Saturday, November 30, 2019

Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment

Introduction Various psychologists find a wide engagement in different theoretical perspectives. Traditionally, there are various proposals of personality components such as ego, id, and superego, proposed for introversion and extraversion of character. Each of the proposed components forms part of the psychological functionality and therefore the need for combining the parts into a single unit.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Psychoanalytic Personality specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, it is not possible to combine the elements into a single unit because of the differences on the interpretation, but analysis of various theories assist in organizing the components into an interrelated nature without a regard to their originality. The aim of the theories is to define personality using a set of components functioning as a unit. Various theories have therefore emerged in support of the psychic personali ty appraisal. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory The psychoanalytic assessment of personality as presented by Freud’s influential work indicates that there are there main components namely the identity, ego and superego. The identity is a force that naturally and unconsciously expresses within a human being as either a love feeling/instinct or a destructive feeling. The superego is also an instinctive personality vigour that is associable with the manipulation of superlative being of an individual. The superego is a tremendous conscious and is an extreme feeling as the identity. The ego on the other hand is a personality trait that maintains a balance between the two natural forces of personality identity and the superego. Freud presents the human being as a personality in crisis due to the different components. Freud approach to development of personality indicates that there are five stages in the formation of personal traits. The development stages begin in the early pha ses of human maturity towards various fixations and life encounters. According to Freud theory, failure of psychological completion and release can lead to defence mechanism due to conflicts associable with the anxiety of progressing from a stage to another in the development lifecycle  (Cotton, 1995). Freud presents five stages of personality development in the psychoanalytic theory. Oral/Dependency The stage mainly affects the infants up to two years of age. The child faces the world and is eager to explore nature. The exploring process takes place using the mouth. Therefore, they develop a personality linked to oral perspective and are often pre-occupied with eating, drinking, and biting objects in the aim of reducing the tension.Advertising Looking for assessment on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By having this personality trait, the child is therefore needy, passive and very sensitive to any form of rejecti on. Various ideas and actions easily carry away the conscious mind of the toddlers. The opposite to this form of personality is the orally aggressive trait. The child becomes hostile, often aggressive and possibly abusive. During this stage, the child tries out the oral fixations to acquire satisfaction. They feel that life is not complete and thus a lot is not yet met, thus the urge for exploration. Behaviours training or ‘Anal/ Potty’ Training In the second stage, the child undoes training to control the natural body functions such as training of the toilet procedures. The child can easily develop trauma in case of mishandling, thus becoming retentive and rigid to changes. The opposite to these results of mistreatment is development of a personality devoted to obsessive behaviours that are irrational to the norm. The stage is associable to scenarios of being out of control or obsessively working hard to maintain order. The child may therefore develop a retentive perso nality that is stingy. Such children are obsessive to tidiness, but arguably stubborn due to their need for perfectionism. They may also become expulsive and will often lack control and end up being careless or messy. Phallic Stage The stage is associable to children between the age of four and five. The child recognizes the gender differences. Full development of personality occurs at this stage. According to Freud’s theory, the stage is classifiable through the â€Å"Oedipus and Electra Complexes (Cotton, 1995). The Oedipus represents a male child’s love for his mother and the fear/jealousy towards his father. The Electra is the female version where the female child has anger or envy toward her mother† (Cotton, 1995). Latency Period During the puberty or adolescent stage, there are very little observable personality developments because the teenagers sublimate their discoveries and urges into their hobbies or favourite sports/activities. The friends from the s ame gender also assist in avoiding the vibrant sexual differences and eminent need for observing the impulsive growth. Genital Stage The stage begins from the age of 12 years and lasts to the climax of the puberty stage. The phase is associable to the reawakening of the sexual interests especially among opposite sexes. Comparison of the Psychoanalytical theories Freud’s theory specifies the stages of personality formation but faces a lot of challenges and critics. The argument basis indicates that the outline lacks substantial evidence and corroborative data (Jonson and Jonson, 1997). People still utilize the indications metaphorically to explain the observable behaviours especially in the human development phases. Evidently, I highly agree with the facts that in his psychoanalytic theory,Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Psychoanalytic Personality specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Freud believes in th e motivational forces of a dream in the personal wish to fulfil goals. The theory portrays power, control and love as issues that can manifest in people’s dreams as they advocate for satisfaction. From the conflicting point of view, the theory presents the manifestation of the imagery and symbols in the dreams as aspects that have sexual connotation. Jung presents the analytical psychology or the ‘Jungian’ analysis that conflict with Freud’s psychoanalysis approach of harmonizing the conscious and the unconscious elements. Jung presents a scenario where the patient works with the analyst with the aim of increasing the patient’s conscious in a move to liberate him/her from the psychological suffering. The theory shows the current treatment setting of finding meaning and relief form common emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety. I highly agree with Jung’s presentation of enhancing the relationship between the unconscious and consciou s self, with emphasis on the supporting the continual development of the psychic self. It also presents the human urge to become unique and discover the potentials for development. Adler’s presentation of personality assessment indicates that every person has a unique personality. I highly concur with the presentation made by Adler that the there is need to ensure consistency over character, with the aim of a achieving the set goals. However, I disagree with the notion that unpredictable or inconsistent character traits of an individual are because people act from the unconscious mind in the aim of confusing others. Alder presents an important factor of social interest as a fundamental aspect of enhancing unity within the community. He also confers the aspect of social interest as an important measure for the psychological health, and an important factor for building a strong bond among people for sustenance. Freudian Defence Mechanism Although the presentation of human perso nality by Freud fails to address factors that link to the education sector, there are various principals from the psychological analysis utilized by other philosophers for education and training. Some of the good examples of the application include the influential approach provided by Freud towards group interaction. He assists in understanding how groups function within the context of education and training. His analysis also forms the basis for presenting the two levels of operations; the â€Å"work group† that performs unconcealed or detailed tasks and the â€Å"basic assumption group,† which behaves in a way that indicates that people share various approaches or intentions to solve problems such as dependency, sharing or defence (Bion, 1961).Advertising Looking for assessment on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion Current psychoanalytic assessment of personality points outs the need to emphasize on the power of classifying or relating to personality components. It is wise to find the differences and similarities between the affective and cognitive components. Personality is the power to determine the personal components or trait that defines and highly affects an individual. Various theories have enormous definitions of personality and the changes involved over time. Only some of the personality components change over time, therefore it is crucial to identify important components that are more prone to change of personality. References Bion, W. R. (1961) Experiences in Groups, London, Tavistock Cotton, J. (1995). The theory of Learning: an Introduction, London, Kogan Page Johnson, D.W. Johnson, F.P. (1997) Joining: Group Theory and Group Skills, (4th Edition), New Jersey, Prentice-Hall International This assessment on Psychoanalytic Personality was written and submitted by user Jordyn D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The Democratic Peace Theory De essays

The Democratic Peace Theory De essays If all states were democracies there would be no more wars. This is the statement that the Democratic Peace Theory claims to be true. It is a decidedly difficult statement to agree with however because at a glance it would appear that democracies are involved in war nearly as often as any other type of regime. In fact there is hardly one type of characteristic that explains a particular country's likelihood of war- not a nations economic position, ideology, or domestic situation, nor any other obvious characteristic. In his executive summary, Perils of a democratic peace, Mike Brookes claims that the Democratic Peace Theory appears to be based on two assumptions that aren't necessarily reality. The first, being that democracy is welcome and desirable across the globe. The second, being that democratic peace will ensure the security of states. Both of these assumptions pose no guarantees and therefore may pose a problem to the Democratic Peace Theory. To investigate the validity of the Democratic Peace Theory we must first look at the history of the involvement of democracies in wars. We must also look at what the present reasons for democracies not going to war are, and what some of the possible problems facing the possibility of democratically peaceful world are. In his book, Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another, Specer R. Weart states that the idea that free peoples would not go to war with each other had been developed by 1785. At a time when there were scarcely any democracies in existence the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in Perpetual Peace that a world where every state is a democracy would be a world of perpetual peace. However, democratic belligerence has been such a problem that it can be found almost everywhere democracies have existed. Even as early as fifth century BC the rocky coast where Dubrovnik now stands was the scene of deadly wars involving free governments. More recently in history...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Example Sentences of the Verb Leave in English

Example Sentences of the Verb Leave in English This page provides example sentences of the verb leave in all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms. Base Form leave / Past Simple left / Past Participle left / Gerund leaving Present Simple I usually leave for work at seven in the morning. Present Simple Passive Books are left on the desk at the front of the room. Present Continuous Mary is leaving for London today. Present Continuous Passive The city is being left by thousands this week. Present Perfect She hasnt left for the meeting yet. Present Perfect Passive The city hasnt been left by everybody yet. Present Perfect Continuous She has been leaving reminders around the house for years. Past Simple I left for work early yesterday morning. Past Simple Passive The magazine was left on the table yesterday afternoon. Past Continuous We were leaving for our vacation when they arrived. Past Continuous Passive The tourists were being left behind when the tour guide noticed they were missing. Past Perfect They had already left home when we got there. Past Perfect Passive The ticket had been left behind so he couldnt come. Past Perfect Continuous She had been leaving him reminders for a while before he remembered to take out the trash. Future (Will) Alice will leave soon. Future (Will) Passive The book will be left by the student. Future (Going To) We are going to leave on Friday. Future (Going To) Passive The house is going to be left by the visitors next week. Future Continuous This time next week we will be leaving on vacation. Future Perfect She will have left him by the end of next month. Future Possibility She might leave at the end of the week. Real Conditional If she leaves him, he will be very unhappy. Unreal Conditional If she left him, he would be very unhappy. Past Unreal Conditional If she had left him, he would have been very unhappy. Present Modal You can leave at any time. Past Modal They must have left early.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

DQ Responses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DQ Responses - Essay Example I perform critical thinking throughout this buying process. Eventually I found a computer that satisfied my needs and my budget constraint. Thinking outside the box involves generating ideas and finding solutions to problems in unusual places. For example a company that has done business domestically for 50 years, suddenly its manager thinks outside the box and introduces international expansion as a potential solution to achieve the desired sales growth. A person that thinks outside the box is open to possibilities others do not consider. A critical thinking technique that I utilized when making decisions is to put myself in the place of others and analyze what others would think of the decision. This technique helps me envision the different perspective that stakeholders would have and what the opinions of others might be regarding the different alternatives. A way to ensure that we have looked at a situation from every possible angle is to get more people involved in the thinking process. A group of six to eight people can be gathered to learn the opinions of others regarding the situation. A lot of minds will help a manager view different perspectives. A simple way to improve the decision making process is by allowing sufficient time before making a decision. A few years ago I worked in a start-up company that had a very cocky project manager. The PM was would get overly excited about insignificant issues. His overconfident hurt the company in the long run because he would make decisions that did not consider the effects the decision had on the employees and other stakeholders of the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Social and Psychological Factors of Methamphetamine Abuse Research Paper

Social and Psychological Factors of Methamphetamine Abuse - Research Paper Example As can be seen, choosing cocaine (and/or methamphetamine) is made without regard for the repercussions of danger or punishment. This information is exceedingly noteworthy when one looks at the effect methamphetamine has on its users. These precarious behaviors described by users as an intense high or euphoria, heightened sexual experiences, and focused attentions have been repeated in further studies and reveal that habit and compulsion overrides the recognition of obvious hazards. Even though there are reports of extreme paranoia and depression for weeks after abuse, users will continue to use making it difficult to hold down a job or take care of a family (American Council on Drug Education, n.d.). Looking at some of the most current theories in clinical and behavioral research, this paper will explore the multifaceted roles which predispose individuals to methamphetamine abuse by evaluating the psychological and social factors of addiction. Generally, peer group is one of the most import social factors leading to Methamphetamine abuse. As friends take this drug, individual finds it cool to use it. This has generally been one of the reasons why people at a young age start using abusive drugs. According to the national institute of health, ‘Monitoring the future survey’, drug abuse in 8th-10th graders is lesser (National Institute of Drug Abuse). However, it does exist, suggesting how ‘trying to be cool’ attitude may have influenced all this young students to take the drug. This is specifically the case with male students as boys are more likely to be aggressive and naughty as compared to girls. The colorless and odorless drug, when taken, increases the cognitive activity and makes the individual feel happier and excited. Hence, when the social surrounding becomes depressing, people tend to divert to such drugs. Due to the satisfaction gained by this drug,

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Herman Mudgett Essay Example for Free

Herman Mudgett Essay Problem Statement H. H. Holmes was dubbed the first male serial killer in the United States; however, his profile did not entirely fit the characteristics of a male serial killer. Should H. H. Holmes be considered a â€Å"Black Widow†? Purpose Imagine a killer who enjoyed torturing his victims with a variety of methods, but got paid for it. Meet Dr. H. H. Holmes or also known as â€Å"The Torture Doctor†. He was a serial killer who hit Chicago in the late nineteenth century. He killed with the intention of receiving money, mostly in the form of insurance claims. Criminologists have characterized this as a trait mostly belonging to female serial killers. It is â€Å"Black Widows† who kill relatives for the insurance money. Therefore Holmes should be classified as having similar characteristics to a â€Å"Black Widow† or that of a female serial killer. Findings Herman Webster Mudgett born May 16, 1861 to Levi and Theodate Mudgett in Gilmanton, New Hampshire had a privileged life. His family was wealthy and he was a bight child. (5) His household was run with a strict Methodist structure and his father was a violent alcoholic. He was bullied in school and in one instance forced to face a real skeleton which is believed to be the start of his fascination with corpses. (2) He became curious with Anatomy after that. Mudgett expressed a huge interest in medicine and was enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1882. He excelled in Chemistry and Anatomy and they seemed to be a natural talent for him. He was extremely eager to work on the cadavers. (2) He graduated in 1884. â€Å"This was a unique feature for a serial killer because most serial killers do not finish school.† (2) It is not because they are not intelligent enough; it is because they lack the motivation. This is where Mudgett was different; he had the persistence and motivati on to finish school. It was easier because it was something he did enjoy and it was a gateway for his early crimes. Mudgett would steal corpses from the medical school after making false insurance claims on a person, naming himself the beneficiary. He would distort the bodies making it look like an accident and then identify the body as the person he took the claim out on. (1) This is most likely the reason he stayed in school; he was making a profit. This is where he started using his alias Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes and Herman Mudgett would eventually cease to exist.(2) His crime spree and fascination with corpses would continue well after medical school. After a string of insurance fraud and traveling the country Holmes made it to Chicago. He began working at a drug store owned by an ill Dr. Holton in the neighborhood of Englewood. Holton died not long after and Holmes convinced Mrs. Holton to sign over the pharmacy to him and then she mysteriously disappeared. (5) While owning the drug store he continued to scam people sometimes selling false drugs and avoiding paying back his credit. (2) Holmes did enjoy making money and tricking people, but he wanted more. Holmes bought an estate on 63rd street and Wallace right across the street from the pharmacy that would later be called the â€Å"Murder Castle.† The construction of the building was very curious. Holmes was the architect and always kept a change of workers so he was the only one who ever knew the full structure of the building. (2) It was three stories with the ground floor belonging to commercial buildings including his relocated drug store. The top two were designated for his murderous fantasies. It had a labyrinth structure and consisted of false doors, windowless rooms, chutes, and trap doors. (5) The Castle â€Å"was equipped with secret passages, trapdoors, soundproof rooms, doors that could be locked from the outside, gas jets to asphyxiate victims, and a kiln to cremate the bodies.† (3) The basement is what held even worse horrors. There was a furnace big enough to hold a human body and huge acid baths. There were also tables where he could perform on the bodie s. (2) The Castle would open a door for Holmes to make even more money. Holmes was a man who would make money off of anything he could and his killings were no different. After he had tortured and killed he victims he would clean and mount their bones. In the basement â€Å"some were meticulously dissected, stripped of flesh, crafted into skeleton models† (5) He would then sell the skeletons to medical schools and doctor’s offices.(2) He had gained connections with these places, so no one questioned him. (5) He was living out his fantasies and making money off of it and now the perfect opportunity was about to come along. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exchange in Chicago would take place only a couple miles from Holmes’ home â€Å"The Castle.† The fair lasted from May to October. Holmes opened his building for the visitors and furnished and ran it like a hotel. â€Å"Unfortunately, some of his guests did not survive his hospitality.† (1) Just like most serial killers Holmes picked easy targets; tourists. Few people would know exactly where they were staying and it would be awhile before anyone reported them missing. However Holmes did differ from other male serial killers in that he did not stick to a type. Most of his victims did happen to be women, but he also killed children and men. Disappearances associated with the fair were linked to his castle (1) Outside of using his castle on unknowing tourists he was a seducer of women. Many of Holmes’ victims were women whom he had seduced and tricked into signing over their life savings. He usually employed females to work for him â€Å"many of whom were required as a condition of employment to take out life insurance policies for which Holmes would pay the premiums but also be the beneficiary† (5) and these women would later become his victims. Some of these women he killed where women who he had tricked in to giving him their property after they thought he was going to marry them. One example was Julia Conner and her daug hter Pearl. She was a mistress of Holmes and got pregnant. She demanded marriage and Holmes agreed if he could perform an abortion. Julia agreed, but mysteriously vanished along with her daughter. (2) He also promised Emiline Segrand marriage if she gave him her life savings. He sealed her in his vault where she suffocated to death. (2) He did have a marriage that actually went through, three in fact. He did have three marriages that all happened to coincide with each other. His first wife Clara Lovering was before he went to medical school. He filed for divorce at the time of his second wife, but it failed to go through. After he began using his alias H.H. Holmes he married Myrta Belknap in 1887. He lived with her and their daughter, Lucy, in Illinois for a while before he made it to Chicago. Holmes married is third wife, Georgiana Yoke, in 1894 after his killing spree in Chicago. Each one of these women never became one of Holmes’ victims and would live out their lives not knowing he was a serial killer till he was caught. (5) The only person who ever knew about what Holmes did was Benjamin Pitzel. Benja min Pitzel became associated with Holmes when Holmes was first constructing the Castle. Pitzel was a carpenter who was a drunkard that could never hold a job down. Holmes needed a right hand man who was tough and would do anything for money; Pitzel fit this description and had already committed petty crimes. (2) Pitzel was married with five children and needed to provide for his family, so he did what Holmes asked him to. Together Pitzel and Holmes committed lots of fraud and forgery. When Holmes was forced to leave Chicago because creditors were closing in Pitzel followed. They went cross country and continued to commit more fraud and other suspected killings under different aliases. (5) During one of these crimes Holmes was incarcerated for the first time in his life. Running low on money and needing to escape plan. Holmes and Pitzel concocted a plan where they would get Pitzel’s wife to take out an insurance claim on him and then they would fake Pitzel death. (5) Before they could get started on the scam Holmes was arrested for a different crime that landed hi m in a Texas jail. For some reason Holmes spilled his entire plan to his cellmate Marion Hedgepeth, a convicted train robber. Hedgepeth gave Holmes the name of a shady attorney in return for $500 of the money he got. (4) Holmes was shortly bailed out by his new wife Georgiana Yokes. (2) Holmes was now beginning to make mistakes and the law was going to catch up with him. Now Holmes could get on to finish the scam of faking Pitzel’s death, but Holmes did not fake it, he actually killed his longtime associate. This was most likely his plan all along; he wanted to get rid of loose ends. Holmes and his attorney, acquired from his former cell mate, identified the body. Mrs. Pitzel unknowing it to be her real husband split the money with the two men, but in the end Holmes ended up with most of her share. (2) Holmes was becoming paranoid and realizing that he was making mistakes. â€Å"Becoming concerned that the five Pitzel children might expose him, he went away with three of the children, eventually killing them.† (1) There was still one mistake out there that would lead to his demise. Almost two months after Pitzel’s body was found Hedgepeth, the former cellmate, sent information about the insurance fraud to police when he never received his compensation from Holmes. Police sent the Pinkertons, a private security guard and detective agency; on Holmes’ trail (5) What they discovered would be horrifying. Holmes was caught on November 17, 1894 in Boston. His only outstanding charge was on a horse theft and detectives needed more to hold him. It was only when his old custodian from the Castle informed the authorities that he was never allowed to clean the upper floors did they found out about his murders past by â€Å"uncovering Holmess efficient methods of committing murders and then disposing of the corpses.† (5) Along with Holmes’ vast array of obvious torture equipment, pieces of human bones were discovered. None of the murders were proven because of the lack of evidence except for four that of Benjamin Pitzel and his three children. Police tracked down the children’s bodies when chasing Holmes across the country. The two girls were found in Toronto and the boy in Indianapolis. (5) Holmes reign had come to an end. It was never discovered how many people H. H. Holmes had actually killed, but missing people and peculiar activity always seem to surround him not including the fact that he had a killing house. No one will ever be certain; the only person who may have known the true story was killed by Holmes. Also Holmes confessed his innocence until the day he was hung on May 7, 1896 at age 34. (2) Towards the end, however, he did come clean but his story always seemed to change. He did confess to 27 murders, but some researchers have suggested it exceeds 200. (3) The one confession he did seem to stick with was that he said he resembled the Devil. (2) Whatever the number Holmes was a serial killer who learned how to make a profit off of it. Conclusion Dr. H. H. Holmes’s characteristics did not fit that of a normal male serial killer. For starters he finished college unlike most of his predecessors. It might have been due to the fact that he had endless cadavers to work on or because he was planning his criminal career. Holmes also received monetary gain from most of his victims. He did enjoy seducing and killing victims, but his motives did involve receiving money. This is a trait often associated with female serial killers. Criminologists distinguish traits from male and female serial killers. One of the traits associated with females is that their motives usually involve monetary gain. The â€Å"Black Widow† is a female serial killer who kills her husband or other relatives to receive the insurance money. Holmes fits this description because most of his victims were women whom he had seduced and promised marriage or employees after receiving rights to their property. Holmes fits characteristics of both genders, but the profile of a Male Black Widow fits him more than anything. Recommendations Holmes should be classified as a â€Å"Black Widow† even though he is a male. It is true the biggest trait of a â€Å"Black Widow† is the female part, but gender should not be as important as motive. Gender unconsidered Holmes clearly fit the description. Therefore criminologist might reconsider classifying primarily on gender. Looking primarily at gender leaves gaps and flukes that do not seem to fit the â€Å"normal† stereotype in profiling and Holmes proves that. Holmes is a â€Å"Black Widow.† Bibliography (1) H.H. Holmes. 2012. Biography.com 18 Apr 2012, 06:28 http://www.biography.com/people/h-h-holmes-307622 (2) H. H. Holmes Americas First Serial Killer. Dir. John Borowski. Waterfront Productions, 2004. Documentary. (3) John Philip, Jenkins. Mudgett, Herman Webster. Britannica Biographies (2011): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2012 http://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu:2309/ehost/detail?sid=87fc7c73-9859-4344-a053-88394e30cdd1%40sessionmgr15vid=4hid=13bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5hAN=32418760 (4) Martin, John B. The Master of the Murder Castle: A Classic of Chicago Crime. Harpers Magazine. Harpers Magazine Foundation, Dec. 1943. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. http://www.harpers.org/archive/1943/12/0020617. (5) Wikipedia contributors. H. H. Holmes. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation Story Essay

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation Story Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is, among other things, a creation story. For creation stories are not simply myths about the historical origins of the universe and humankind but metaphors for individual maturation. Individual perception is, to a large extent, what constitutes the world. Hence, the individual is the source and embodiment of the world; Janie is, the narrator tells us, â€Å"the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop† (72). And Janie’s awakening, or maturation, represents not only a personal transformation, but the creation of a universe. As a child seeking meaning, Janie does not look forward to merely â€Å"growing up† but waits â€Å"for the world to be made† (11). Obviously the narrator does not mean the material world, but that particular world which comes into being with the mature individual. And as a creation story, Their Eyes, like the creation stories which precede it, deals with â€Å"the reconciliation of mind to the conditions of life†Ã¢â‚¬â€to the inherent violence of living. Now, one of the main problems of mythology is reconciling the mind to this brutal precondition of all life, which lives by the killing and eating of lives. You don’t kid yourself by eating only vegetables, either, for they, too, are alive. So the essence of life is this eating of itself! Life lives on lives, and the reconciliation of the human mind and sensibilities to that fundamental fact is one of the functions of some of those very brutal rites in which the ritual consists chiefly of killing—in imitation, as it were, of that first, primordial crime, out of which arose this temporal world, in which we all participate. The reconciliation of mind to the conditions of... ...n outside pine tree while Joy takes a turn, prancing about in the form of Tea Cake. Like Joy, Sorrow—and the violence which brings it about—has a place in the world and in Janie’s life. And in the novel’s closing lines, Janie â€Å"[pulls] in her horizon like a great fish-net. [Pulls] it from around the waist of the world and [drapes] it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see† (184). Sorrow, of course, is included in Janie’s horizon, and the image of pulling in her horizon reverses the previous image of Sorrow flying out. Janie not only accepts the sorrow and violence of life, but welcomes it. And, in doing so, Janie’s horizon embraces the waist of the world, and her creation becomes the creation of a world. Reference Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Henry Louis Gates. New York: Harper, 1990.