Neo's Heroic Journey- Final Blog Entry

NEO's HEROIC JOURNEY



A hero is only a hero in a heroic world. Neo, from The Matrix experiences what we call a traditional “Hero’s Journey”. This theory is by Joseph Campbell. Campbell feels that any narrative piece should have a stable structure that works well with it. For instance, a comedic movie would not go well with a thriller structured blueprint. Campbell believes that there are twelve stages to a Hero’s journey and each stage belongs to an Act. Act I (Separation/Departure): Ordinary world, Call to Adventure, Refusal of Call, Meeting the Mentor. Act II (Initiation): Crossing the Threshold, Test Allies Enemies, Approach the Inmost Cave, Ordeal, and Reward (Seizing the Sword). Act III (Return): The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with the Elixir. All of these stages apply to Neo’s Journey through the Matrix. According to Campbell’s theory, Neo is a true Hero.

     The first stage in the Hero’s Journey is the “Ordinary World.” The ordinary world is the Hero’s everyday life; it is basically the living and breathing place before he takes on his adventure. At this point, the hero is a human that is completely oblivious as to what would happen in the future. Neo’s journey starts from the “ordinary world”; he has a regular life with a stable job and goes by the name of Thomas Anderson. Neo is very unconscious of what is out there because according to Neo, “out there” is an unknown world; the world of mysterious questions that need to be answered. The place that is known to be the “real world” and not the world of bondage he lives in now.

     The second stage is called “Call to Adventure”; it is when the hero receives a call to begin his deeds. Of course, this mission call disrupts the man’s ordinary life because of the many threats to his safely. Neo’s call for action starts off when he receives a message from his computer. The message on the computer says “follow the white rabbit,” according to the book The Matrix in Theory, it states that by Neo following the “White Rabbit” Neo “Finally learns that his everyday reality is merely an illusion…the trail of the white rabbit leads him ‘behind the scenes’ of this make-believe world” (Herbrechter 89). By Neo noticing the little white rabbit that is tattooed on a girl’s back, he decides to join the girl and her friends at the club. That is when Neo meets Trinity; the one who leads him into the “real world.” As Trinity approaches Neo at a club, she goes on to say “right now, all I can tell you is that you are in danger. I brought you here to warn you.” This is basically a wake-up call for him; Trinity informs him of what is in store for his future. Neo also goes on to ask Trinity “what is the Matrix?” Trinity’s response is “the answer is out there Neo, it's looking for you, and it will find you.” She tells him that the answer will come and this leaves Neo with nothing but curiosity. Will Neo go on with the quest to find out what the Matrix is? Or will he stay in his ordinary world?

     According to the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, “the adventure of the hero normally follows the pattern of the nuclear unit: a separation from the world…” (Campbell 28). This states that the Hero is basically separated from the old world and the new “real” world. One may find that Neo is torn between the two worlds in stage three, “refusal to call.” As the hero is willing to agree to the quest, there are still fears that need to be conquered. As Neo works diligently in his office, he gets a sudden phone call from a man. The man warns Neo about the Agents that are in his office area and tells him to get out of there immediately if he does not want to know what they want from him. As Neo does not know his way out, the man then goes on to guide him. When Neo reaches the window, a sudden fear of dying came over him. Neo says “This is insane! Why is this happening to me? What did I do? I’m nobody. I didn’t do anything.” Here, Neo sounds as if he does not want any part of what is taking place, he feels as if he is a “nobody” and so he should not be forced to do what he does not want. The man says “there are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you.” The guy warns Neo of his two options, Neo then refuses to climb out the window and decides to turn himself in to the Agents.

     Stage four is known as “meeting the mentor.” The mentor is one who is to direct the hero through his journey; he also strives to dismiss the hero’s doubts and fears and provide strength and bravery. Neo’s mentor is known to be Morpheus; the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar Ship. Their first approach is when he directed Neo’s way through the office. However, this was their first time meeting face-to-face. In the room, they sit down to converse about Neo’s curiosity as to what the Matrix is. Morpheus begins to answer his question by saying “the Matrix is everywhere, it’s all around us, and here even in this room…it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” Morpheus is asserting that the Matrix is basically what we see and breathe. As Neo wonders about the truth, Morpheus continues to tell him what the truth is; he is a slave born into bondage. The mentor says to Neo that he really cannot tell him what the Matrix really is but rather he find out for himself. Morpheus then opens both his hands; the right hand contained a red pill and the left, a blue pill. If Neo takes the blue pill the story will come to an end, and he shall wake up and believe whatever he wants. According to Morpheus, if he takes the red pill, he shall “stay in Wonderland” and Morpheus will show him how “deep the rabbit-hole goes.” Neo takes the red pill and this marks the beginning of his new life.

      Stage five is called “Crossing the Threshold.” This is when the Hero is ready for his journey. He may go by his own will or by force; by Neo taking the red pill, there is no turning back. For him to leap over to the other world, Morpheus leads Neo into a room filled with high-tech equipment. There he sees the rest of the ship members Trinity, Apoc, Switch and Cypher. As Neo takes a seat, Trinity quickly fixes electrode disks onto him and then places a set of earphones over his ears. Morpheus then goes on to say that the red pill is designed to “pinpoint” Neo’s location, as Neo asks what he meant exactly, Cypher says “it means buckle up Dorothy, ‘cause Kansas is going bye-bye.” This states that Neo is beginning to dislocate himself from the “ordinary world” and onto the real world. Through the process, Neo observes a cracked mirror beginning to rejoin itself together. Neo slowly moves his two fingers into the mirror and found it to be liquid-like, when he pulled from it, the mirror rapidly spreads thorough his entire body. This leads him to a womb-like shell where he is plugged in by many metal tubes. Here, Neo struggles to survive from the thick gelatin. From this scene, one may conclude that the shell is the sign of Neo’s rebirth; as it shows he is very well naked and bald, similar to what babies look like the moment they enter earth. Furthermore, the back of the shell opens and sucks the gelatin and Neo like a vacuum, leading Neo into a black hole that contains an ocean full of water. Neo then begins to fight to stay alive when suddenly a metallic cable lifts him and places him onto the ship with the rest of the members. When Neo tries to focus on his vision, Morpheus tells him “welcome, to the real world.”

     Stage six is called “Test, Allies, and Enemies.” This is where the soon to be hero starts his training. In The Matrix, Neo starts his training off with a combat series, according to Tank, a ship member; Neo has been training for “ten hours straight.” So, already Neo is getting the hang of things, he now claims that he knows Kung-Fu. Morpheus then wanted to know how much Neo has learned, so he goes on to challenge him. According to Stroud, Morpheus is like a father figure to Neo and “trains the young hero in the task of finding the power within” (430). During their challenge, Neo fails many times to defeat Morpheus. Neo then wonders how he can succeed in this challenge, Morpheus tells him “you must let go of that anger…You must empty yourself to free your mind,” meaning Neo must let go of everything in order to focus. These words gave motivation to Neo; next thing you know Neo is fighting in top speed. During this stage, the Hero-to-be also learns who his enemies and allies are. In the film, Neo discovers that his true allies are his shipmates excluding the trader Cypher (who turned on them) and his enemies would be the agent who tries to destroy the Matrix.

     Stage seven would be called “approach to the inmost cave.” Here is when the hero faces actual horrific danger throughout his journey in which he has never faced before. Neo begins his attempt to face danger when he and the ship members enter a building through the Matrix. While in the house, Neo suddenly has Déjà vu, which is a sign that they have changed something in the Matrix. That is when everyone starts to get ready for action; they know that the agents are in close range. During the scene, Neo was given his first gun to participate in the action; he did well in surviving the fight although some of the ship members failed to succeed.

     Stage eight is called “Ordeal.” The Hero must take part in a dangerous test in order to survive in the real world. In this case, it all happens when Neo and Trinity try to rescue Morpheus. It seemed like a struggle for the two because they have to fight off the reoccurring officers; however the two hardly broke their stride. For the rescuing to succeed, Neo did a little one on one battle with Agent Smith. As Smith was moving in high velocity, Neo also develops that same skill as he twists and bends to avoid getting hit by the bullets that Smith were shooting. Trinity then says “you moved like they moved. I’ve never seen anyone move that fast.” This goes to show that Neo is starting to free his mind and know that he is “The One.” There also was another scene where Neo battles the three Agents; Agent Brown, Agent Smith, Agent Jones. As Agent Smith fires bullets through Neo’s body, Neo becomes very weak and one would think him to be dead. Trinity begins to whisper to his still body back at the ship that the Oracle told her she would fall in love with “the one” and so the one she loves with cannot be dead. These words must have sunk into Neo’s ears deeply since it brought him back to life; Neo is now ready to continue the battle. As the Agents once again fires bullets at Neo, Neo puts his right hand up and suddenly the bullets stop right in their tracks; now he is very much conscious of the fact that he is “The One,” so he wins the war against his enemies.

     Stage nine is called “Reward (Seizing the Sword).” After the Hero has overcome his greatest challenge, he is to go back to the ordinary world with greater knowledge. In Neo’s case, he is now informed with the fact that he is “the one” and the world he once lived in is not the real world. Neo says “when I used to look out at this world, all I could see was its edge, its boundaries, its rules and control…but now I see another world…a world of hope and peace.” He now perceives his old life of bondage and horrendous-ness different from the one he has now, which is filled with peace and optimism. This is also similar to stage ten which is “The Road Back.” Here, the hero also returns to share his knowledge with the ordinary world. However, the film did not provide us with much information about Neo’s return to the ordinary world. Stage eleven, which is called “Resurrection” and stage twelve, “Return with the Elixir”, would not apply to this movie. In stage eleven the Hero deals with his final dangerous encounter with his enemies; in stage twelve the Hero also returns back to his Ordinary World a changed man and looks forward to living his new life. One would say these two stages would appear in the next films of The Matrix, if not then it just all fall under stages nine and ten.

     In conclusion, one would say that Neo is one that has followed through with the traditional “Hero’s journey.” He has come from an ordinary world and into what they call the “real world.” Neo has learned a lot from the Matrix and now knows that he is “The One.” With Campbell’s theory, it helped us emphasize on every step of Neo’s journey; this is what makes Neo a Hero.

Extra: Click here to hear Joseph Campbell speak about the twelve stages and five added stages.

WorkS Cited

Campbell, Joseph. "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." Google Books. Web. 20 May            2011.             <http://books.google.com/books?id=I1uFuXlvFgMC>.

Herbrechter, Stefan. "The Matrix in Theory." Google Books. Web. 20 May 2011.   <http://books.google.com/books?id=f7GcmwUl7lgC>.

Stroud, Scott R. "Ehost2." EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Web. 19 May            2011.            <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=29181571-9998  4159-            ab70-            b1e22f49ff81@sessionmgr11>.

The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie   Anne     Moss.   Warner Bros Pictures, 1999. DVD.

            

Wachowski, Larry, and Andy Wachowski. "The Matrix (1999) Movie Script – Screenplays            for      You." Screenplays for You - Free Movie Scripts and Screenplays. Web. 23 May            2011. <http://sfy.ru/?script=matrix_ds>.

Reseach Reflection.

This semester is actually the first time in my life that I have ever written a research paper. My first research paper was for my psychology class; in APA format. I was thinking, what on earth is APA and MLA. To follow through with this paper, I had to do a little research on my own about how to write a research paper. However, the online websites only gave me some of the basic details on how to write a research paper. When our psychology teacher provided us with a link on how to do intext citaions and and referencing, it seems pretty easy. I learned that you have to cite the page number and the authors and the end of the sentence in parenthesis and we have to give the full information the end of the page. The same goes for MLA, although the way you cite it is quite different; and that learn right her e in my English class. I have to say that even though I am not an expert on how to write a research paper, I would say that I have come completely far with this. I got the whole concept of in text citations, however, I get confused when it comes to citing website in between the sentences. The rest, with is the reference page is still confusing as well because you have to write the authors name, date, publication, title all in a different place. So yes I think I still need to work on that. I hope I become an expert on this by next semester because I know I will need this in the future. I thank my professors this semester for preparing me and giving me a jump start on how to write a good research paper.

-Thanks Proffesors. =]

1st. Draft: Campbell's Theory && The Matrix

A hero is only a hero in a heroic world. The movie The Matrix is a very interesting film because it contains the Hero’s Journey theory that Joseph Campbell has talked about. Campbell feels that a movie should have a well stabled structure that works well with it. For instance, a comedic movie would not go well with a thriller structured blueprint. Campbell believes that there are twelve stages to a Hero’s journey. Act I: Ordinary world, call to adventure, refusal of call, meeting the Mentor. Act II: Crossing the Threshold, Test Allies Enemies, Approach the Inmost Cave, Ordeal, Reward (seizing the sword). Act III: The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with the Elixir. As these all apply to Neo’s Journey through the Matrix, one would say that according to Campbells theory, Neo is a true Hero.

The first stage to the Hero’s Journey is the “Ordinary World.” The ordinary world is the Hero’s everyday life; it is basically the living and breathing place before he takes on his adventure. At this point, the hero is a human that is completely oblivious as to what would happen in the future. From the movie, one would say Neo’s journey started from the “ordinary world.” He had a regular life with a stabled job and went by the name of Thomas Anderson. Neo is very unconscious of what is out there because according to Neo, “out there” is an unknown world. The second stage is called “Call to Adventure”; it is when the hero receives a call to begin his deeds. Of course, this mission call disrupts the man’s ordinary life because of the many threats to his safely. Neo’s call for action is when he and Trinity began their first conversation at a club. As Trinity approaches Neo she then says “right now, all I can tell you is that you are in danger. I brought you here to warn you.” This is basically a wake-up call for him; he now knows what is in store for his future. Neo also goes on to ask Trinity “what is the Matrix?” Trinity response is “…no one could ever be told the answer to that question. They have to see it to believe it.” This leaves Neo nothing but curiosity. At this point one will think will Neo go on with the quest to find out what the Matrix is? Or will he stay in his ordinary world?

Stage three is “refusal to call.” As the hero is willing to agree to the quest, there are still fears that need to be conquered. As Neo works diligently in his office, he gets a sudden phone call from a man. The man warns Neo about the Agents that are in his office area and tells him to get out of there immediately if he does not want to know what they want him for. As Neo does not know his way out, the man then goes on to guide him. When Neo reached the window, a sudden fear of dying came over him; the man says “there are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you.” Neo then refuses to climb out the window and decides to turn himself in to the Agents. Stage four is known as “meeting the mentor.” The mentor is one who is to direct the hero through his journey; he also strives to dismiss the hero’s doubts and fears and provide strength and bravery. Neo’s mentor is known to be Morpheus; the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar Ship. For their first approach, they sat down to converse about Neo’s curiosity as to what the Matrix is. Morpheus begins to answer his question by saying “the Matrix is everywhere, it’s all around us, and here even in this room…it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” As Neo asks to wonder what the truth is, Morpheus continues to say “that you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage.” The mentor continues to say to Neo that he really cannot tell him what the Matrix really is but rather he find out for himself. Morpheus then opens both his hands; the right hand contained a red pill and the left a blue pill. If Neo takes the blue pill the story will come to an end, and he shall wake up and believe whatever he wants. If he takes the red pill, he shall “stay in Wonderland” and Morpheus will show him how “deep the rabbit-hole goes.” Neo takes the red pill and this marks the beginning of his new life.

Stage five is called “Crossing the Threshold.” This is when the Hero is ready for his journey. He may go by his own will or by force; Neo taking the red pill, there is no turning back. For him to leap over to the other world, Morpheus leads Neo into a room filled with high-tech equipments. There he sees the rest of the ship members Trinity, Apoc, Switch and Cypher. As Neo takes a seat, Trinity quickly fixes electrode disks onto him and then places a set of earphones over his ears. Morpheus then goes on to say that the red pill is designed to “pinpoint” Neo’s location, as Neo asked what he meant exactly, Cypher then says “it means buckle up Dorothy, ‘cause Kansas is going bye-bye.” This states that Neo is beginning to dislocate himself from the Matrix and onto the real world. Through the process, Neo observes a cracked mirror beginning to rejoin itself together. Neo slowly moves his two fingers into the mirror and found it to be liquid-like, when he pulled from it, the mirror rapidly spreads thorough his entire body. This leads him to a womb-like shell where he is plugged in by many metal tubes, here; Neo struggles to survive from the thick gelatin. From this scene, one may conclude that the shell is the sign of Neo’s rebirth; as it shows he is very well naked, bald similar to what babies look like the moment they enter earth. Furthermore, the back of the shell opens and sucks the gelatin and Neo like a vacuum, leading Neo into a black hole that contains an ocean full of water. Neo then begins to fight to stay alive when suddenly a metallic cable lifts him and places him onto the ship with the rest of the members. When Neo tries to focus on his vision, Morpheus tells him “welcome, to the real world.”



Didn't get a chance to finish the theories..
-No conclusion yet..
Used two soucrces -The Matrix & Joseph Campbell's Theory Article.

CyberPunk

Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future. There is a negative aspects and it includes a man’s appreciation for machine. Now-a-days we are really reliant on technology for our necessities such as online shopping. Cyberpunk also involves hackers, artificial intelligence and mega corporations for high-tech and low-life.

In some senses cyberpunk isolates us from reality. As mentioned before about relying on the internet for our needs, we also separate ourselves from the general society. Websites like Facebook or Twitter makes us believe that that is the real world; we tend not to go out psychically these days to meet new people. We believe that everything and anything is found online. Cyberpunk is basically uses a method of “virtual reality environment” to replace the “real world.”

The Matrix involves cyberpunk concepts, cyberpunk visuals and high-tech. Neo has been taking away from the real world and onto this cyber space which is what the cyberpunk focuses on; taking man away from reality. Also, Trinity, Morpheus and other members of the ship can by classified as the hackers in the movie.

Resource- http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/#comments

The Mirror in "The Matrix" of Media Ecology.

This Article was a bit confusing, the first couple of pages talks about Lucan: the Mirror Stage and a bunch of other stuff that is totally irrelevant from The Matrix, although the only thing they had in common is the “Mirror.”


Anywho…

The article I have chosen is called “The Mirror in The Matrix of Media Ecology” by Kenneth Rufo. The articles main argument is about the Mirror in the scene where Neo was about to change into the “real world” and it is showing how this links to the story of Lucan: The Mirror stage. In Lucan’s story, the mirror stage creates an ego that is basically reliant on external objects on an individual. It also goes on to say that the mirror stage is a sign of rebirth. The scene where Neo was transforming, they often showed the mirror movements from every aspect. Then Neo begins to put his fingers into a liquid exterior mirror, which is when the mirror runs through his body; this is what the author states to be the “rebirth/awakening”. This is where the new Neo is born and released from the Matrix. It is also stated that Neo is always doubled, he went from Thomas Anderson/Neo, computer programmer /hacker, human battery /resistance, dead/alive. Also, the world he lives in does not require mouse, keyboards or touch; he is able to work his magic effortlessly. It also says that “the battle for freedom of humanity has been lost in the real world” meaning all means of bondage has been held on earth and everything in the Matrix is basically “freedom.” From my perspective of the article, I believe that it is trying to say that the mirror is a gateway between the bondage of stimulation and the beginning of the real world; the mirror is a mere depiction of Neo’s rebirth.

Dorian Gray and the Imagination: 1st Draft

The reading, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a very interesting novel. One will find that many of the characters in this story are filled with imagination. One in particular that has gone absolutely insane with their imagination is Dorian Gray himself; let us say it is the making of Lord Henry. Because of this, Dorian has no heart or care for the world. He becomes very selfish and tends to corrupt the innocent. His sins have even been portrayed in a portrait that was painted of him. From this novel, I believe it is true to say that the mind is a powerful thing.
Some may say that Dorian’s mind is polluted by the one and only Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a very dear friend of Dorian. They first met at Basil’s house where Basil introduced the two. As Basil was painting a portrait of Dorian, Lord Henry starts to have a deep conversation with Dorian. The conversation was based on beauty; Lord Henry wants Dorian to realize his beauty and take advantage of it. He believes that with Dorian’s charming looks and personality he is able to do anything and everything he desires. Lord Henry then says “When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you…” (16). By there not being any “triumph” left when Dorian grows old, Lord Henry is insisting that Dorian live his life and cherish his beauty the best way he can. However, in Lord Henry’s mind, he does not mean for Dorian to live his life heavenly but rather he live in sin. That’s how selfish Lord Henry is. Even Basil himself has warned Dorian of Lord Henry’s bad influence, but certainly there was no stopping Harry’s influence over Dorian. By now Dorian’s imagination has triggered to newer things. Already he was afraid to grow old and lose his flawless good looks.
When a splendid portrait was painted of Dorian Gray, Dorian becomes very conscious of his beauty. He then thought of what Lord Henry had said to him early about beauty and the brevity of it. Dorian say’s “But this picture will remain always young…if it was the other way! If it was I who were to be always young, and the picture that were to grow old!” (19). This statement seems to be more of a wish. He could not stand the thought of him losing his attractiveness; he feels that if one loses their charm, they lose everything. It seems as if Lord Henry stored this fantasy world onto Dorian’s mind, a fantasy of never having to grow out of his youth. Dorian now thinks that youth is the only important thing worth living for. It is pretty clear that Lord Henry is the cause of Dorian’s mind being so impure.
There had been a time where Dorian Gray fell in love with a gal by the name of Sybil Vane. He loved her for acting talent; she is a work of art in his eyes. He adores her ability to play numerous roles a week. This day she is Juliet, another day she is Roseland and the next she is Imogen. It was because of Lord Henry’s saying that made Dorian have this “wild desire to know everything about life” (24). So Dorian fell for this girl because she is a fine art piece. However, when this art piece decides to alter, he then finds not one interesting thing about it. Also, as Lord Henry became a bad influence to Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray becomes a bad influence to others, particularly the young and innocent. Every relationship Dorian has with a young man, the young man’s life soon becomes horrid. Alan Campbell, a former friend of Dorian, was force to participate in a dreadful act for the sake of his life. Although Dorian spared Alan his life, Alan soon committed suicide. One will think it is because he was not able to take the unlawful act he has done for Dorian. Dorian’s mind is of a high range; he thinks of himself as someone very powerful because of his beauty, the influence of Lord Henry has definitely changed his mind and character.
As the portrait of Dorian Gray has altered I wonder, did his wish come true or was it all in his head? When the news about Sybil’s death came about, the portrait showed a sudden sign of cruelty. At first Dorian thought it was because of him being cruel the night before, however, when Lord Henry told him about the tragic news Dorian figured it all out. The Novel stated that the portrait “had received the news of Sybil Vane’s death before he had known…it was conscious of the events of life as they occurred” (51). This shows that the portrait is able to portray all the sin’s that Dorian has committed. Also, as he got older in age and not in youth, the portrait seems to grow older in appearance; this goes back to his the wish he had made before. One may wonder if the portrait is able to guide Dorian through his life and display his soul; apparently it has done just that. It may have all been in Dorian’s head as we might have thought however, once Basil emphasized every detail of the picture, it was pretty clear that it was not his imagination. Towards the end when Dorian had enough of the portrait reminding him of his sinful ways, he decides to destroy it. Apparently, it was not the best idea in mind; the portrait returned to the beautiful young Dorian Gray we all know and on the ground laid a dead, older loathsome version of him.
In conclusion, I would say it is a known fact that Dorian Gray has a very corrupted mind. He has become a bad influence on others just like Lord Henry has been to him. Lord Henry has altered the child’s mind with ignorance and selfishness for the world. The caring Dorian Gray that we have known from the beginning of the Novel is definitely not the sinful Dorian we have known at the end. The portrait displayed it all. This novel truly has all the “terrible beauty of a great tragedy”.

A Beautiful Mind

The movie Beautiful Mind is a very touching movie. It is about a Math genius named John Nash. While Nash attended Princeton, he became very devoted to his work to come up with an original theory. It took him a while to come up with this theory but he did it. I was astonished at Nash’s work especially the part where he wrote a bunch of mathematical numbers on the library window. He said one part of the window illustrates pigeons fighting over bread crumbs, another of which showed a woman chasing a man who stole her purse and one other that displays touch football. It is pretty amazing that he can come up with these ideas by designing it in a mathematical way. Also, during his stay at Princeton he roomed with a guy named Charles. Charles had become his closest friend throughout the years since he was very anti-social for the most part. But little did Nash know that Charles was a part of his imagination along with Charles’s niece Marcee. Nash also imagined another person named Parcher. He believed that Parcher was a detective that worked with the government. So Nash worked as a spy for them. In Nash’s office at MIT you would find the office filled with newspaper cut outs all over the walls. Along with that, he sent the discoveries he has made from the newspapers to the government. Nash started to become very paranoid everywhere he went. He believed that the Russians were out to get him. However, when the so-called “Russians” caught him, they then took him to a hospital. When he went to the hospital we discovered that the “Russians” worked at the hospital and one of them is a psychologist. The psychologist informed us with the fact that Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia, a paranoia disorder. The psychologist then told Nash’s wife, Alicia (Nash’s former student at MIT) about his disorder but it was at first hard for Alicia to believe. The time that she has known Nash, Nash has always talked about Charles however, she then realized that she had never met this guy.
Alicia has stuck by Nash’s side through thick and thin. There was a time where Nash almost drowned his son in the bathtub, when Alicia asked him why he left her son alone in the bathroom; Nash told her that Charles was watching him. The reason why Nash performed this act is because he had been off his medications, which means that his delusions were able to come back to him. Alicia then had enough with Nash’s behavior but for the sake of her staying, Nash promised to work with Alicia and try to ignore these imaginative people. As the years passed, Nash received the Noble Prize for his Game Theory. There were some who were afraid to let him attend the event because who knows if his delusions were to interrupt him. However it was amazing watching him deliver his speech in a very sharp manner. Dr. John Nash is a very inspirational man. Although he had dealt with a lot of difficulties throughout his life because of schizophrenia, he was still able to come up with theories that people now use for economics, politics, accounting etc. This man truly has a beautiful mind.