Fear and Control of the Unknown Essay - 874 Words

Throughout history many communities have been persecuted for being different from the general public. Society has often forced these unique individuals to assimilate or be constrained because of the publics fear and anxiety of the unknown. Such insecurities led to the mistreatment and restraint of both the slaves as portrayed in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and the mental patients in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest. One of the most apparent and important themes in both One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is control. Fear is used as a means to gain control over the slave by their master or even by the slave to achieve a sense of power over the master. The white men of this era attempted†¦show more content†¦The black aides also harassed the men on a daily basis, asserting their control over one of the only groups considered socially beneath them during this discriminatory era. In Incidents in the Life... the violence is even more apparent. Gruesome accounts of punishments inflicted upon misbehaving slaves by masters like Mr. Litch, who [...]tied a rope around a mans body, and suspended him from the ground. A fire was kindled over him, from which was suspended a piece of fat pork. As this cooked, the scalding drops of fat continually fell on the bare flesh (Jacobs 51). Many characters in both novels became so desperate that they believed that death was the only practical means of escape. Both Billy Bibbit and Cheswick in One Flew... decided suicide was their only way out and in Incidents in the Life...Linda often wishes for death for her and for her loved ones (68). Even McMurphy, the brave protagonist of One Flew..., hints at his own demise when he chooses to stay after the party rather than make an easy escape (Kesey 166). This leads the reader to believe that for McMurphy, the only method to escape with dignity is through death. The Chief evidently agreed and in the end finished the task for him (279). Sexuality was a greatly feared phenomenon in both the late 1800s and the mid 1900s. Both authors used thisShow MoreRelatedEdgar Allan Poe s The Tell Tale Heart857 Words   |  4 Pageshave one thing in common... they all fear the unknown. Humans fear what they can t control. Author, Edgar Allan Poe wrote short stories that evoked emotions of fear of the unknown in a way that speaks to the reader. Some of Poe s stories were not well accepted in his day because people were just not ready for them- they were scary. Poe s works The Tell-Tale Heart, The Premature Burial and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar evoke emotions of fear of the unknown for the reader Edgar Allan PoeRead MoreEssay on Using Fear to Control the Masses1099 Words   |  5 PagesFear is an emotion brought on by danger, evil, or pain. Sometimes the threat is real and sometimes it can be imagined. 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Unfortunately in the short stories, â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†, by Edgar Allan Poe, and â€Å"House Taken Over†, by Julio Cortà ¡zar, haunted houses caused the characters from both stories to get tugged into fearful situations that they dont even know themselves why that is. As both stories progress, the fear of the unknownRead MoreTransformation Of The Novel The Ghost By Teal Swan920 Words   |  4 Pagestransformation in stories to scare people. Some examples are supernatural, the unknown, and death. Some people are also afraid of murders while some afraid of heights but enjoy scary movies. Someone c an go from not liking to be scared to enjoy being scared; that is a form of transformation. A quote by Teal Swan explains what we are afraid of and why. â€Å"We do not fear the unknown. We fear what we think we know about the unknown†. 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As a child, I shared these fears, but as I outgrew these demons I learned that the real angst was always hiding within my self; the fear of the unknown. It’s uncontrollable, and only discovered once time has revealed its destiny. It goes beyond the standard questions of why or what. The anxiety that fell upon me was so overwhelming it disturbedRead MoreFear Of Fear In The Novel By Bram Stoker1347 Words   |  6 PagesDating back all the way to the late eighteen hundreds, fear it self and fear of the unknown has been a major concept in a person’s life. In the novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, Stoker introduces the first idea of fear of the unknown through an encounter with a mysterious being. This horror fiction genre conveys the theme of fear within an individual. The welcoming of the unknown is often accepted, producing individuals to experience fear in different ways. Within the process of writing the