Attachment Theory and Child Essay Example for Free

Attachment Theory and Child Essay An attachment is a two-way emotional bond in which people depend on each other for their sense of security. Although we forma attachments through out our lives, psychologists are particualry interested in the attachments formed between a child and his/her primary caregiver.1 This essay will examine the role of attachment in childhood and it’s subsequent formation of relationships. Most babies of mammals exhibit the same patterns as human infants; they seek proximity to the mother and react with anxeity on seperation from her, which is the essense pf attachment behaviour. John bowlby believed that attachment was an innate pattern and it helped infants to survive. Bowlby had observed how baby monkeys reacted with distress on sepearation from their mother for a brief period. The mother and baby both called for each other. This shows that attachment is essential for survival however, it can be argued that research relating to animals cannot be generalised to humans. Bowlby’s theory of attachment is that children have a biological need to attach to their main caregiver as attachment helps serve the purpose of survival. The emotional relationship provides the infant with a set of expectations about relationships which stays with the child throughout life; this is known as the internal working model, and is a pattern for relationships the child may have in the future. If the child experiences love and affection, he/she will come to see him/herself as worthy of love and attention. This is the child’s working model as Bowlby sees it. The working model will determine the child’s relationship with other people and the way the child sees him/herself in the future. On the other hand, if the child experiences neglect or rejectionthey may develop a working model that is based on denial rather than on reality. Such a working model may contribute negatively to the the mental health of the child and the quality of their relationships with others in the future. Mary Ainsworth was a US psychologist who operationalised Bowlby’s concept so that it could be tested empirically. She devised an experimental procedure called the stange situation, which resulted in the classificatin of attachment patterns. In the strange situation an observer shows the caregiver and child into a room and then leaves. The caregiver watches the child play and a stranger soon enters the room. The stranger sits silently at first then talks with the caregiver and then tries to interact with the child. The caregiver leaves the room. This is he first seperation between the caregiver and the child. While the caregiver is absent the stranger continues trying to interact with the child. The caregiver returns and is reunited withnthe child. The stranger then leaves the room and the caregiver follows leaving the child alone. This is the second seperation. The stranger enters the room and once again tries to interact with the child. The caregiver returns for a second reunion and the stranger leaves. The findings resulted in the classification of three attachment types discussed below. Attachment type A, avoidant, is when the child shows apparent indifference when the caregiver leaves the room, and avoids contact when the caregiver returns. The child is apparently not afraid of strangers. Mothers of type A children tend to be insensitive and do not seem interested in their child’s play. Attachment type B, securely attached, is when the child is upset when the caregiver leaves and is happy to see the caregiver return. The child is easily comforted by the caregiver. The mothers of type B children are very intersted in their child’s play and actively support and communicate with the child during play. Attachment type C, ambivalent is when the child is very upset when the caregiver leaves the room, however, the caregiver finds it difficult to sooth the child when they return. The child seeks comfort but at the same time rejects it. mothers of type C children are inconsistent in their reactions to their children. Ainsworth concluded that the primary caregiver’s behaviour determines the attachment type of the child. A sensitive primary caregiver leads to a securely attached child. Insecure attachment will lead to problems in later life. Jerome Kagan (1982) suggested that innate differences in children’s temperaments influence how the environment interacts with them. Another impact on attachment is the family circumstances that a child is part of. A childs socio-economic environment has a major impact on the attachment type the child has. If a family is hit by povery the child may not recieve the necessary support and this could lead to a change in the attachment type. A risk factor in the development of mental health seems to be a lack of formation of attachment to important people during childhood. According to Goldberg (2000), the method is a unique combination of experimental and clinical methods. He he finds it a well standardised procedure which allows for natural interactions. Lamb (1985) claims that this widely used methodology is highly artificial and extrememly limited in terms of the amount of information gathered, and that it fails to take into account the mother’s behaviour. Marrone (1998) finds that although the strange situation has been criticized for being stressful-and therefore unethical- it is modelled on normal everyday circumstances when the caregiver must leave the infant for brief periods of timein different circumstances. However, it can be argued that exposing children to stress in experimental situations can be very different to everyday life. Van ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) carried out a major review of 32 world wide studies, involving eight countries and over 2000 infants. They found that there are differences within cultures in the distribution of types A,B and C. For example, Japanese studies showed complete absence of type A, but a high proportion of type C. There sems to be a pattern of cross-cultural differences, so that type B is the most common cross-culturally. Type A is reletively more common in Western European countries, and type C is reletively more common in Japan. He differences has been associated with differences in child-rearing. The results of these studies indicated that if we want valid interpretations of the strange situaton in a cross-cultural setting, we need to have good knowlege about child rearing. The cross-cultural validity of the strange situation methods of assesing attachment and the meaning of the classification classifications themselves has been questioned. The meaning of the strange situation has been challenged, in that it focuses on o the measurement of the attachment in terms of the infants reaction to the seperation and the subsequent reunion with the caregiver. It does not take into account that the meaning of seperation may differ across cultures. Japanese children are rarely seperated from their primary caregivers and so the seperation may be a very unusual situation for the child. this may mean something completely different to Japanese mothers and children than to American infants and mothers. Bowlby’s internal working model assumes that although the model can be modified, it remains relative;y stable throughout the lifespan. Hazen and Shaver (1987) were one of the first researchers to explore Bowlby’s attachment theory in relation to adult romantic relationships. They found the attachment theory a valuable perspective on adult love because it could explain both positive and negative emotions. Hazen and Shaver translated Ainsworth’s three attachment styles to make them suitable for adult relationships. Then they devised a â€Å"love quiz† in a local newspaper and ask respondents to indicate which of the three patterns best described their feelings toward romantic relationships. A self selected sample of 620 people, aged 14-82 years, responded to the love quiz. The mean age was 36 years. There were 205 males and 415vfemales. A second study used a sample of 108 college students. The researchers found that 60% of the respondants showed a secure attachment style and 20% showed the anxious ambivalent pattern, and 20% showed the anxious avoident pattern. The research also asked the respondents to describe their parent’s parenting style. People who were seecurely attached had said their parents were responsive and attentive, people who were anxious-ambivalant had rejecting and inattentive parent. Hazen and Shaver theorised that romantic love shares important similarities with early attachment relationships. They also found that differences in adult attachment wre related to how people felt about themselves. Although the researchers found some correlation between parenting style and attachment paterns, they went against drawing too many conclusions as this would be deterministic. In fact, it seems that as people get older, they are more likely to to be able to develop their own outlook and approach to life. The study was ased on a self selected sample and can therefore not be representative. Self report data is not always reliable, and since the study was carried out in the western world it cannot be generalised to everybody across different cultures. It can be seen through the strange situation that majority of infants are likely to develop an attachment type B, although, it is largely dependant on factors such as temperment, socio-economic factors, and parent styles. In addition, it can also be seen that the attachment style developed as a child can have a large impact on the attachment style involved in the formation of subsequent parent relationships.

The Smoke Signals Forgiveness Essay -- Sherman Alexie Films Movies Med

The Smoke Signals Forgiveness Smoke Signals, written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre, begins on July 4, 1976 on the Coeur d’ Alene Reservation. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), drunk while celebrating the "independence", lit off a firework and set the Builds-the-Fire residence on fire, killing the parents of Thomas Builds-the Fire. Many people were already asleep in the house when the fire started, so no one saw Arnold’s mistake, which he kept a secret from the whole reservation. Both Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) and Victor Joseph (Adam Beach), Arnold’s son, were saved from the burning house. Arnold ran to catch Thomas in his arms after Thomas was thrown from a window. Victor and Thomas grew up together. After the fire, Thomas was raised by his grandmother (Monique Mojica). Victor was raised by his father Arnold and his mother Arlene (Tantoo Cardinal) in a family that was falling apart. After the fire, Arnold turned to alcohol to bury the guilt of accidentally killing the Builds-the-Fire parents by burning down their house by accident. Arnold’s drinking was out of hand. Arnold’s alcohol ended up causing him to abuse his family. He hit both Arlene and Victor. Arlene was also a drinker, but she realized that their drinking became a problem and told Arnold to stop drinking. Refusing the order, Arnold chose to leave his wife and son and move to Phoenix, AZ. For the next ten years, no one was to hear from him ever again. Growing up, Victor and Thomas didn’t get a long so well. Thomas was often annoying and Victor just wanted to be left alone. Thomas often talked of Arnold and Victor never wanted to talk about his deserted father. The last thing that Victor wanted to do was talk about the father that bailed on... ...nts. The film moved in chronological order, so it naturally showed the different stages that Victor faced while dealing with his problems caused by his father. Seeing the sequence of events in this film could cause some of us to notice how similar situations in our lives relate to this. It is this issue of forgiveness that is the most valuable from this film. The viewer can benefit from this by being able to notice how Victor got through his problems. If the viewer has problems of his or her own that are similar to this, then maybe the viewer can apply the film’s lessons to his or her life. The issue of forgiveness is the main point, but there are other great lessons and morals such as the importance of friendship, the danger of alcoholism, handling family conflicts, etc. Not to mention, there is a lot to be learned about Native American culture from this film.

Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines Essay

Kingfisher , Sony and Kodak have one thing in common . i.e. They are finding it difficult to reinvent themselves. They are trying hard to be a phoenix but will they truly rise from the ashes or simply fade away is the real question. Let us take the issue of Kingfisher here. One of India’s most high profile airlines few years back , now in shambles. It is really interesting to ponder that in same market scenario, one of the competitors of Kingfisher is flying high and high. Yes, Indigo Airlines is the most profitable airlines in India. The question is the difference between discipline or grandeur. What makes one company succeed, while another, in the same operating environment, falter? One of the reason is Mr. ( or Dr. in which degree?) Vijay Mallya flamboyant nature. Kingfisher was launched as an all-economy, single-class configuration aircraft with food and entertainment systems. After about a year of operations, the airline suddenly shifted its focus to luxury. When an airline keeps changing its model and takes to random expansion, there is no time for the airline to stabilize. After Kingfisher’s plunge into luxury came its next folly—a merger with Air Deccan, an airline formed by Captain G R Gopinath in 2003. I believe the fall of Kingfisher airlines started the very day when they bought Air Deccan. Capt. Gopinath , the owner of Air Deccan can be termed as shrewd but smart investor who knew when to part with his investment , just at the right time. The all-economy configuration of Air Deccan was rebranded and called Kingfisher Red, which continued to operate as its low-cost wing till recently. Kingfisher ended up spending Rs 550 crore on an airline that had losses of over Rs 550 crore. It is widely believed that Kingfisher merged itself with Air Deccan so that it could classify as an airline with five years of domestic flying in 2008, thus fulfilling requirements to fly international routes. The fact that Jet had meanwhile swallowed Air Sahara didn’t help, fuelling a competitive race to be the biggest airline around. Essentially, jet fuel prices began to sky-rocket and soon touched $150. Then came the 2008 recession that made fundamentals in the airline industry worse, which is when the airline launched its international operations. Some companies just fail to learn—either from the examples that its peers may have set for the industry, or from its own past mistakes. Now, Kingfisher has decided to change its model yet again—discontinuing its Kingfisher Red brand and completely converting its fleet to a dual class, full-service configuration. Kingfisher was gifted to Mr . Sidhartha Mallya by his father on his birthday i.e. a Near Zero experience in running a company and the later CEOs appointed by Mr . Mallya couldn’t bring any significant result too . His over indulgence in petty things like parties and Kingfisher Calendar also lead to inadequacies in his finances. .IPL is also one of the reason for Kingfisher downfall because it is known that many of the money was diverted to IPL from Kingfisher airlines, resulting which they defaulted in Loans and recently became a NPA (non performing asset) to its leading bankers like SBI . The lack of trust was shown recently when Mr Mallya asked the government of India to bail him out. The new minister Mr. Ajit Singh clearly told that the Government will not bail out private airline because Air India is itself in need to bail out. I personally feel that Mr Ajit singh made a good decision because When Kingfisher doesn’t give public anything in return of its profit , then why is it asking for Public hard earned money ( income tax money) to bail him out. The lack of management and top of it the soaring petrol prices, the airport charges added to Kingfishers humiliation. Frequent cancellation of flights , nonpayment to employees, rude staff laid the ground for Kingfishers grave. Kingfisher reputation took a beating when it was known that employees tax were not submitted to government on time since the last three years! Government of India also freezed 40 Kingfisher’s bank account. Latest news is that Kingfisher employees have been not paid three months salary. We all know how we feel when our salary is delayed by a day, imagine what happens to them when they are not getting salary for last three months. How do you expect the employees to keep a smiling face to its customers when they themselves are crying . A company which forgots its employees, is also soon forgotten. A classic example is Kingfisher airlines. Mr Mallya had to sell 49% of his ownership of Force India( F1 car) to Mr Subrato Roy to get kingfisher going ( owner of ailing airline Air Sahara , years back) , but it too failed to save the airlines from tatters. I still have hope from Mr Mallya that he will refrain from over indulgence and concentrate on his fragile business. It’s time he and his son become responsible and start this company from scratch instead of late night parties and IPL and took inspiration from Indigo airlines who proudly claimed themselves as Low cost airline and exceeding the customers delight in every way they can.

An Exploration of the biography of Edgar Allan Poe and its influence on his writing style - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2639 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Edgar Allan Poe Essay Did you like this example? When writing short stories and poetry, authors have the tendency to add components of their life experiences into their literature. Allowing their emotions to shine through often makes their work easier to understand and relate to. Life experiences coupled with literary devices, such as symbolism, permit the author to add another layer of complexity to their work. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An Exploration of the biography of Edgar Allan Poe and its influence on his writing style" essay for you Create order Edgar Allan Poe is an example of an author who has allowed his life to influence some of his most famous works. It is evident that when an author experiences tragedy or depression they tend to write in a dark and gloomy tone. The emotions of authors create a slight biased in the emotional undertones of the literary devices used in both their short stories and poems. The tragic life of Edgar Allan Poe is behind many of the symbols in The Case of the Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and The Pendulum, and The Raven. The works themselves paired with the devastating history of Poe will reveal a concrete relationship with the symbols used and the events that occurred during the authors lifetime. Initially, the numerous tragedies in Edgar Allan Poes life had an evident effect on his behavior and psychological state. Poe was exposed to death at the early age of two, when his mother passed away (Quinn 51). Left without a mother and forced into foster care, Poe had an especially harsh childhood. Poe was again faced with the devastating reality of inevitable death when both his foster mother and wife suddenly died. After the passing of his wife, Poe was completely shattered and unsure of how to live on. Due to the tragedies he faced, Edgar Allan Poe suffered from recurring depression, which suggested he had bipolar disorder. At the time of Poes life, mental illness was not a well-researched subject and was not discussed freely. The science of psychology was undeveloped, so diagnosis of mental illness was rare. Those with psychological issues often suffered in silence and turned to self-medication or religion as a remedy. Unlike modern times, Poe was unable to confide in a therapist or anyone for that matter. His writing was his only way to express himself and explore his many unordinary feelings. In the story of The Pit and the Pendulum written by Edgar Alan Poe, a man is trapped inside a prison room with a deep pit in the middle. The man is imprisoned by the Catholic Church at the time of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was a group of Catholic institutions dedicated to combat religious dissent in France. Those accused of heresy against the Catholic Church were imprisoned and eventually killed. During the story, the prison walls surrounding the man are slowly closing in, forcing him to become closer to falling into the pit. The man throws a fragment into the void, For many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length, there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. The fragment symbolizes the last ounce of sanity the man encompasses. When he throws the fragment, the man realizes how deep the pit is and loses all hope of survival. The moving walls pushing the man towards the pit symbo lize how he is being driven to insanity. The room the man is held inside is pitch black, so he is completely blind to his surroundings. The man is experiencing a high degree of uncertainty and confusion. The symbols used in The Pit and The Pendulum coincide with Edgar Allan Poes battle with mental illness and religion. Poe had an internal conflict with the idea of Christianity and believed in freedom of religion. He famously said My own faith is indeed my own. Poe was born into a religious background, but he did not agree with all of the constraints of Christianity. Poe is also quoted as saying, All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry. Poes story, The Pit and The Pendulum, explores his criticism of religion, especially Catholicism, by telling a tale of a man tortured as a result of The Inquisition. The idea of uncertainty symbolized by the dark room the man is placed in equates to Poes uncertainty about his religious values, as well as his mental illness. The ambiguities in Poes life drove him to insanity, similar to the symbol of the moving walls in the story. The symbols used in The Pit and The Pendulum prove that Poe use s his literary works as an outlet for the unknown. In the story, the man is only released from the torture chamber after he discovers the depth of the pit he is faced with. Jeanne Malloy, author of Apocalyptic Imagery and the Fragmentation of the Psyche: The Pit and the Pendulum, confirms the above plot analysis when she states, General Lasalle only after the narrator is forced to he has devoted himself to avoiding ever since his discovery of it (Malloy 94). The way Poe structures the plot of his story against his use of symbolism suggests that he feels trapped by his mental illnesses and the only way to escape his entrapment is to understand the thoughts he experiences. The liberation of the prisoner in The Pit and The Pendulum enhances the correlation between the life of Edgar Allan Poe and his most famous literary works. Continuing, Poe also explores the vague subject of human psychology with his use of symbolism in his poem The Raven. The poem tells a story of a man who is mourning the death of his beloved Lenore. The man hears a knock at his door and opens it to reveal a raven. The raven flies into his home and responds to all of the mans questions with, Nevermore. In the poem, the narrator cries out, Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore! The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Nepenthe as a potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow. It is believed that in ancient times opium-based drugs were referred to as Nepenthes. In this case, Nepenthe symbolizes the narrators ability to diminish his grief. As previously stated, Edgar Allan Poe experienced an immaculate amount of grief throughout his life. It is evident that the great poet turned to drugs and alcoholism to save himself from his inner pain. In the short story The Case of The Tell-Tale Heart, Poes inability to process his mental illness is exemplified through his use of dark symbolism. The Tell-Tale Heart tells of a mad young caretaker that murders the elderly man he is responsible for tending to. The caretaker is terrified by the old mans eye and uses his fear as reasoning for his crime. The murder and the disposal of the remnants is carefully plotted to result in the perfect crime. Everything went according to plan, until the caretaker allowed his guilt to consume him and force him to admit to the crime he committed. The criminal in the story is described as a psychopath, True!â€Å"nervousâ€Å"very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my sensesâ€Å"not destroyedâ€Å" not dulled them. The caretaker does his best to deny his insanity, but his admittance of having a disease and his obsessive rambling prove he his mad. Throughout the story, the killers illness is emphasized through his actions, I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. The murderers ability to care for the man and plot his murder simultaneously show his incapability to express human emotions. Above all, the man refuses to express any guilt towards his actions. He even projects his pounding heart to be that of the old mans. His thoughts are revealed when he becomes paranoid that the police can hear the heartbeat as well, Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!â€Å"no, no! They heard!â€Å"they suspected!â€Å"they knew! Although his belief of the heartbeat is false and furthers the accusation of his insanity, the heartbeat also symbolizes his humanity. Even with his mental disease, the man knows that he has done something wrong and this is shown by the heartbeat. When a human experiences guilt and anxiety, their first reaction is normally the subconscious quickening of the heart. The man hears th e heartbeat when he is being questioned because he is experiencing anxiety about the crime he committed. The heartbeat begins to represent guilt when the man confesses his sins because of the nonstop noise, Villains! I shrieked, dissemble no more! I admit the deed!â€Å"tear up the planks! here, here!â€Å"It is the beating of his hideous heart! The killers guilt reaches such an extent that he can no longer live in peace, he had to admit to his actions. The heartbeat symbolizes that even though the man was completely insane, he was still a human with emotions. Throughout history, Edgar Allan Poe has been known to be a bit mad. The hardships he faced in life transformed him into a person who experienced a multitude of mental illnesses. Through this symbolism, it is possible that Poe is trying to express that even though he does suffer from insanity, he still experiences human emotions. He is overwhelmed by the loss of his wife, mother, and foster mother and expresses his feelin gs through the mad nature of his characters. Further along in the story The Case of The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe further investigates the subject of psychology through the symbolism of the old mans eye. The eye of the old man is described as a pale blue eye, with a film over it. The pale blue film over the eye indicates that the mans vision is most likely impaired. The eye symbolizes the narrators inability to see inside of himself and recognize the sickness he has. The narrator describes the eye as evil and vulture like, similar to his persistent watching and plotting of the old mans death. The narrator blames his madness and troubles on the eye instead of owning up to his downfalls. After Poes mother died, he was sent to a foster family by the name of Allan. Eventually, Mrs. Allan, whom Poe had grown very close with, passed away to leave him with only Mr. Allan. Poe and his foster father never had any type of real relationship. Allan sent Poe out into the world without any money and refused to pay off his gambling debt, le aving him alone and helpless at University. Allan also remarried before he died, meaning that Poe received no inheritance after his death. Poe came to resent his father and blame all of his misfortunes on Allan, similar to the narrators ability to blame his wrong doings on the old mans eye. The inability for the narrator to realize his own faults, represented by the blind eye, relates to Poes refusal to accept any blame for his own misfortunes. Along with mental illness, Edgar Allan Poe uses symbols to portray his obsession with the idea of inevitable death. Throughout his life, Poe experienced a multitude of deaths, especially throughout his close family. According to Janice Krupnick, author of Bereavement: Reactions, Consequences, and Care, The death of a parent during childhood has been linked with a wide range of serious and enduring health consequences ranging from schizophrenia to major depression and suicide. The passing of both his mother and foster mother impacted Poes psychological state more than anything else in his life. The main women in Poes life, including his wife, all died unexpectedly at a young age. Due to the sorrow he experienced, Poe became infatuated with the topic of death. In the poem The Raven, the narrator is mourning the death of his beloved Lenore. The grief the narrator feels toward Lenore can be compared with the tragedies of the many losses in Poes life. Each time the Raven enters the narrators home, he is reminded of the death of loved one. Therefore, the raven itself symbolizes the omnipresent characteristic of death. The description Poe utilizes to describe the bird solidifies its dark characteristics, What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore, Meant in croaking Nevermore. (Poe). After every question the narrator poses, the Raven exclaims, Nevermore. The response of the Raven is a reminder that death is inevitable. Poe was forced to quickly come to terms with the idea that everyone will eventually die and he uses the symbolism of the Raven to express his interest in his discovery. The symbolic properties of death are also showcased in the short story The Pit and The Pendulum. One of the torture devices used against the prisoner is a descending pendulum that slowly swings across his body. The pendulum represents the inevitable passage of time and mimics the heartbeat of the narrator. The motion of the pendulum is described, The vibration of the pendulum was at right angles to my length. I saw that the crescent was designed to cross the region of the heart. The pendulum is constantly moving, becoming closer and closer to the terrified narrator with every calculated swing. The swinging crescent represents the unstoppable approach of death that every person experiences. Similar to the use of symbols in The Fall of The House of Usher, the pendulum coincides with Poes curiosity and obsession regarding death. As previously discussed, Poe was subject to an amplitude of loss throughout his entire lifetime. His early on exposal caused the reoccurring idea of dyi ng and death in many of his short stories and poems. The pendulum not only represents death, but also reestablishes the idea that dying cannot be controlled. Every human is eventually going to die, and the time or reasoning of their death is unable to be restrained. Poe resents his inability to save his family members and his frequent use of morbid symbols could be considered as a way he handles his intense grief. In conclusion, the depressing and terrible events of Poes life has shaped his writing tone and use of literary devices. Poe uses symbolism to add parts of his own life into his work without blatantly giving himself away. The main factor of Poes life that affected his use of symbolism was the great loss he experienced. Edgar Allan Poe grieved everyone he was close with and the trauma he received from these events sparked a curiosity in him. Through his symbols, Poe explores the unavoidable destiny of death and the inability to control it. Death symbols exist in all three works: the pendulum in The Pit and The Pendulum, the watch in The Tell-Tale Heart, and the deteriorating house in The Raven. Along with dying, Poes battle with mental illness affect the meaning behind his symbols. The tragedies Poe underwent turned him into a very tormented man, Poe knew that he had issues but, in some ways, he also denied his sicknesses. The inner battle Poe experienced with his mental health is shown through the fragment in The Pit and The Pendulum, the creative use of Nepenthe in The Raven, and the blind eye in The Tell-Tale Heart. Overall, if Poe did not undergo the traumas he was subject to he would not have become the known writer he is today. An authors life influences their creativity to extreme extents. Poes life was sad and tragic, and his reoccurring gloomy and depressing themes resembled that. Poe was able to write so thoughtfully and in depth because of his ability to relate to the stories he was telling. His use of symbolism added a personal level to his otherwise unfamiliar plot lines. Edgar Allan Poes allowance of his life experiences to influence his use of symbolism humanized and personalized his short stories.