E13 évaluation finale

         The notion which I am going to present you is “imaginary and folly”. It deals with all that isn’t real, which belongs to the spirit, and mental illness (which causes serious disorder in a person’s behavior).

        Among the documents studied in class, I have selected American Psycho (written by Bret Easton Ellis) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (written by Ken Kesey).

        My personal document is A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess in 1962. It illustrates the notion well as it shows that the society can have an extremely negative impact, it persists to the point of making people crazy. In this case, Alex DeLarge, the main character, watches his behavior changing because of society, which is even more amoral than himself. We can easily make the link between all the documents studied in class. Indeed, in American Psycho, the main character, Patrick Bateman, seems insane by his murderous urges and in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, we are dealing with a character who is becoming crazy because of society.

        As a consequence, considering the notion and the documents studied in class I want to answer the following question: How does the society sees and treats the madness?

On one hand, I will study the various aspects of madness to the society, and on the other hand I will study “The madman, scapegoat of society”.

[FIRST OF ALL] I) The various aspects of madness to the society

a. The scary image

        → American Psycho, Patrick Bateman

 |        “I’ll have a decapitated coffee also […] I mean… decaffeinated”                                        

                   SLIP OF TONGUE (which seems pretty scary)[pic 1]

b. The madness, something to eliminate

        → One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy is the victim

 |         “She tried once more to bring up her suggestion for a more drastic measure, insisting that         the doctor consider such action “before it is too late to help the patient”.”                         

c. The “less than nothing” image

        → A Clockwork Orange, Alex DeLarge treated as a less than nothing, he’s reduced as a         number

 |        “Thank you as always, little 6655321”                                                                

                   NOT NAMED ANYMORE[pic 2]

[THEN] II) The madman, scapegoat of society

a. The typical victim of the consumer society

        → American Psycho, Patrick Bateman

 |        “I’m imaging myself on television, in a commercial for a new product. Wine cooler?         Tanning lotion? Sugarless gum?”                                                                      

                   LEXICAL FIELD OF PRODUCTS/ACCUMULATION, to show how new products, as silly they are, can attract consumers[pic 3]

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