Ursa and Generations :: Free Essays

Ursa and Generations It is difficult to come up with a logical explanation of why Ursa's doctors decided to remove her womb and therefore leaving her infertile after suffering a fall down the stairs. She was described as three months pregnant at the time of the fall, so her losing the fetus makes sense, but this hardly seems to justify taking her womb out. Ursa places full blame on Mutt and he stands out as the logical person toward whom she harbors all of her resentment. He was drunk at the time of her accident and from prior account Mutt was insanely jealous, protective and did not want Ursa working. One can not help but wonder how many black women during this period of American History were given hysterectomies for irrational reasons. It seems Ursa's emotions are pulled in different directions. Unfortunately, she not only had to deal with the physical and emotional pain of not being able to bear children but also confronted the reality that the history of her family and Corregidora would end with her. At times, I found it selfish of Great-Gram and Gram to burden the story of Corregidora on Ursa at such a young age. I understand that they did not wish their history and memories to die with them, but the way in which Ursa responds with her emotions indicated to me she was traumatized by their memories. Once she became infertile, she was not able to completely heal emotionally, and she felt she was not complete or not woman enough because she did not have a womb. Ursa became the vessel of Gram's and Great-Gram's unrecorded history, and even if she did not know it, she was filled with all their hurt, anger and humiliation. The way for her to release these feelings would have been to "create

Allegory of the Cave and Narrator Essay

As the philospoher Seneca once said, â€Å"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable. † Raymond Carver’s Cathedral is a story about a man who started out as a closed-minded man but, throughout the story his character changes as he begins to bond with his wife’s friend, Robert, a man who is blind. Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a story about a prisoner who is freed from being locked in chains living all of his life underground and finding out a different perspective about a lie he’s been living his whole life, being told as a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon. In the stories, â€Å" Cathedral† by Raymond Carver, and â€Å" Allegory of the Cave† by Plato, both authors argue that a person’s reality is not always what is seems to be. In â€Å" Cathedral,† Raymond Carver uses irony between the narrator and Robert when they talk about the cathedral. The narrator tries to explain how a cathedral looks like with words when he says â€Å" To begin with, they’re very tall. I was looking around the room for clues. They reach way up. Up and up. Toward the sky. They’re so big, some of them, they have to have these supports. To help hold them up, so to speak† to Robert who is blind and can’t really apprehend what is being said. (Carver, page 24, lines 448-451). Until Robert asks to be drawn a cathedral when he says â€Å" Hey, listen to me. Will you do me a favor? I got an idea. Why don’t you find us a pen and some heavy paper. Go on, bub, get the stuff† the narrator realizes that Robert sees by touching around the paper. (Carver, page 25, lines 492-495). What the narrator doesn’t understand is that the blind man can’t see what he sees even though he thinks that by describing with words about how a cathedral looks, helps. The irony Carver is trying to show is that the narrator is the one who is blind, not Robert, because he perceives his reality to be similar to Roberts but instead really isn’t. In â€Å" Allegory of the cave† Plato uses metaphor about the message that is being compared to an imaginary prisoner’s life. Socrates explains to Glaucon â€Å" Behold! Human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and neck chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turing round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets† to imagine a person who is living a certain kind of way for a long period of time. (Plato, page 8, lines 5-14). Then they are told that what they are living is a lie when Socrates says â€Å" And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and wlak and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distrees him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, -what will be his reply? † (Plato, pages 8-9. Lines 42-51). Socrates then says â€Å" And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him† to explain that the prisoner will want to believe what he is already accustomed not to what has just been told to him. (Plato, page, lines 57-61). The metaphor that the story compares to is a prisoners life and perspective of reality, once you are told that the way you have been living for your whole life is wrong, you are most likely to be scared of the truth that has just been told to you since the reality that you have been living isn’t what it seems to be. In both stories, â€Å" Cathedral† by Raymond Carver and â€Å" Allegory of the cave† by Plato, both authors use imagery to descibe how the characters in the story are lead to a new reality that has been bestow upon them. In â€Å" Cathedral† the narrator learns the way Robert sees things when he says â€Å" He ran his fingers over the paper. He went up and down the sides of the paper. The edges, even the edges. He fingered the corners. All right, he said. All right, let’s do her. He found my hand with the pen. He closed his hand over my hand. Go ahead, bub, draw, he said. Draw. You’ll see. I’ll follow along with you. It’ll be okay. Just begin now like I’m telling you. You’ll see. Draw, the blind man said. † (Carver, page 26, lines 508-514). Carver reveals that by being very desciptive using imagery, the reader can understand how the narrator is getting really tense in a good way when he is shown that his perspective of reality of blind people just being blind and nothing else is about to change. In â€Å" Allegory of the cave† the prisoner is being taken to see a new perspective of the way he used to think when Socrates says â€Å" And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he’s forced into the presence of the sun himslef, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities. † (Plato, page 9, lines 63-68). Plato shows that by using imagery in his story, people can notice that the prisoner is in a lot of pain when he is being shown that his perspective of reality of the shadows being his reality is about to change for the rest of his life. In both stories â€Å" Cathedral† and â€Å" Allegory of the cave† both charcters of the story are being shown a different way of thinking. This new way of thinking evolved them into a better self being. Both charcters, the narrator and the prisoner were challeneged into a new way of thinking, both stuck to it till the end, and both became more of a fulfilled person.

The Effects Of Post Traumatic Stress On Childhood Trauma

While as a culture, we’ve brought to light many things that were formerly kept silent, the issue of childhood trauma is one that still remains under-explored, and under-represented. The pervasiveness of childhood physical and sexual abuse is something that many remain unaware of, despite the fact that the long-term effects of mistreatment are ones that remain with the victim for years after. Post traumatic stress is a disorder that has received more attention in recent years, as researchers and citizens alike have come to recognize the reality that wars, and natural disasters are far from the only causes of post traumatic stress disorder. While the treatments and diagnostic criteria for PTSD have evolved over the years to encompass more accurate and extensive symptoms, the diagnosis itself remains one that is more relevant for those who’ve experienced singular or infrequent traumatic events in early adulthood and beyond. Those who’ve been exposed to chronic and l ong-term abuse, particularly in the early formative years of life when the brain and its mechanisms are still developing, experience a wide-range of symptoms that the PTSD diagnosis does not encompass. It is for this reason, that extensive research has been done on the effects of chronic and long-term abuse. The definition of what is a traumatic event varies depending on the physiological and psychological response of the child to the stressor in their life. It is for this reason, that not every child who isShow MoreRelatedThe Consequences of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder1621 Words   |  6 Pages Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a medical condition that many people suffer from at different ages. Most of the people that have suffered from PTSD have done so due to a major trauma that occurred at some point in their life. Even though the trauma could have happened months or even years earlier, the symptoms can come back when an event or the anniversary of the trauma triggers the memory of the traumatic event. Some of the traumas that cause post-traumatic stress disorder are rapeRead MoreThe Effects Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder On A Family1183 Words   |  5 PagesThe Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on a Family The symptoms of Post-traumatic stress can vary from patient from patient. Most common symptoms are flashbacks, hyper arousal and avoidance. The first article is â€Å"Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Adolescent Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Families: A Randomized Clinical Trial.† In this article the researchers put together a random wait list control trial. They would have an intervention with the family of a cancer survivorRead MoreLong Term Effects Of Child Sexual Abuse1467 Words   |  6 PagesLong-term effects of child sexual abuse Child Abuse can be a fundamental reason of causing issues for children and young people in physically and mentally. The primitive damage caused by child sexual abuse effect on the child’s developing capacities for trust, intimacy, agency and sexuality so that child sexual abuse is considered as a trigger of mental health problems and increase the risk of major depressive disorder in early adulthood or throughout their lifetime. There is a fact that thoseRead MoreA Critical Reflection on Information Processing Theories of Trauma Response1613 Words   |  7 Pagesprocessing have been the most influential theories of trauma in terms of generating testable hypotheses and directing current treatments (Salmon Bryant, 2002). For this reason, we will attempt to critically evaluate this area of trauma theory with reference to other popular theories, the research evidence, clinical practice and developmental factors. Information Processing Theories of Trauma Response Information-processing models relating to trauma are based on Lang’s (1977) suggested that emotionsRead MoreThe Effects of Psychological Trauma on Family Essay1091 Words   |  5 PagesPsychological Trauma can alter, destroy and create a lot of bad impacts in a person’s life. The main definition of psychological trauma is the results of unique individual experience of an unusually event that invaded a person’s sense of security and safety, making he or she feels helpless and at risk of dangerous situation, and the ability to assimilate his or her emotional experience is overwhelmed at certain situation. 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Internal responses to trauma often precede development of defenses and coping mechanisms which are normal reactions to abnormal or recurring traumatic situations or experiences (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). The impact and imprint of trauma on the human psyche can lead to a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in some adults and childrenRead More The Factors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay675 Words   |  3 PagesFactors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post traumatic stress disorder occurs after a person is exposed to a terrifying ordeal which causes either grave physical or psychological harm where harm was threatened. It can become an extremely debilitating disorder to the persons life. The person can have problems interacting in social and family life, occupational instability and the breakdown of marriages can occur. 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