behavior, substance abuse, among other symptoms. Schizophrenia and mental illness, in general, can be a tricky subject in terms of an accurate portrayal. However, even inaccurate portrayals can help readers understand its implications. The way that authors write schizophrenic characters and their relationships in their works can leave an enduring impact. Considering only the following story of a likely schizophrenic protagonist, readers are presented a sensible mentally ill character who may not have a happy ending but does leave a lasting impression in those readers who become familiar with him. In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne touches on the reality of those inflicted with such mental illnesses as schizophrenia and does not shy away from showing the dark implications it may have on their life.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is one of the greatest novels of the 1960s that expertly uses mental illness, rebellion, and abused authority to captivate the readers. This book is densely populated with interesting characters, such as the new admission R.P. McMurphy, that makes you dive below the surface of sanity, rebellion, and authoritative issues that are spread throughout the pages. The different elements incorporated within this book leaves readers digging to find out the answers to the questions the surface of the text could not explain. In this book, the rebellious and Messiah-like “McMurphy” passes his tendencies and courage onto his fellow patients in a fight to free their trapped minds and jailed souls from the hands of authority.

The author Ray Bradbury shows all the faults with society through his book Fahrenheit 451. The premise of Fahrenheit 451 is that all the books within their society are burned, in hopes to not offend anyone, Beatty explains this by saying “Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it” (57). Of course, there were those who decided to read anyway, despite the laws, and had their homes, consequently, burned by the firemen, before being arrested. Although, the government at the time were the ones ordering the burning of the books, “it didn’t come from the government”, it started with society (55). Ultimately, the warning is that all problems with the government start with the society itself. Regrettably, the problems of censorship, happened within his lifetime as well, because the burning of books was not just subjected to paper, “German students from universities...gathered in Berlin to burn books with “unGerman” ideas” (Burning). As a consequence of Hitler inspiring these students to set ablaze those books, it festered its way up in society, until it became law.

In the short story, “The Hitchhiker” Lucille Fletcher sets the Hitchhiker as a Grim Reaper that will keep following Adam until he takes his fate and accepts his death. When we lose someone close to us it's hard to accept they are really gone. We need to move on from living in a fake reality where they are alive and everything still is the same. The story leaves the readers questioning why was hitchhiker is following Adam. Maybe the reason he is still able to drive is so he could travel on forever? Maybe the Hitchhiker is following him till his death, or the grave? While the readers just see it as Adam is the only one caught up with not accepting his death, maybe the reason he can talk to certain people is because they are going through the

Hitchcock's Psycho Psycho first hit our screens in 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It faced major controversy, as it was different. Horror films before this were more unrealistic and gruesome. Psycho was a groundbreaking film of the horror genre. It was more realistic the events could happen in reality.

People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very disabling. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml This leads the characters into his future actions within the story. This shows his mental mindset throughout the story.

Montag all throughout your life have you ever noticed the little details that surround you? All around the world there are things other than parlor walls, they are people who truly live and understand true emotion. Don't you want to be one of those people? I may look like a stranger to you, but aren't we all strangers with no connection towards each other. And aren't we more connected to the technology that surrounds all of us, "And if not the three walls soon to be four walls and the dream complete, then it was the open car and Mildred driving a hundred miles an hour across town," (46). Literature may seem like a terrible object, saying that's how you've perceived books your whole life, "His hands had been infected, and soon it

Although schizophrenia seems like a rare illness, there are an estimated 1.5 million people in the United States alone who suffer from this disorder (“Schizophrenia” 3). The most common form of this mental illness is paranoid schizophrenia, which is defined as a chronic mental illness in which a person loses touch with reality and is preoccupied with delusions (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 5). Symptoms of this disorder include auditory hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, anger, emotional distance, violence, argumentativeness, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and self-important or condescending manner. Auditory hallucinations are when one hears sounds, usually voices, that are not real. The voices will give criticisms, insults, and commands (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 5). Delusions are false beliefs that one refuses to give up despite being proved wrong with facts, a very common one being that someone is out to get the person (“Mental Health and Schizophrenia” 13). However, one could also have delusions of grandeur, which are false impressions of one’s own importance. Delusions can lead to aggression or violence if one believes they must defend themselves against those who want to cause them harm (“Paranoid Schizophrenia” 4). The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” clearly has paranoid schizophrenia because he displays the symptoms of auditory hallucinations, delusions, violence or aggression, and anxiety.

Entrails torn from the body with bare hands, eyes gouged out with razor blades, battery cables, rats borrowing inside the human body, power drills to the face, cannibalism, credit cards, business cards, Dorsia, Testoni, Armani, Wall Street; all of these things are Patrick Bateman’s world. The only difference between Bateman and anybody else is what is repulsive to Bateman and what is repulsive to the rest of the world. Bateman has great interest in the upper class life, fashions, and social existence, but at the same time he is, at times, sickened by the constant struggle to be one up on everybody else. On the other hand Bateman’s nightlife reveals a side of him never seen during the day. Bateman is relaxed, impulsive, and confident