The mind is not sane. People use the adjective sane as a fabricated reason to not only judge, but also to define the “self”. Sanity is in the eye of the beholder. It could be used to describe one’s self or others. It is an artificial construction, created by society, that has taken over society’s lives for both better and worse. In the readings, “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday” by Martha Stout and “Wisdom” by Robert Thuman, both authors would arrive at an agreement that the mind creates ideas and scenarios, which circle around the idea of the self’s “sanity”. This idea or myth of sanity transforms society’s way of life; the extent of it being truly a myth can only be defined by an individual’s self. Everyone will have their …show more content…
(Thurman 471). When the mind is changing constantly, the idea of sanity is altered as well. These constant changes in life make it difficult for people to come up with definite responses and reactions. This is because some things that are thought to be instinctive or automatically understood, can be hard to spell out when people do not realize that they might not have understood as much as they thought. Especially, when trauma occurs, those memories of a certain past time “changes the brain itself” (Stout 656). When this happens some individuals may feel a sense of unawareness or separation from the real world. This separation from the present world could cause people to feel insane or broken, however, it is just the mind overthinking and playing tricks on the self.
The ability to be aware is all about having the perception and knowledge of the world around oneself. The mind has powerful moments when it needs to “turn off” and change into a different mindset. In these moments when the mind diverges into a new space, the self is actually in a state of unity and peace; even though the present self does not know it. The mind is “so powerful that it can create a state of absolute nothingness that seems totally concrete” (Thurman 461). This state can not only cause separation, yet, emptiness of the self as well. The void from reality allows a “[person] [to] go “somewhere else”, [to] be psychologically absent” (Stout
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sanity is “the condition of having a healthy mind [or] the condition of being based on reason or good judgement” (Merriam-Webster). Using this definition, the question to address would then be what constitutes having a healthy mind? Some people believe that in order to be seen as having this you have to be “normal”. For some this term is the “equivalent of [being] oblivious and you [are] ‘abnormal’ when you [are] sentient, human, and real” (Maisel, 2011). This concept of what is normal and what is not is dependent upon how everyone in the society around them acts. Therefore, someone who is not deemed as being “normal” cannot be seen as having a healthy mind and having a good sense of judgement because they are too perceptive to the world around them. In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Harlan Ellison’s “ ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” the principal characters are ostracized by the society’s they live in for this very reason. Being that both of the characters are mindful enough to rebel against what society expects of them, they can be perceived as exhibiting a form of “divinest sense”.
“Self awareness is a state of being where you deeply understand your thoughts, emotions and behaviours and how they affect people and the world around them. When people are self aware they move beyond simply existing or reacting to their environment to deliberately living a fulfilling and meaningful life. People get to know the real of them and do things that reflect who they are deep inside” (Source: internet).
What is truly considered to be sane or insane can never be absolutely determined by any means, but Charlotte Perkins Gilman investigates, to the best of her abilities, who and what should be understood as sane or insane. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, any reader with any ability to interpret can see that this subject matter is discussed throughout the text. But which characters are really insane and what evidence is there to prove this? By using the author’s text and other credible outside sources, this paper will research the deep realms of the minds of the characters introduced in the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” One of
The question of what it means to be labelled ‘psychologically abnormal’ is examined closely in Rosenhans study of ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’. This study highlights the usefulness and consequences of being diagnostically labelled.
Holden Caulfield is an insane person in a sane world. What is insanity? Insanity is when you’re in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior or social interaction. This state is mental illness. Insanity is when you do things in deranged or outrageous ways that could frighten people, or make people feel uncomfortable when around you. It’s when you do things out of the ordinary; yet feel as if they are ordinary. Insanity could come about when you’re depressed, or after a traumatic event, and sometimes even by keeping all your feelings bottled up inside of yourself. Sane people are sensible, reliable, well-adjusted and practice sound judgment. It’s behavior that is expected in a society. By these
There is a fine line between sane and madness that everyone can teeter on in some point in their lives. Sometimes this is the result of a broken relationship, a loss of a job, confusion about the future, anger, or can be a result of countless other events or reasons. This theme of insanity is present in countless pieces of literature due to its relatability to everyone, not just people with a diagnosed mental illness. People tend to do crazy things and act crazily without being completely insane. Along the same lines, when people linger in their crazy actions and start to do it purposefully, it can lead to something that is real and more permanent. Hamlet’s madness, in Hamlet by Shakespeare, is a complex idea that is constantly developing throughout
William Pickton is not behaving the same as normal people in the society he resides in. He has murdered over twenty people, but doesn’t show any evident psychological defect, except for the fact that he may be a serial killer. There could be basic reasons for becoming a serial killer, such as revenge, or serious psychological problems, as a result from a trauma.
“To some extent insanity is a form of conformity; people are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering. But it’s really not so simple…I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also” (qtd. in “John Forbes Nash”). To many “normal” people, the terms “insanity” or “madness” portray a negative connotation-- the unfortunate ones “suffer” from mental illness. However, brilliant mathematician and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, who has paranoid schizophrenia, cherishes his unique condition as a means of retreat from the brutalities of reality (“John Forbes Nash”). Since ancient times, people have observed the link between madness and creative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions of
In the article On Being Sane in Insane Places, the problem is trying to figure out if sane people can be distinguished from the insane and what is or is not normal. This article talks about an experiment that was done to see if sane people were detected from the insane or not and how it was conducted. It states that “normality is distinct enough that it can be recognized wherever it occurs, for it is carried within a person.” This article will prove if this theory is correct or not and how the information for the answer was gathered.
Hayakawa states that a sane individual is someone who is not well-adjusted to their society as many other members are. Hayakawa writes that many members of society “believe that adjustment to a society, in the sense of complete conformity with the goals, internal and external, of that society, is the goal of mental health” (7). For the person to achieve complete conformity, they will have to not only think as others in the society, but also feel that way and strive for similar goals. For example, “in a Nazi society you would be a good Nazi” (7). Even if something may be considered evil, a well–adjusted person will bandwagon along with everyone else and do it. However, a sane individual will not always think and feel as everyone else. They will
When you are insane, you are busy being insane - all the time... When I was crazy, that's all I was. - Sylvia Plath
The answer that Ken Frieden gives to this question is a positive one. He downplays the contrast between the sane narrative and mad narrator: “The discrepancy between sane narrator and madman perhaps shows the error of assuming that linguistic normalcy implies psychological normalcy.” Friedan took it for granted that the narrator is mad because he kills an old man for no reason. He is doubly mad, Friedan said, when he imagines he hears the pounding of the dead man's heart and gives away the crime he had concealed. Yet the narrator tells a coherent tale, as if to demonstrate out of spite that he is sane, refuting the ordinary belief that he must be mad.
Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.
In very earlier research, the theory developed by Wicklund (1975, 1978, 1979) defines self-awareness mostly as one’s ability to self-observe. That person will base on certain standard or new information to judge his own behavior (as cited in
Although traditionally being insane is a desired state, she cannot help but feel envy for his unadulterated and peaceful mind. His innocence and ignorance of his surrounding world is caused by his lunacy, but Smith ascertains that a greater unity with nature should be more important than the business of consciousness and self-awareness.