Nowra wants to show his audience as a society that the characters as inmates are just ordinary people, as he shows through mirroring himself, as Lewis, showing his views and beliefs towards the mentally ill. Having had experience with mental illness plays a large role in his writing of “Cosi” as he understands the concept of mental illness and has his strong views towards the subject, as both of his grandmothers were placed in institutions as they displayed signs of “madness”. Even though his grandmothers went “mad”, at the end of the day they are still the same person just damaged inside and they are “still [his] grandmother[s]”. Nowra used his grandmother’s madness through Lewis as his “grandmother went mad” as well, and he “[pretended] to be his father.” Nowra had experience with mental institutions and the madness of his grandmothers gave him, “intense interest” on the subject. The story about Lewis going to help inmates at an institution and direct them in a theatre performance is based on Nowra’s life when he was asked to do theatre with mental patients and direct a play called ‘Trial by Jury’. His understanding, experience and knowledge of mental illness supports the play’s plot and characters and help suggest that maybe the characters are normal and the views and treatment should be…
The interactions between Lewis and the patients in Louis Nowra’s play Cosi, challenge the audience to view the real world as a difficult place. Within the context of Australian society experiencing drastic social and political changes in the 1970’s, Nowra contrasts the views and believes of the patients living in the asylum against the opinions of the real world. Whilst in the asylum, the protagonist Lewis undergoes radical changes; his altered perspective demonstrates how the real world is not such a good place. The belief of having a relationship in which ‘men’s double standards’ aren’t an issue is presented as a possibility in the asylum. The asylum also gives the patients the opportunity to re-create themselves which is not possible in the real world.…
Additionally, Nowra explores the values that the general public hold in comparison to values the mental patients hold in helping us question who is really mad, especially in terms of love. The 1970’s could be described as a decade of “free love and orgies”, a decade where love wasn’t important compared to things such as “shelter, equality, health and money”. This idea is first implied when Lewis is interested in directing a play on politics, The Rule and the Exception due…
Nowra, in Cosi has written about a transformation, he illustrates a time when ordinary people did not understand mentally-ill patients well. Throughout this drama, Lewis' (the protagonist) concepts and perceptions of love, politics and mental illness experience a change in direction. These changes are the results of his interaction and in time, understanding of the mentally-ill patients around him. These characters, patients, help reveal the true character of Lewis.…
Throughout the book there are several variations of characters witnessing their acquaintances going through trauma & selfhood or in fact being the one under going these traits. For instance Xavier was the lead narrator for the story, he was also a cree soldier who fought for Canada during world war 1. Just like most soldiers after war, they need something to help them cope after witnessing all the gruesome experiences of war. Xavier used morphine to help him manage with killing elijah and life after war. The narration from the point of view from Xavier influences the themes of trauma and selfhood because we are able to view him from 2 perspectives, one being mental and one being physical. We see…
Sensory imagery in “vodka burned in her belly, shaky with caffeine,” illustrates the negatively consuming effects of the controllers that she is forced to resort to in order to get any way through life. Her withdrawal is apparent in the symbolism as she “bent down to the shadow of the dog,” portraying how she is living in a shadow of herself.…
In Huxley’s fictional Brave New World happiness is associated with sex, drugs, and no personal freedom. In our country, we can have happiness without all of those things. In Brave New World sex is one of the primary sources of happiness, along with soma. Brave New World promotes having lots of sex, and is very against having just one sexual partner. People aren’t worried about personal feelings in Brave New World. Whenever they feel depressed, sad, or bad at all, they take a drug called soma.…
Mustapha Mond believes that a stable society is dependent on the elimination of unhappiness. However, without true unhappiness, it is difficult to attain genuine bliss. John the Savage, who was born outside of the World State, believes that life without discomfort is not worth living. He references Shakespeare’s Othello: “‘If after every tempest came such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death’” (Huxley 265). John believes that the greatest joys in life are dependent upon the deepest pains. Citizens of the World State are dependent upon soma, a drug with minimal side affects that elicits a soaring high. The phrase, “a gramme is better than a damn” is frequently used to justify an abhorrent amount of drug abuse. Linda, John’s mother, becomes addicted to the soma and loves nothing more upon her return to the World State: “The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday” (Huxley 168). Mustapha Mond has brainwashed society to believe that their everlasting artificial bliss is genuine, and this is a key component to the society’s…
A second reason that shows my dislike for Brave New World is on (pg 88): “Swallowing … that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.” This case from Chapter 5 [part 1] is a huge reason why I do not like this particular novel. Soma is a reference to a perfect drug. Supposedly, there is nothing wrong with it at all, and it makes you completely happy; leaving behind no negative effects whatsoever. I think this is a very bad idea to put into a book due to today’s society of teenagers. Due to the already very enormous number of kids who use drugs, they might become influenced and argue that the characters in BNW can take Soma and not be affected. So then this leaves them to rationalizing that maybe everything will be perfectly satisfactory after consuming a certain drug in the real world.…
The Schopenhauer Cure (2006), authored by Irvin Yalom, is a novel detailing the journey of a prominent psychotherapist, Julius Hertzfeld, after he discovers that he is slowly dying from a terminal illness. Faced with his own mortality, Julius begins to examine his life through his effectiveness as a therapist and his failures both in his personal and professional life. Julius also decides to make a brave decision: “live life to your fullest; and then, and only then, die” (p. 11). In his book, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (2005), Yalom details eleven therapeutic factors that he associates with group change. These therapeutic factors include: instillation of hope, universality, imparting of information, altruism, corrective recapitulation of the primary family group, development of socializing techniques, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis and existential factors. These therapeutic factors also play a large role in the evolution of the therapeutic group in The Schopenhauer Cure. While all of the above therapeutic factors are utilized throughout the book, the use of some specific therapeutic factors drew more attention than others: universality, instillation of hope, imparting information, cohesiveness, and catharsis. An example of when the therapeutic factor universality is used in the novel is in chapters 17 and 19 during an outburst where Bonnie confronted Rebecca. Shortly after the confrontation, Bonnie and Rebecca both admit that they resent the group; Bonnie resents the group for feeling ignored and Rebecca resents the group for feeling as though she is being criticized. It is apparent, in the book that they both yearn for the same thing; that is, they both yearn for attention. Another example where the therapeutic factor, catharsis, is exhibited…
Cited: Baily, Cate. "NIDA for Teens: Real Stories - Marijuana." NIDA for Teens: The Science Behind Drug Abuse. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://teens.drugabuse.gov/stories/story_mj1.php>.…
In the famous 1930’s novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, a huge theme within deals with happiness. Soma, a drug used to create simultaneous happiness, is referred to numerous times throughout the…
Louis Nowra has used black comedy within Cosi to allow the audience to abandon their pre-conceptions of ‘mad’ people and to see the characters not for their illness but for their personality. Because of this the audience is able to relate to each character and their situation and realise the underlying sadness of the patients’ lives. Each character brings their own experiences and personalities into the play which creates the audience to perceive characters differently. One of the most obvious perceptions of some characters in the play is the sympathy and pity they invoke through their characters development. The character Roy, who suffers from manic depression, creates sympathy from the audience due to his tragic childhood and consent rejection from society and even the ‘insane’. Julie is also another character who’s also perceived as tragic. Julie is a patient in the asylum due to drug dependency which ultimately causes her death after the play has finished.…
The first thing that caught my attention was the view on sex. In our world today, we like to think that we should stay “pure” until we get married to the one we love. However, in this day and age that is not the case- people do engage in premarital sex. In this movie there is a motto “promiscuity is a citizen’s duty”. Meaning go out and sleep with anyone you would like, it’s okay, because it’s pleasurable. In their minds anything that is pleasurable is good. Today being promiscuous is not socially acceptable- we are preached to in school to only engage in monogamous relationships. We refer to people who are doing as “easy” or “slutty”. However, in “Brave New World” sex is pretty much a hobby. Citizens in this new world question Lenina, because she tends to sleep with only one man in the movie, Bernard. And in this new world that is not socially expected, because people do not fall in love in this new world.…
Pema Chodron should be considered a spiritual teacher for anyone. Whether they are aspiring to have one, they already have one or don’t desire one at all. In her book, When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron exposes the overwhelming potential for happiness, wisdom and courage. She explains how one can experience all of these even during the most painful of circumstances. She introduces us to the face that there is an ultimate opportunity for the right of happiness that is right within our reach and she explains how we usually miss the opportunity for that happiness. She conveys to us that we miss that opportunity for happiness because we are all caught up in the attempts to escape the pain, fear and suffering in our lives. Her stellar story, which should and probably does guide many lives, demonstrates to us how we can utilize all of our painful emotions and develop them into compassion and courage, wisdom and understanding, and ways of communication that open up to more opportunities for openness and true interaction with others. She gives us practices for reversing our negative everyday habits and methods for operating with stressful chaotic situations. She shows us ways to develop our painful and fearful emotions into compassionate and energetic feelings that manifest themselves into social action. She worked for 20 years to develop the practices that she preaches as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, while drawing in from her earlier years of experience and feelings as an everyday housewife and mother. She gives whole-hearted and thoughtful advice and wisdom that drew from all of her experience in her life. Her deep-seated and kind hearted advice establishes the grounds for what to do when lings begin to fall apart in our live and go against the normalcy in our environments and expectations. The instruction and assistance that she gives us is meant to offer us comfort and is meant to challenge our actions in our daily lives to live deeply, whole-heartedly and contribute to…