Dream Analysis Essay Example for Free

Dream Analysis Essay Dreams had always been a part of human existence. Since time immemorial, human beings had always been mystified on the phenomenon of dreaming. As early as 5000 B. C. , early civilizations had recorded and tried to interpret their dreams on clay tablets. The Egyptians, puzzled by the existence of dreams, had even believed in a God of Dreams whom they called Serapis. Up to the present age, theorists and psychologists are still unable to arrive at a definite explanation on why humans dream. Dreams are etched in the human mind in such a way that makes it hard for researchers to objectively study them. At present, there are three major theories that are widely accepted that explain such phenomenon: (1) Freud’s Theory (2) Cognitive Theory and the (3) Activation-Synthesis Theory. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) believed that a dream exists as a wish fulfillment. According to him, people have unsatisfied or unexpressed desires during the times when they are awake and these desires are being fulfilled unconsciously when people dream through sleeping. For example, a person having unfulfilled sexual desires one or two days prior to sleeping may have dreams that are sexually erotic in nature (may lead to ‘wet dreaming’). Similarly, people who had been forced to suppress their anger during waking hours may have dreams that contain violent elements/scenes (Santrock, 2005, p. 244). This theory of Freud is particularly applicable to a personal experience. Once I broke our printer by accident. I was trying to find a way to fix it but the only solution I could think of is having it repaired by a technician. The main dilemma was that I didn’t have the money to have it fixed. It was very fortunate that no one else used the printer that day. When I slept in the evening, I dreamt that a certain old man came to fix our printer free-of-charge. The dream ended there. It can be seen from this experience that a problem during the day was given a temporary solution through dreaming. Although the printer wasn’t really fixed at all, the dream was sufficient in providing a quick way out of my anxiety caused by the broken printer. Another example was the time when I was craving for some McDonald’s Fries for no particular reason. I haven’t been able to go to the said Fast-Food Shop because my mother borrowed my car. I just slept through my craving for McFries and I ended up dreaming about it, only that in my dream, the fries are much larger than the actual size. According to Freud, our dreams may contain scenes or events from our experiences of the past day or of the day before. One particular dream to illustrate this is my dream that I was able to fly. In the dream, I had my arms stretched over my head and I was flying over our village, very much like Superman. I could connect this dream to my behavior when I went swimming with my friends the day before. During my stay underwater, I had been imitating the flying position of Superman imagining that I was floating in mid-air instead of mid-water. An additional example for this theory of Freud is my dream on the Red Queen. I had watched on home video the movie Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton. I was so irritated with the Red Queen’s face while I was watching the movie that I dreamt of the character when I slept in the evening. In the dream, I was having a dispute with the Red Queen where in the end I won our fight and I was able to command certain Knights, â€Å"Off with her head! † Perhaps connected to this principle of Freud was my experience when I had a fever. I wasn’t feeling well when I slept and I was feeling a bit scared to sleep in solitude. In the middle of my sleep, I dreamt that I was transformed into a cat and that my friends could not recognize me. I was trying my best to scream my name to them but all that I could manage to say were small meows. The next stage of my dream was that I had a small hole in my skull. The small hole led to the deformation of my skull because it secreted foul-smelling cerebral fluid through it. I woke up in the middle of night sweating and breathing heavily. Even though events from days before may appear in a dream, it does not necessarily mean that the scenes in the dream happen in chronology. More often than not, a dream is a homogenous mixture of different time-frames where the sense of chronology is absent. Tied with this principle is that places where dream scenes may happen need not be logical or real. I had dreams before of having to wake up in my bedroom as the sun was just rising and stepping out of my room, I find myself at the school cafeteria way past dusk. I also had a dream wherein I was standing in front of my friend’s house. That friend of mine had offended me during one of our night-out with the rest of our peers. In my dream, I was back to the scene wherein we were having an intense argument. Then, one second of whirling brought me in front of that friend’s house, waiting for him to come out and ask for forgiveness. He didn’t come out of the house though and I was brought to a garden where I found him sitting on a bench. At the end of the dream, I was the one who asked for his forgiveness. The following morning, before I left for school, he gave me a phone call telling me that he was sorry. According to Freud, there are two components of a dream, a surface element which he called the manifest content and a hidden meaning of the surface element which he called the latent content. For example, Freud states that snakes and neckties present in the dream may mean something else. The snake or necktie is the manifest content while its latent content is a male genitalia. This means the snake or necktie symbolizes a male genitalia. This idea of Freud made me remember a dream I had just this weekend. In the dream, I had been boating with a tour guide on the Amazon River. I was so terrified to see a giant snake swimming just under our boat. The faceless tour guide just told me that the snake couldn’t see us because we were in the snake’s blind spot. I never knew what happened with me on that river, only that in the dream I was transported somewhere else I couldn’t remember. Could my dream mean that I am fantasizing about whatever the snake symbolizes? It’s hard to believe though! The second theory of dreaming is the Cognitive Theory. It states that dreaming involves the same cognitive steps used in the waking mind: processing, memory and problem solving (Santrock, 2005, p. 245). In this theory, hidden meanings of dreams through symbols are not regarded as possible. Dreaming is looked upon as an opportunity for the person to find a state of mind where problems can be solved through creative thinking. Robert Louis Stevenson, for example, said that it was in a dream that he acquired the idea for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Elias Howe claimed also that a dream provided him the idea of creating a sewing needle with the hole for the thread on the blunt tip of the needle and not on the middle. (Santrock, 2005, p. 245). Friedrich Kekule, the proponent of the structure of the benzene, said that the cyclic structure of benzene was seen in a dream wherein he saw a snake trying to bite its own tail as it moves in a circular manner. I could apply this theory in one of my experiences. I was trying to come up with a story on how humans need to face trials as means of being emotionally stronger. The story needed to be as creative as possible because I was going to present it to a youth group in our church. Out of fatigue due to too much thinking, I decided to take a nap on my desk. I dreamt then of a young butterfly inside a cocoon. When I woke up, I was reminded of a story I heard long ago from a Franciscan nun wherein a young man tried to help the young butterfly get out of the cocoon by opening the cocoon himself with the use of a pair of scissors. The butterfly went out of the cocoon weakly with scrawny wings and was unable to fly. The struggle of the butterfly to get out of the cocoon by itself helps it to develop stronger wings that would soon enable it to fly. If I hadn’t dreamt of the young butterfly in the cocoon, I wouldn’t have remembered this story! The third theory is the Activation-Synthesis Theory. It states that dreams are part of the brain’s internal effort to explain the neural activity that still exists even though the person is sleeping (Santrock, 2005, p. 245). Neural networks in areas of the forebrain are involved in both the waking and dreaming behaviors. Primary motor and sensory areas of the forebrain may possibly be activated during the sensorimotor aspects of dreaming. (Santrock, 2005, p. 246). For example, if the dream asks for spatial organization, the parietal lobe would be activated. Similarly, if the dream asks for emotional requirements, the amygdala, hippocampus and frontal lobe may be activated. The movement of dreams in a ‘fantasy-whirling’ manner may be due to the sudden, uncoordinated eye movements of REM sleep. The sudden shift or dissolvation of a particular dream scene is explained as due to the normal cycling of neural activation. During stages of sleep, levels of neurotransmitters may rise and fall wherein particular neural networks are activated and shut down. As a new cycle is activated, that is, new sets of neural networks are activated and shut down, a new dream scene comes to the focus. Dreaming, therefore, becomes a succession of fantasy-transitioned slide shows. In connection to this theory, I once had a dream that involved a real experience while I was sleeping. I managed to open my eyes as I was disturbed in the middle of a sleep. I then saw my mother in my room, fixing the mess I left on my study desk. Subconsciously, I knew that I saw my mother inside my room, but then, as if my brain wanted to explain or make a story out of what I saw, the exact scene came to my dream. In the dream, I stood up and helped my mom fix the mess on my desk, but then my mom turned into a classmate of mine and we were back in the classroom listening intently to our teacher. I woke up in the middle of the night, convinced that I really didn’t stand up to help my mom fix my mess. These three theories explain to us why people dream. Freud’s Theory, The Cognitive Theory and the Activation-Synthesis Theory may view the phenomenon of dreaming in three different perspectives. In the present stage of human knowledge when it comes to explaining the human psyche, it could be said that an absolute explanation for dreaming is nonexistent. However, the three theories may work hand-in-hand in explaining and interpreting human dreaming. Reference Santrock, J. W. Psychology 7. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. , 1221 Avenue of the Americas. Mew York, NY 10020. 244-246

College Education vs. Technical Training Essay -- Argumentative Persua

College Education vs. Technical Training A few years ago, the DeVry technical institute released a commercial that compared two brothers in their educational pursuits. The younger brother started school at DeVry and graduated in two years. The older brother had chosen college and was still stuck in his dorm room studying history while his younger brother worked on the future. The question this commercial presented was obvious, why waste all that time in a university learning trivial facts which don’t apply to the real world when you can bypass it and still learn an important skill. That is an interesting question to consider, especially in such a hi-tech world. But is job training all one needs to know to be successful? What are the advantages of a college degree versus a technical degree? I would like to consider some advantages a college graduate might have in the areas of employment, family and community. For this paper, I would like to define a university education as that which enables students to expand their communication skills, evaluate problems using critical thinking, a general broadening of cultural awareness and a knowledge of history in relation to how their surrounding world came to be. A university education also provides students with a chance to appreciate and understand the arts, ponder philosophical questions and discuss the significance of works of literature. Students learn the relationship of science to the body, the Earth, the universe and role mathematics plays in all of this. Every student that obtains a university degree should be able to lay claim to a little knowledge in all of these areas. The definition of a technical education as given by DeVry reads, â€Å"To provide high-quality career-oriente... ...he United States, including the fundamental relationships of the federal system. Courses in economics study contemporary economic problems such as inflation, unemployment, poverty, and pollution. These courses help students better understand their place in the community and how to change their situation. They are less likely to feel helpless about their problems they facing Americans. College gives students the means to teach themselves long after their formal education is complete. At best a college education teaches us to think outside of the box. It gives us an appreciation of others differences, instead of a fear of it. College graduates should be able to digest the information around them and formulate their own opinion. Students should come away from their education with the ability to instigate change in themselves, their family, and their community.

A Poem for Black Hearts by Amiri Baraka Essay

The poem A Poem for Black Hearts by Amiri Baraka is written in free verse and is consisting of 27 lines which, in a way construct and epitomize an image of Malcolm X. The poem commemorates him and his stature as the â€Å"black god of our time† while subsequently persuading African American men to continue the fight for civil rights. Malcolm’s essence is made fragmented by the speaker for each part of his body is given high significance so as to create an image of a fallen leader who became an icon for all black men. At the same time as the poem is not only for those who have black hearts, as it is also intended to be for Malcolm’s eyes which have the capability to break the â€Å"face of some dumb white man† by challenging his authority. The speaker emphasizes that the poem is also for Malcolm’s words, which were described and symbolically renamed ‘fire darts’ to emulate that his flaming words including the rhetoric of war and were carefully aimed at the enemy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker feels that Malcolm was assassinated, believing that Malcolm was murdered for voicing out his outrage against racism and encouraging the people to conduct political action when it is deemed necessary. In addition, the poem is for Malcolm’s heart, for his love for his fellow black men and his pleas for the African American dignity, life, and education. Finally, the poem is intended to be for all of those people like him [Malcolm] who are dead and all of him remembered which clings to African American political and cultural rhetoric.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker incites that he intended his readers particularly the black men to quit â€Å"stuttering and shuffling†, â€Å"whining and stooping† and to â€Å"look up†. Instead of accepting their defeat, black men should raise their heads with dignity and see Malcolm as their greatest example of African American pride, masculinity, and political activism. In the closing lines, the speaker, challenges the black men to â€Å"let nothing in [them] rest† until Malcolm’s death has taken vengeance. He furthers his promise of retribution by showing his word of honor as that â€Å"if we fail to avenge Malcolm’s death, let us never breathes a pure breath.† At this point, the speaker wanted the black men to look deeper into Malcolm’s eyes, words, heart, and dignity as well as his desire to change the world so that the voices of black men can continue to speak and act within the space Malcolm helped create.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, Michael S. Harper’s public elegy entitled Dear John, Dear Coltrane serves as an elegy to a jazz musician and the legacy which he was able to share through his music. The poem mimics the form of Coltrane’s jazz novelty through depicting his image of bodily death. The elegy focuses on the man’s death and the progress of his music from immediate and alive to reproduced and commodified from the time of his permanent absence. The poem undermines the communication that venerates John Coltrane’s music by making it a big issue whether or not there is a possibility that music of a dead person will serve as an aesthetic to the black’s culture. The poem uses bodily and at the same time cultural images of reproduction calls and attention which later leads to the creation and reproduction of jazz.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem focuses on the physical image to bring Coltrane’s jazz to another venue while still squarely within the body. In the line â€Å"Sex fingers toes,† the speaker uses the word sex which may be connoted to have a double meaning. This should be read as both the act and the genitalia to bring into line the body with the sexuality embodied by jazz music. Sex as genitalia can be connected later on through out the poem: â€Å"There is no substitute for pain/genitals gone or going,/seed burned out.† The speaker here shows how genitals failed to connect with the music, with the pain that could have produce both movement and desire. The bodily pain which speaks of slavery can also be seen: â€Å"turn back, and move/ by river through swamps.† The pain of having been slaves, which eventually led to their attempt of escaping through the swamps of the south, is comparable to the pain from which the blues stems. Thus, the poem connects the blues with all of its ties to slavery and a specific African American aesthetic. The end of the poem shows the end of Coltrane’s life and tells the bodily experience of dying which later proved to be too great for Coltrane to produce jazz.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the poem, the movement of the music with the help of the radio clearly shows the people’s movement to being slaves towards their freedom. This represents the new route to the people’s ultimate freedom however, that route will always go back to the musician and his music. As it created links between jazz as a mode for liberation, it elegizes the death of a man who created jazz. The poem builds a relationship between Coltrane’s reproductive organs and his creation of jazz. The poem eulogizes the musician himself, not only â€Å"Dear Coltrane† (the music) but also â€Å"Dear John† (the man). Without the man, the figure of the body, even jazz as revolutionary as Coltrane’s remains an empty aesthetic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   More so, Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth, which is connoted to be a modern elegy, maintains the aspects of ancient an elegy which is composed of both personification and lamentation. The author also uses the conventional form of a pastoral elegy rather than adapting the epic form in writing his poem. Owen also describes that the prayers and church bells as â€Å"mockeries† and directly imply that no matter how grand, immortalizing or well attended a funeral ceremony is this will not be able, in any way, to bring back the dead. This opposes the former known form of elegy which is called the pastoral elegy, which attempts to immortalize the dead, either through words or through divine imagery. The audience cannot be consoled with merely the hope of immortalization and bringing back the dead on some distant plane of human thought. Rather than to personify the nature of mourn the deceased, Owen uses the sound of falling shells to create an image of sorrow. These shells are causing death, so it is strange that they should mourn for the dead as well. Owen personifies machines in the course of the poem instead, and these machines cannot alleviate grief since they are the ones which caused it. The speaker in the poem implies no difference between weapon and life because neither among the mentioned can mourn the dead for us. The words used in the course of the poem is different from the other elegies in different types since it uses more of the most known and colloquial forms to better emulate the feeling of sorrow and lamentation. With this, a new meaning in showing grief was reshaped and was alleviated from the former connotation of such. Gendered elegy American History written by Michael Harper is a short yet dramatic kind of elegy that speaks about the fate of four black little girls who died in a church in Alabama. Through them, the author is reminded of the fate of a hundred more others who are keeping their selves away from the real world in the fear of being caught dead without giving their untimely death any justification. Most of them, according to the author, are in strict hiding and is always operating in groups. This situation was enlivened even if there are only nine lines composing the entire poem; the meaning that the author would want to speak about is clearly spoken. With only that number of lines, the author was not deprived of the freedom to express his thoughts and his genuine intention in writing the said piece. This poem would also want to mimic the situation of the blacks then in the United States where it is vocal on the oppression and inhumane treatment being accorded to them because of their color and race. It does not show much lamentation and sorrow due to the lost of the four black girls but the more visible meaning of it is the fear of other black people to be caught in the same incident as that of the little girls. Meanwhile, modern elegy transforms grief in a new way of interpreting it. It has reshaped personification that is free form writing style, the awareness of the inability to immortalize any person who has been dead and blatant refusal to mourn shows how difficult coping with sorrow over the loss of a loved one can be. This illuminates the intention being shed away by the traditional form of elegy which mimics the scream of anger and denial towards grief over a loss of a person and that acceptance of the said irreversible loss. This kind of elegy is something that transforms the vision of the audience from being sorrowful to somehow a better feeling and acceptance over the lost of someone whom they love the most. This is because of the choice of words that was used in order to come up with the entire poem. Work Cited O’CLAIR;, JAHAN. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.   

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Programs - 974 Words

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