3rd post for Friday, May 11th

[kis...@aol.com]

Please post the 3rd part of your paper here.

[Haley Muir]

What I wrote in class today...
Katniss’s self image is portrayed through the tone and mood of her narration throughout the novel. How she views herself ranges from guilty, self centered, cowardly and depressed. She even feels invincible. “I mourn my old life here. We barely scraped by, but I knew where I fit in, I knew what my place was in the tightly interwoven fabric that was our life. I wish I could go back to it because, in retrospect, it seems so secure compared with now, when I am so rich and so famous and so hated by the authorities in the Capitol” (Collins 10). Towards the beginning of the novel her self image is foggy, she feels sorry for herself and longs for her old life. “I'm selfish. I'm a coward. I'm the kind of girl who, when she might actually be of use, would run to stay alive and leave those who couldn't follow to suffer and die. [...] No wonder I won the Games. No decent person ever does. And at some point you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead” (Collins 82-83).  This image beings to change as the novel progresses and her narration takes a less self centered turn as she beings realizing that her actions have put others lives and well being in danger. After the epiphany she decided that it is time to face her fears and stand up for those she loves. “The berries. I realize the answer to who I am lies in that handful of poisonous fruit. If I held them out to save Peeta because I knew I would be shunned if I came back without him, then I am despicable. If I held them out because I loved him, I am still self-centered, although forgivable. But if I held them out to defy the Capitol, I am someone of worth. The trouble is, I don't know exactly what was going on inside me at that moment” (Collins 87). Even with this new sense of bravery she still does not feel as confident and again in her narration allows the reader to understand what is going on inside her head. Katniss’s mindset yet again begins to take a turn for the better. He turns me toward a mirror so that I can take in the entire effect. I do not see a girl, or even a woman, but some unearthly being who looks like she might make her home in the volcano that destroyed so many in Haymitch's Quell. The black crown, which now appears red-hot, casts strange shadows on my dramatically made-up face. Katniss, the girl on fire, has left behind her flickering flames and bejeweled gowns and soft candlelight frocks. She is as deadly as fire itself” (Collins 115). After viewing herself in the fire burning brave rebellion, she beings to realize her true potential.

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From: "kis...@aol.com" <kis...@aol.com>
To: D Period 2011-2012 <d-period-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:42 AM
Subject: 3rd post for Friday, May 11th

[Joanna Larsen]

Many times traumatic events can trigger a psychological problem. In
the novel Mockingjay, the two main characters undergo several tragic
events. These events have huge affects on both Peeta and Katniss.
These affects result in disorders like depression and post-traumatic
stress disorder. Also, the characters are unsure about what thoughts
are conscious and unconscious which let them carry out insensible
actions. In addition the characters live in an unusual and their
surrounding affects them in a harmful way. The traumatic events the
characters from Mockingjay experience cause them to have various
conditions.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. It can
occur after you have seen of experienced a traumatic event that
involved the threat of injury or death. Some events that can cause
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are assault, domestic abuse,
prison stay, rape, terrorism or war. There are three categories of the
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The first is reliving the
event, which disturbs everyday activity; for example a flashback or
nightmare. The second category is avoidance; this means you feel like
you have no future, feeling detached, lack of interest in normal
activities and/or being unable to remember aspects of the trauma. The
final category is arousal where you have difficulty in concentrating,
are startled easily, have trouble sleeping, and feeling more aware.
Also, the person may feel guilt about the event, survival guilt.
Physical symptoms are dizziness, fainting, headaches and feeling your
heart beat in your chest. There are no tests that can diagnose post-
traumatic stress disorder..
Clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feeling sadness, loss,
anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or
longer. The exact cause of depression in not known. Some types can run
in families, but depression can also occur if you have no family
history of the illness. The following may play a role in depression:
alcohol or drug abuse, some medications, sleeping problems, stressful
life events (ex. Death of someone close to you, divorce, childhood
abuse or neglect, or social isolation). People with depression usually
have a negative attitude and are unable to imagine that any problem
can be solved in a positive way. Symptoms of depression are difficult
to concentrate, trouble sleeping or too much sleeping, thoughts of
death or suicide, becoming isolated, feeling hopelessness,
helplessness, and worthlessness. If depression is severe, there can be
psychotic symptoms such as hallucination and delusions. The test for
depression is questions from a health care provider about your
symptoms; the answers will help the doctor to make a diagnosis.
Being abused does not cause psychological or medical illness to occur
necessarily. But, being abused makes it much more likely that one will
occur. Commonly, people develop emotional problems after their abuse.
Some of these problems are depression, various anxiety disorders and
multiple personality disorder. Severe abuse can lead the victim to
suicide. Abuse can play a big factor in psychological problems, but
alone is not the cause of them. Symptoms of the victim getting abused
are panic attacks, self harm, sleep disturbances, flashbacks and
memory blanks.
In Mockingjay, the characters’ psychological disorders become
evident. The anxieties of the characters grow throughout the novel as
both face more difficult and intense challenges. These anxieties cause
Peeta and Katniss to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Katniss also has to live with the deaths of her family members along
with numerous close friends. These losses are too much for her to
handle and cause Katniss to fall into depression. In the beginning of
this story, Peeta gets abused. This affects him mentally and
physically and his life is greatly changed as he tries to cope with
it. Also as a result of the traumatic events, the characters are
unaware of some of their thoughts which lead to unconscious actions.
As this novel unfolds, the reader becomes aware of the many different
psychological disorders that Peeta and Katniss must learn to live
with.
By the end of the three book series, both the main characters had
faced an unbelievable amount of tragedies. Post traumatic stress
disorder is most often caused by a death of someone close to you or a
traumatic experience. Katniss lost many close friends and even a few
family members, she fought in two Hunger Games and was had a major
role in leading a troop in war. The anxiety first happened to Katniss
after the first Hunger Games. Katniss relived her time in the games in
her nightmares, having flashbacks. These flashbacks disturbed her
everyday activity, which is the first symptom category of post
traumatic stress disorder. Also, Katniss felt guilt for her survival
because she had to watch so many die, including her ally. Just before
the second Hunger Games Katniss participates in, she watches her
beloved stylist gets brutally murdered because of her. These two
deaths along with a few others overwhelm Katniss. The next symptom
category is avoidance; this means you feel like you have no future,
feeling detached, lack of interest in normal activities and/or being
unable to remember aspects of the trauma. Katniss often comes to the
decision that if she had the chance to die she would take it. She sees
no future for herself after all the bad things that have happened. The
third symptom is arousal where you have difficulty in concentrating,
are startled easily, have trouble sleeping, and feeling more aware.
Katniss barley sleeps; she wakes up from a nightmare every night.
These three categories of symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder
help recognize Katniss’ PTSD.
Along with Katniss, Peeta has also had to deal with the deaths of
many loved ones. These deaths don’t trigger Peeta’s post traumatic
stress disorder like Katniss’, though.

[Jason Kay]

Jacen Kurciviez
English-D
May 3, 2

The human mind’s in-depth conscious and subconscious workings are
truly an unbelievable concept. With any given stimulus, the person is
applied to the action in the changed environment, whether this occurs
physically or mentally to said person. The most interesting concept of
diagnosing mental disorders is the perspective viewed upon each
symptom. In fact, most mental disorders for a person are “changed”
throughout a patient’s treatment due to the fact that a more
“accurate” mental disorder fits a description of their patient. For a
believable book, most characters in literature suffer from mental
disorders and syndromes and this explains their motivations as well as
their actions.
In Jay Asher’s novel The Thirteen Reasons Why, the protagonist,
Hannah Baker, clearly suffers from depression due to constant
harassment of her actions and the unintended consequences that follow
with it. In response to the constant bullying from her peers, Hannah
seems to keep her feelings to herself about certain events until she
finally releases the reasons on how everyone has ruined her life after
she commits suicide. To further elaborate, Hannah Baker also shows
anxiety during certain events in her life and this also pushes Hannah
towards “the edge” and leads her closer to her death. This General
Anxiety Disorder goes hand-and-hand with the depression she suffers
from and results in very negative thoughts from the people around her
and in her own mind itself. The way that everything Hannah does is
brought out to the public leaves Hannah trapped in a most powerful
where she is ridiculed and critiqued for everything she does. The
Thirteen reasons why Hannah killed herself can all be related back to
her mental disorders along with the actions of her peers.
To begin, Hannah Baker’s depression first shows symptoms when her
first kiss is ridiculed by other students in her school. Hannah
expresses her thoughts about the problem by simply ignoring the rumors
which suppresses her feelings and adds stress to her life which will
later evolve into serious depression. Hannah’s “first kiss” (Usually
an innocent event for most) was stripped away from her pride and this
causes Hannah to be put at an outlier position among her peers which
can make the human mind a powerful weapon against oneself. The way
that the event is introduced to the public leaves Hannah in a state
where her privacy is starting to be breached. A teen with no privacy
will feel alone and hopeless, (teen depression website) as Hannah’s
behavior/mood indicates, and although these feelings are not as severe
as they later will be, it indicates the later actions that will be
made by her. Additionally, Hannah feels “betrayed” by Justin for how
he publicized the event. Hannah opens up on how betrayal feels to her
when she says “Betrayal. It’s one of the worst feelings.” (Asher, 13)
Hannah claimed she had a special bond with Justin, mostly because of
small events, but the power Justin holds over Hannah is quite
remarkable and the fact that Justin betrays her adds on to Hannah’s
stress. Although the event was minor at the moment to Hannah, as she
admits, it transformed into something greater and even added anger to
her stress acclaimed by the rumor started about her. As Hannah
realizes how Justin told his friends another story, Hannah becomes, in
short, frustrated with what he did. This anger developed not only
makes Hannah mad at Justin, but also it seems, as later indicated in
the novel, that Hannah gets mad at herself and regrets this kiss due
to the snowball effect it had on her. Although Hannah shows a sign of
depression, her regret of the event itself shows how she is still has
a normal functioning human mind that will think of the “other”
possibilities of what could have happened rather than what already
happened. This response to the stimulus that occurs to Hannah’s mind
depicts her humanity and what the human mind will do in times of
stress.
Another contributing factor to Hannah’s stress was how Alex Standall
voted Hannah as number one for the list of “Who’s Hot and Who’s Not”
in the Freshman class. Hannah, still a new student, came into a
completely different school environment than what she was used to.
Naturally, any human when they switch schools will become anxious or
scared as they think of all the possibilities that could go wrong at
their new school. Hannah underwent this typical anxiety, but as she
found out about the list with her name on it, she started to become
insecure about herself. As some can relate, if a girl receives a
comment on her body from some random guy she will feel embarrassed and
angry, and Hannah supports this theory when she examples it during
class when another student comments on her body. The list made Hannah
more insecure about herself and the publicity of Alex’s list sent the
message that “It’s okay to comment and do what ever you please to
Hannah Baker.” To add on to Hannah’s stress, Hannah was used as a
“weapon” towards another girl in the class to make another girl,
Jessica Davis, feel bad and jealous. Hannah, unwillingly, was part of
some sort of revenge plot and this can make anyone with a good heart
feel horrible about themselves. Hannah is blamed for something that
she had no control of and not only did this make Jessica jealous but
it also made them not friends anymore. Hannah undergoes insecurity and
other guys using her body as a toy AND loses a close friend. This
leaves Hannah in an alone and angry state in which she does not have
many people to turn and talk to, considering that Alex and Jessica
were her only “friends.” In fact, the list made for Hannah can be
viewed as the very first initiation of her real depression considering
when Hannah says “Okay. I just looked over every name—every story—that
completes these tapes. And guess what. Every single event documented
here may never have happened had you, Alex, not written my name on
that list. It’s that simple.” (Asher, 41) This quote, stating how Alex
supposedly “started everything” , shows how the human mind can
actually reach back to the root of its stress and identify the
starting cause of the problem. Although Hannah knows how the problem
started, the snowball affect that occurred after this incident will
clearly start to develop her depression more seriously. As her
depression increases Hannah’s mind will slowly dig a “deeper hole” in
which she falls into and with the deeper she gets into the hole, the
harder it will be for her to escape. Also, part of Hannah’s anxiety is
present due to the way she “relives” this certain event in her head.
Whether it is the list being made or her and Jessica not being friends
anymore, Hannah has flashbacks and memories of the pain and stress she
endured at this period of her life to intensify the amount of stress
she already has. This anxiety matches with her depression and will
only make Hannah more alone and scared of possible events in the
future, as well as holding the fear she has had in the past.
In addition, another direct reason why Hannah killed herself was
because of another boy spying on her change her clothes.
012

http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/teen-depression
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad/index.shtml

On May 10, 10:42 am, "kiss...@aol.com" <kiss...@aol.com> wrote:

[Rachel Ashley]

Rachel Ashley

May 4, 2012

Mrs. Connors

 

            Humans of all kind feel a need to be accepted; they want to belong. This concept is one that lies at the very core of one’s human nature. While a few rise above this urge encoded in to the very fabric of the human heart, millions succumb to this insisting desire, yielding to the demons of conformity. There is a line that exists between wanting this acceptance from others and becoming totally dependent upon this urge for acceptance. For most, there is a clear distinction between these two things, but for some this line becomes blurred. These people are known as Neurotics; they suffer from “a mental and emotional disorder that affects only part of the personality, it is accompanied by a less distorted perception of reality than in a psychosis, does not result in disturbance of the use of language, and is accompanied by various physical, physiological, and mental disturbances.”[1] So what is it that brings on these severe mental disturbances? Several philosophers have decided to examine this issue and see it they can learn what brings this on. One of the key researchers in this filed is Karen Horney, who has come up with the most logical way of defining both how people first become neurotics and has been able to come up with three categories into which neurotics generally fit. However, people are not the only ones that can fit in to these categories, since characters in novels often take on very humanistic traits it is only natural that a handful of them would also suffer from neurosis without ever even realizing it. In the series, The Nightside, by Simon R. Green it becomes apparent that the character John Taylor is one that suffers from this mental disorder.

            What is it that first made John Taylor in to the neurotic that he is? According to Karen Horney, “The key to understanding this phenomenon is the child's perception, rather than the parent's intentions.” [2] In his early years John Talyor was often neglected by his father who would

Moms’s opinon

 “I will respeak your most seceret name and remake you unto the respectful, obedient son I always intended you to be.”

John talking to his dad

“You went away. Abandoned me to my enemies, when I was just a child. You left me alone when I needed you most. You drank your self to death rather than raise me, why?” Pg 236

His dad to him

“You’ve done well, in my abances. I am proud of you, my son”

“That is all that I ever wanted page” 237

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[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/neurosis

[2] http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/horney.html