Synthesis of the Work of Stout and Gilbert Everyone experiences some kind of trauma within his or her lifetime whether it be physical or emotional. In the essay “Immune to Reality,” Gilbert talks about the psychological immune system and explains how people at times are unable to predict their future emotions. In the essay “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning It Was Friday” Stout discusses disassociation, its causes and its effects. Although different in subject, the two essays “Immune to Reality” and “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning It Was Friday” share a common theme (Stout ---) (Gilbert ---). The two essays, using psychoanalysis, discuss how the brain attempts to protect people from physical and emotional harm. Something that many fail to realize
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A woman, Beverly, is waiting for the train and reading a newspaper (Stout 581). Lost in a story, the sound of an approaching train startles her (Stout 581). “She is ambushed by bodily feelings and even a smell,” (Stout 581). Although she is unaware of it, the smell of chlorine triggers her, putting her “perceptually and emotionally,” in the past (Stout 581). Through her emotions, she relives the horrifying memory of seeing her younger sister get hit and killed by a speeding car (Stout 581). Despite the intense feelings she experiences, Stout explains, Beverly will not remember any of it “because by the next heartbeat, a long-entrenched dissociative reaction to the declared emergency may already have been tripped in her brain, to “protect” her from this “unbearable” childhood memory,” (Stout 582). Her brain, as a defense mechanism will cause her to dissociate and not think about the memory but instead feel as if she were in a hazy dream, or depart from herself for a little while, feeling as if she were on autopilot mindlessly going through the motions of life (Stout 582). Stout explains that the entire episode was triggered by the smell of chlorine, not because chlorine played a role in Beverly’s sister’s death, but because Beverly and her sister were coming from the pool when it and the smell of chlorine was in the air when it …show more content…
In Gilbert’s “Immune to Reality,” Gilbert discusses how someone buying a new car may enjoy a car more if they cannot return it and their psychological immune system helps them to find reasons to appreciate it more (Gilbert 203). He says, “Little red roadsters are naturally cramped and […] a committed owner will find positive ways to view that fact (“Wow! It feels like a fighter jet!”)” Here Gilbert is showing how things have no meaning until someone applies meaning to it, the committed owner takes a cramped car and make it into a unique object with sentimental value (Gilbert 203). Links to existentialist theory can be found in Stout’s piece when she introduces one of her patients, Julia (Stout 585). Julia is a very accomplished woman working in the film industry, who suffers from a severe trauma disorder, because of this disorder she is not able to recall many details from her childhood (Stout 585).”At thirty-two, she could swim, read, drive a car, and play a few songs on the piano. But she could not remember learning any of these skills,” (Stout 585). Despite having no recollection of her past she is still very talented and very successful, she does not feel upset about this fact until it is pointed out to her, this shows that the memories had no meaning until she gave them meaning and value (Stout 585). Both
A woman, Beverly, is waiting for the train and reading a newspaper (Stout 581). Lost in a story, the sound of an approaching train startles her (Stout 581). “She is ambushed by bodily feelings and even a smell,” (Stout 581). Although she is unaware of it, the smell of chlorine triggers her, putting her “perceptually and emotionally,” in the past (Stout 581). Through her emotions, she relives the horrifying memory of seeing her younger sister get hit and killed by a speeding car (Stout 581). Despite the intense feelings she experiences, Stout explains, Beverly will not remember any of it “because by the next heartbeat, a long-entrenched dissociative reaction to the declared emergency may already have been tripped in her brain, to “protect” her from this “unbearable” childhood memory,” (Stout 582). Her brain, as a defense mechanism will cause her to dissociate and not think about the memory but instead feel as if she were in a hazy dream, or depart from herself for a little while, feeling as if she were on autopilot mindlessly going through the motions of life (Stout 582). Stout explains that the entire episode was triggered by the smell of chlorine, not because chlorine played a role in Beverly’s sister’s death, but because Beverly and her sister were coming from the pool when it and the smell of chlorine was in the air when it …show more content…
In Gilbert’s “Immune to Reality,” Gilbert discusses how someone buying a new car may enjoy a car more if they cannot return it and their psychological immune system helps them to find reasons to appreciate it more (Gilbert 203). He says, “Little red roadsters are naturally cramped and […] a committed owner will find positive ways to view that fact (“Wow! It feels like a fighter jet!”)” Here Gilbert is showing how things have no meaning until someone applies meaning to it, the committed owner takes a cramped car and make it into a unique object with sentimental value (Gilbert 203). Links to existentialist theory can be found in Stout’s piece when she introduces one of her patients, Julia (Stout 585). Julia is a very accomplished woman working in the film industry, who suffers from a severe trauma disorder, because of this disorder she is not able to recall many details from her childhood (Stout 585).”At thirty-two, she could swim, read, drive a car, and play a few songs on the piano. But she could not remember learning any of these skills,” (Stout 585). Despite having no recollection of her past she is still very talented and very successful, she does not feel upset about this fact until it is pointed out to her, this shows that the memories had no meaning until she gave them meaning and value (Stout 585). Both