- Chapter 10: Esther clearly loves writing and sees herself as a writer. Unfortunately, the two most important people in her life do not see her passion for writing as a sensible desire for her life. How does Buddy's and her mother's discounting of Esther's desire to be a writer (specifically a poet) effect how she views herself? How does she react to the discouragement she is recieving from Buddy and her mother?
- Chapter 11: Esther's condition has gotten so bad that she has been sent to a psychiatrist. However, this psychiatrist does ont seem to make Esther feel comfortable at all. What is it about him that makes her think he is conceited? What do you think is behind her desire to control what he knows about her?
- Chapter 11: What do you think is behind Esther's desire to escape to Chicago?
- Chapter 12: Esther has her first shock treatment in this chapter. How does the treatment effect her? When she decides not to go back to Doctor Gordon, is she making that decision because she is cured? If she is not, why doesn't she want to go back?
- Chapter 12: At the end of this chapter, Esther begins to contemplate suicide. What is it that keeps her from going through with any of her plans?
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Madness Begins to be Known
Consider the following questions, and leave a comment with your thoughts on each of them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1. Buddy and Esther's mother both believe that her writing a book is not a good thing. Buddy says it's stupid and that she'll get over it once she has a family. She won't have time for things like writing poetry anymore. Esther's mother encourages her to take summer classes when Esther tells her she is writing a novel. Neither of them support her decision and Esther is hurt by this. She basically breaks up with Buddy in her own mind because he doesn't believe in her and she stops paying attention to her mother.
ReplyDelete2. Esther thinks Dr.Gordan is conceited because he is a handsome man and she feels like he is also flaunting his beautiful family in front of her. He has a picture on his desk of his family and it is pointed towards the patients, Esther says it's like he's letting all his patients know he has a beautiful family and doesn't want any of them. I find it weird that she is keeping her writing thing away from him at first. She obviously knows she's crazy so why wouldn't she want help?
3. I think Esther is still looking for something to cover up her unhappiness and growing insanity. She thinks going to Chicago will stop thee people from thinking she is crazy. Esther thinks that these people thinking she is crazy is wrong and that she isn't really crazy. She thinks that people in Chicago will not think of her as crazy because they won't know her. She really just wants to escape her life itself.
4. The shock treatment does just that, it shocks her. She doesn't understand why she is being shocked because she doesn't know what she did. Esther believes the shock treatment is horrible torture and doesn't understand why they're doing it to her, she thinks she must have done something really wrong to deserve this. She makes the decision to not go back because she doesn't believe she is as bad as all the other people there and she doesn't like the shock treatment. I do not believe she is cured because she still wants to kill herself and still hasn't slept.
5. Esther contemplates slitting her wrists in the bathtub. The first time she can't do it because she believes that it is wrong to cut her wrists because they're defenseless, but really she's finding a way to stall. Which she does, she can't do it anymore because it's too close to when her mother gets home and her mother would find her before she had time to bleed out. The second time she's at the beach and has to bath, so she thinks about going to a boarding house to get the bath. But at the boarding house there would be people trying to get into the bathroom so it wouldn't work there either. I believe she really doesn't want to kill herself but she sees this as a solution for her insanity.
-Kristina Frechette
Esther doesn’t believe that she has what it takes to be a writer and that nobody believes in her so why should she? Esther believes that Buddy and her mother believe she is wasting her time being a poet and should learn shorthand writing and get a safe career. She wrote to Buddy telling him that she was engaged so he wouldn’t bother her and decided to write a novel instead of poetry.
ReplyDeleteHe is very proud of himself because he is good looking, has a great job, and is on top of life, with plenty life left. He isn’t cheery or kind. He is all business and serious and she doesn’t want to open up to him. She doesn’t really want to tell him all about her problems because she doesn’t want people to think she’s crazy.
She was unhappy with herself and everyone around her and wanted to escape and loose herself in the city life.
She was more in control of her life and decided she didn’t want to return to him. She doesn’t want to go back because she believes that if she continues to see him people will think she really is crazy and needs help and might have to be put into an insane asylum.
She doesn’t go through with the suicide because she finds complications in the plan where someone would find her and she would be saved before she could bleed out. In the end she just seems too timid and scared to kill herself right yet.
Miranda....
ReplyDelete1.Chapter 10: Esther's mother and Buddy's did not encourage anything that Esther was trying to become or accomplish in her life. With her mother and Buddy, the two most important people in her life being this way towards Esther's decisions, she begins to not believe in herself and her abilities. Esther's doesn't believe in Esther being able to write a novel, and instead she wants her to learn shorthand. Buddy on the other hand wants her to become a stay home mom and a great wife for the rest of her life instead of writing. Because of these negative reactions that Esther is getting she is beginning the thoughts of killing herself. All this stress is killing her inside and she is having a hard time making up her mind about what she wants. She starts to become really confused about what she wants to accomplish in her future. She becomes more depressed than ever.
2.Chapter 11: Esther went to see the phycision and the first thing she noticed about Dr. Gordon was that he was a young doctor and very attractive. On his desk he had placed a picture of his family and his wife, half turned towards her. Esther took this gesture as Dr. Gordon trying to show off and try to show Esther that he was taken. Esther is also just trying to control what Dr. Gordon actually knows about her. This is because she wants to prove to him that she is still in control of herself and she isn't “crazy.” She still feels like she wants to control some part of her life and prove that she is just as normal as anyone.
3.Chapter 11: Esther wants to escape to Chicago because she wants to just get away and erase all of the judgements that she has received from the close people around her. She wants to get away from the high expectations of the society and people in Boston. Also, she thinks that in Chicago the people are more unique so she would fit right into place without being considered “different.” She wants to go to Chicago thinking that it's a place to go to leave all of your past behind. It's like a new beginning in her mind.
4.Chapter 12: After the shock treatment Esther made them to believe that she felt alright, when really she was feeling terrible. She was confused after, began having flashbacks, and also started thinking towards the line of suicide. She even tried to kill herself at that moment. After the treatment she decided not to go back to Dr. Gordon because she might have believed that she was alright now that she had the treatment, when really she was just as confused. Why does she want to stop going if she still knows that she is crazy and still needs help?
5.Chapter 12: Esther is beginning to contemplate suicide by this time, but she doesn't seem to ever follow through with her plans. She is not commiting to these plans because she is scared and feels as though if she did anything it would be completely wrong. Like the time that she was going to cut herself in the bathtub. She just couldn't get enough courage to be able to follow through with the suicide plans that she was making. Esther in my mind was scared.
1.Chapter 10: With her mother's and Buddy's discouragement, Esther begins to doubt herself and her abilities. Esther's mother does not fully believe that Esther would be able to write a novel, and instead wants her to learn shorthand. Buddy believes that poems are “dust”, and instead wants her to be a stay at home wife and mother. Because Esther is not getting any encouragement from two of the major people in her life, she starts to get really really confused about what she wants to do in the future. This is making her depression much worse.
ReplyDelete2.Chapter 11: When Esther went to see the psychiatrist, the first thing she noticed about Dr. Gordon about him is that he is young and handsome. On his desk, he had a picture of his family and his beautiful wife, half turned towards her. Esther took this gesture as Dr. Gordon trying to show off, and to show Esther how he is taken. Esther really wanted to control what the doctor knew about her. I believe she wanted to control how much because she still wanted to control some part of her life, and at to prove to herself how she isn't crazy just yet.
3.Chapter 11: Esther wanted to escape to Chicago to run away from her previous judgements and expectations from all the people who know her in Boston. Also, she believes that Chicago is a place where people can go to leave behind their past, and that citizens of Chicago are unique people, so someone like Esther would just blend in.
4.Chapter 12: After the shock treatment, Esther was asked how she felt, and although she said she was “all right”, she felt terrible. She immediately started having more flashbacks, was quite confused, and started having suicidal thoughts, and actually started to try to kill herself. Esther was also unable to concentrate. When Esther decided she didn't want to go back, I think it was not because she was “cured”, but because she was even more confused, and experiencing the shock, and seeing all the “dummies” in the house, could have persuaded her to not go back.
5.Chapter 12: Esther is unable to commit any of her suicide plans because, right before she does it, she always gets scared, and is just too afraid to go through with it. When she was thinking about how people were disemboweled, she decided that she could never have the courage to do this, and she was also scared of the sight of blood.
1. Because Buddy and her mother do not view her as a writer, it makes her not believe that she is in fact a writer. Buddy tells Esther that after having children, she will never want to write again, and Esther takes this very hard. Esther’s mother also disbelieves that Esther could be a writer and tells her often to learn something practical like shorthand, which she comes to hate because it seems as if all the symbols blend together. Esther reacts to the discouragement by sitting down and trying to write a novel to disprove anyone who did not have faith in her writing abilities, but she ends up not being able to write.
ReplyDelete2. Esther thinks that Doctor Gordon is conceited because of the way he looks (he is good-looking), the way that he asks her questions (he sits there and does not interject anything) and the way he positions the pictures on his desk (with his beautiful wife and children half facing the patient). She doesn’t want Doctor Gordon to know much about her because she doesn’t want him to think that she is crazy. She does not want to give him too much information about what she is thinking in fear that it will provoke him to call her crazy.
3. I think that Esther wants to escape to Chicago because she wants to assume a new identity. She no longer wants to be Esther, she wants to be Elly Higgenbottom and go where no one will know her.
4. Esther does not like the treatment, in fact it reminds her of electrocuting her hands on a lamp earlier in her life. She makes the decision not to go back to Doctor Gordon because does not feel that the shock treatment has helped her. She feels as if she had to be punished for something and that is why she is being shocked, so she does not like that feeling and does not want to go back.
5. The thing that mostly keeps her from going through with the suicide is the fact that she thinks about where she could go to commit suicide, but nothing seems to be convenient. She talks about going in a boarding house and doing it, but she thinks that someone would knock on the bathroom door. She thinks about doing it in the ocean, but realizes that this is not the way that she wants to die.
Ben Hartford
ReplyDeleteHonors English
3/26/10
#1.When Buddy and Esters mom discount Esters desire to be a writer, it Makes her feel like she is worthless and like she should take a year off from school. Then it effects her so she can`t sleep and that causes her to have to go to a doctor. She reacts very negatively to them and really short of gives up at being a writer temporarily.
#2. The fact that he shows that he is married so she doesn`t sleep with him. He has a picture of the perfect family on his desk showing that probably isn`t even his.
#3. I think she wanted to escape chicago because she wanted to be in a place where nobody new her. I think she was seeking a new identity and a place where she could make her own reputation because no one knew her and she would have a pre stereotyped reputation.
4.Shock treatment affects her badly she says it feels like there killing her. She is not making a decision to go back because she is cured but because she hates shock treatment.
5.A small boy stops her from committing suicide because he sees her and she doesn`t go through with it.
Chapter 10:
ReplyDelete- She may feel rather lost because she doesn’t have the support of her family while she is writing. it effects the way that she becomes thinking that she can’t do it. She stops believing in herself and feel pressured to do something that the closest people in her life want her to do. And the discouragement makes her believe that she isn’t good enough.
Chapter 11:
- What would make her think he is conceited is that he kinda thinks he is the best, cause of his perfect family and all he has that is perfect and then Esther is crazy, and he doesn’t like that she is not like him. She wants to control what he knows because she wants to be able to be right, and not have another person know how she is, and how she lives her life.
Chapter 11:
- I think that the reason behind Esther’s desire to escape to Chicago because of how all of the people are discouraging her, and she wants to get away from all the people, so know one will know how she is really crazy. People wont judge her as much cause they wont know her.
Chapter 12:
- The shock treatment made her more crazy then before. She compared the shock treatment to the Rosenburghs electricution. She doesn’t want to go back for more treatments because she is afraid of the shock treatment and Doctor Gordon. But she is not going back because she is cured, she is just to scared
Chapter 12:
- What keeps her from going through with the suicide because she is really scared. She is afraid of how the death will end up. She doesn’t want to have pain after if she doesn’t succeed the suicide.
ASHLEY DOREY
#1. Esther views herself as worthless when BUddy and her mother do not go along with her passion for writing poetry. I think that to them they believe that she is just wasting her time and what ever she does produce that will not amount to anything in the end. I don't feel as though Buddy or Esther's mother are giving her a fair chance at what she loves to do, write poetry. She reacts by not sleeping and waiting to go to any kind of schooling. She is basically taking time of to work and earn more money so that she can off and escape from her mother and Buddy.
ReplyDelete#2. When Esther went to see the psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon she had felt that he was conceited because he was had, had a picture on his desk of his family and that was half turned towards her and also when she had gone to see him she had noticed that he had been a young and handsome man. When she went she had probably taken this as a way of him telling his patients that he was happy, and had a nice family that he had been very proud of and was living the life that he had planned out for himself.
#3. I think that Esther wants to escape to Chicago so that she can change her identity to Elly Higginbottom so that no one will know her and so that she can basically start her life over again. I also think that she would like to escape to Chicago so that she get away from her mother, the Doctor and Buddy so that she can pursue her dream in writing and not have to worry about what they think of what she is doing.
#4. The Shock Treatment when given to Esther does not sure her at all. When she goes she does not understand why she has been brought to that Doctor in the first place because in her mind she has done nothing wrong to deserve this kind of punishment. Esther does not go back to the doctor because she feels that she has done nothing wrong and that she doesn't need any type of treatment. I don't think that Esther is cured because she has feels to commit suicide and she still hasn't slept in over two weeks.
#5. Esther isn't able to go through with any of her suicide attempt because one she is scared and two when ever she attempts to kill herself there always to be something in the way like her mother or other people. I feel that she keeps on putting her suicide attempts off because she is too scared to kill herself and that she would feel that if she did kill herself she would hurt her family.
Ch. 10. The fact that the two most important people in Esther's life do not view her as a poet is really hurtful for Esther. At this point in her life, Esther needs all the support that she can. Buddy and her mother feel that Esther is wasting her time and that she would be better at home in the kitchen. This assumption makes Esther feel worthless. Esther is already having a hard enough time dealing with the fact that she didn't get accepted for the writing course that she wanted to take, now she is surrounded by people that don't even take her dream seriously. She reacts by not being able to sleep and contemplating whether or not she should go to college. She has to choose between living for society's standards or for her own.
ReplyDeleteCh. 11. Esther does not feel comfortable with this psychiatrist for many reasons. One reason is that on his desk, there is a picture of his family. His family seems to be the "perfect" family. It' almost like the doctor is rubbing it in Esther's face, and questioning her about why can't she be happy like them? Why is she messed up? And, showing her that it's not hard to live in happiness. Also, that his life was planned out and all put together. While her life was not. During the visit, Esther feels that Dr. Gordon wants to be in control. This scares Esther because if she's not in control of her own life, then what is she in control of? She doesn't want Dr. Gordon to be right, and she wants to have control over her own thoughts and actions.
Ch. 11. I feel that Esther wants to escape to Chicago to just start over. No one would know her in Chicago. She could have a new identity and be known as Elly. It's almost like she is running from her problems and she thinks that going to an entirely new place with make these problems go away. Esther wanted to escape Buddy, not have to face the letdowns she was presenting to her mother, and not have to see Dr. Gordon again. Escaping to a new place seemed to be the only way to manage this.
Ch. 12. Esther's first shock treatment terrifies her. Esther now feels as if she is being punished. This confuses her even more than she was before. I feel that receiving these shock treatments only make Esther feel more of an outcast. She views this as being punished and she now believes she has done something wrong. Esther is not cured when she decides to not go back to Dr. Gordon. Esther is simply terrified of the shock treatments and wants out. Before, she was never actually thinking about suicide, but now she wants to escape the world around her.
Ch. 12. I feel that the reason why Esther has not committed suicide yet is because she is scared she will not die. She never felt like she had even time. She didn't want someone to walk in on her before the act was committed and them save her from death. If she was going to die, then she wanted to be found dead. She was scared that if she survived the attempt that she would have to deal with the after math. She would have to deal with her mother's pain, and the pain of herself. She had never intended on hurting anyone around her, she just wanted to find a way out of the confusion she lived in now.