English Writing Sample

Kristy Tyson

Professor Alisha Geary

English 4950

2 April 2013

The Power of the Imagination

            The imagination is a powerful force.  A Latin Proverb states, “The imagination exercises a powerful influence over every act of sense, thought, reason, --over every idea.” John Muir states that, “The power of imagination makes us infinite.” This is the idea that one is invinsible who has an imagination. One can go on forever with an imagination. One’s imagination is singular and is owned and regulated by one person. It can be influenced by other’s ideas and by one’s perceptions, but it remains the property of an individual. Imagination can be restricted by reason and reality, Reality is concrete. Reality tells one that there are limitations. Reality sets boundaries, has rules, and is governed by societal rules. On the contrary, the imagination is free. The imagination has the ability to transcend one from any state of mind to another. The imagination, if not balanced by reason, can change one’s sense of reality. Imagination can turn one’s inner thoughts into making it seem like reality. It  helps one to escape the realities of life, particularly traumatic experiences, making one’s life seem “normal”, rather than dealing with what is actual. The power of the imagination can free one from their circumstances.

            Into the Lake of the Woods, by Tim O’Brien, explores the imagination of John Wade. He has been affected by the Vietnam War crimes he has been commanded to commit. The societal rules constructed for military are aimed to protect their country even to the extent of killing innocent people. This has been the case throughout the history of war. Unfortunately, the act of killing does something to the human psyche.

An online article on the effects of war on soldiers discuses the emotional trauma that soldiers face;

“Many times it so happens that the soldiers have to physically hurt or kill their opponent soldiers. Circumstances force them to end someone's life. This act of theirs’ brings them deep sorrow. Witnessing deaths becomes an almost everyday incident for soldiers at war. They have to bear the grief of the suffering and deaths of their fellow mates as well. Such situations definitely have a depressing effect on soldiers. Death is bound to disturb the soldiers and deprive them of peace of mind. This constant emotional struggle results in severe mental stress. The undulating emotions that the soldiers have to go through result in great mental strain. Reportedly, many soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Their trauma brings them mental insecurity. The violence, the injuries and the heavy destructions result in distress.”

       In this novel, it is clear that John has had to engage in killing other humans and it has left a debilitating effect on him. John has experienced mental strain and distress. As a way of coping with the memories of the massacre, John slips into another persona. The persona exists because of John’s powerful imagination. John’s imagination takes him to other extremes. One extreme is that he is obsessed with a desire to be an elected official, at almost any cost. In his mind, the imagination of becoming someone different overshadows his reasoning. He goes to the extreme of abortion in his marriage.

I believe he has imagined a life of social acceptance as a way of forgiveness of his war crimes, and John’s idea of social acceptance includes following political order. John’s inability to attach along with his imaginary idea of reality causes him to coerce his wife into having an abortion.

John’s imagination transports him from dealing with the war crimes, and takes him to a place where his mind focuses on following Kathy, his wife. He hides from her view and scurries after her like a private detective. John is not looking to catch her doing anything wrong, he is following her more out of a need to fill voids in his life.  John desires to have some control over the world which seems to be spinning out of control when he says, “Kath, my Kath, the palm of his hand poised above her lips as if to control the miracle of her breathing”(O’Brien 76).

 John becomes the nicknamed Sorcerer in the military. Through his imagination, he has transcended himself into some sort of a made-up magician. His imagination is so powerful, that he is able to convince others that he has some extraordinary abilities. John’s character can be described; “John Wade encouraged the mystique. It was useful, he discovered, to cultivate a reserved demeanor, to stay silent for long stretches of time. When pressed, he’d put on a quick display of his powers, doing a trick or two, using the everyday objects all around him. I’m the company witch doctor” (O’Brien 38).

 One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, is another novel that engages the power of the imagination. Big Nurse is controlling. She has set up a mental ward that does not allow for any freedoms for the patients.

She controls the food, the hygiene, the interactions, the movement and sleep of the patients. The biggest threat to Big Nurse is the power of each of the patient’s imaginations. Big Nurse cannot control the thoughts of the individuals, so if patients exhibit any signs of using their imagination, she immediately steps in to mandate medication or electro-shock therapies that will suppress the imagination. Medication is used to control independent thinking.

The Chief understands what Big Nurse expects and engages in a continual role-play of being deaf. Because, he does not share his ideas or express any sense of self, he is often overlooked. The role-play stems from the Chief’s imagination. He is able to imagine others in the ward and fantasizes about their control and abilities. Chief is able to deal with the life he has because of his imagination. Evidence of Chief’s ability to use his imagination to free him from his circumstances is found throughout the novel. One part is when Chief is exposing his ‘me’ thoughts,

“ Ther’d be my face in the mirror, dark and hard with big, high cheekbones like the cheek underneath them had been hacked out with a hatchet, eyes all black and hard and mean looking, just like Papa’s eyes or the eyes of all those tough, mean-looking Indians you see on TV, and I’d think, That ain’t me, that ain’t my face. It wasn’t even me when I was trying to be that face. I wasn’t even really me then; I was just being the way I looked, the way people wanted. It don’ seem like I ever been me. How can McMurphy be what he is?” (Kesey 136)

           

            The Chief also had emotional trauma that came from being a soldier in the war. He suffered trauma from being part of a tribe and watching his father’s sufferings. He share insight to how he feels, “ I can see all that, and be hurt by it, the way I was hurt by seeing things in the Army, in the war. The way I was hurt by seeing what happened to Papa and the tribe. I thought I’d got over seeing those things and fretting over them. There’s no sense in it. There’s nothing to be done” (Kesey 114).

            The power of Chief’s imagination helps to keep him ‘sane’ in the insane world he was placed in. He is forced to be controlled by Big Nurse on the outside, but the Chief still maintains control of his inner thoughts, which Big Nurse cannot. He appears deaf, though he can hear. The power of his imagination has freed him from his circumstances.

            In the novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, written by Jonathan Safran Foer, a reader can find evidence of characters who also use their imagination to cope with their trauma. In this novel, the power of the imagination allows a young boy freedom from his current circumstances. 

            Oskar is a nine-year-old boy who has lost his father in America’s 911 terrorist  attack. Oskar’s father was killed when the Twin Towers were destroyed. Similar to the two previous novels discussed, Oskar is dealing with loss, and the effects of war.  Foer’s character has an interaction with his mother that shares these feelings of loss; “The next morning I told Mom that I couldn’t go to school again. She asked what was wrong. I told her, ‘The same thing that’s always wrong.’ ‘You’re sick?’ ‘I’m sad.’ ‘About dad?’ ‘ About everything” (Foer 42).

            Dealing with the traumatic experience, Oskar frees himself from his reality, or circumstance and begins an adventure to find the lock that goes with the key he found.  This adventure takes him to several different areas to meet everyone with the last name of Black. Oskar is very bright and seems to pick up on peculiar details, such as everyone he comes in contact with makes a reference to his name or something, that triggers the possibility that they already know why he is there. While this is true, Oskar refuses to acknowledge the peculiarities, but rather continue fostering his own imagination. Oskar uses his imagination to protect his emotions. There is a part when Oskar is explaining why he must meet the Blacks. He says, “That was kind of how I felt when I decided that I would meet every person in New York with the last name Black. Even if it was relatively insignificant, it was something, and I needed to do something, like sharks, who die if they don’t swim, which I know about” (Foer 87). Oskar needed to imagine a life, outside the present one he was living, to cope.

            One of Oskar’s critical revelations to the reader is when Oskar is talking to his grandfather, though he doesn’t know it. Oskar is sharing the last messages from his dad. Oskar’s imagination is intertwining with his reasoning, and he is trying to come to terms with which one allows him healing. In the following passage, Oskar and his grandfather share insight to this. Because Oskar’s grandfather does not speak, he writes; “He wrote, ‘He sounds calm in the last message.’ I told him, ‘I read something in National Geographic about how, when an animal thinks it’s going to die, it gets very, very, calm.’ ‘Maybe he didn’t want you to worry.’ ‘Maybe, maybe he didn’t say he loved me because he loved me. But that wasn’t a good enough explanation. I said, ‘I need to know how he died.” Oskar’s grandfather…”flipped back and pointed at, Why?” Oskar says, “So I can stop inventing how he died. I’m always inventing” (Foer 256).

            The characters noted in Into the Lake of the Woods, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, all had powerful imaginations. The imagination, as described in these three novels, has the power to transport individuals to an emotionally safe place. Trauma, including loss, seem to trigger the need to allow the imagination to take flight. The use of one’s imagination allowed the characters to focus on other things rather than have to face the harsh realities of the present.

            The power of the imagination is infinite. There are no boundaries to what one can do with their mind. For these characters, reality would limit them and if forced, they each might have had a different ending, good or bad. John Wade, in Into the Lake of the Woods, his uncontrolled imagination stemming from war trauma, caused him to ultimately eliminate any attachments to life he had. If he would have received the help he needed, his wife’s life might have been spared. The Chief, in the novel One Who Flew the Cuckoo’s Nest, first found solace in his deaf impersonation, but later found that a voice was part of a life he had missed. He seemed to challenge his imagination with reality. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar finally balances his imagination with reality, which ultimately helps his healing process to begin.

            The power of the imagination is singular to a person. It is a solitary opportunity. I believe the imagination helps humans to not only protect themselves emotionally when needed, but it also is the source of creativity in the world as well. I believe that the imagination helps individuals mask feelings and emotions, especially traumatic experiences, until one is ready to deal with it in reality. While both imagination and reason, even reality, are needed to create balance in individuals, I believe that the power of one’s imagination is what sets us apart as individuals. Without imagination, my experiences with the novels of this course, specifically the three I have written about, would be universal rather than individual to me.