I think that the most important thing that was discussed was whether or not Assef is a sociopath. He is a cruel person that uses people and does terrible things to them. But why is Assef this type of person? One possible answer is that Assef is facing a problem that he has by handling the situation poorly and responding with something that my Health teacher called the reaction formation. The reaction formation response is when you behave in the opposite of how you are feeling. Perhaps Assef is lonely and is demonstrating that loneliness by being angry and cruel to the people he encounters. But you also have to wonder, is it Assef upbringing or his nature that made him who he is? Personally, I believe that any person's personality is strictly determined by his/her experiences. In other words, we are who our experiences shape us to be. Two possible solutions to Assef's personality are either poor or strict parenting. Theory #1: Assef's parents did such a terrible job that he never distinguished the difference between right and wrong and never experienced guilt, which psychologist consider a learned emotion, so he feels no shame when he does something that we believe to be horrible. Theory #2: Assef's parenting was superb. His mother, of whom we know little about, is a passionate believer in Hitler and all of his values and thus instilled them in her son to make him the terrible person that he is today. I am leaning, more like falling, towards theory #1 because it seems much more plausible in the context of the book. For example, at Amir's party, Assef did all the talking for his parents almost like he had control over them not the other way around.
The most likely place that I see myself using this information, is in analyzing characters in novels. The question that I always enjoy contemplating the most is: why is the character in question the way he is? If you can understand the characters, then, I believe, that you can understand the novel and the messages that the author is attempting to portray. Another instance when I can use this, is in everyday life. It will help me from criticizing someone or their work, and tell to myself that I don't know anything about this person so it is unfair for me to make prior assumptions. This will also help me live up to the Code of Living that I shared in the previous post.
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Bill, I agree that the topic of Assef's mental state was an important part of the discussion in class. I can't help but notice that you used terms and ideas we learned in health (a class that I despise and sometimes find quite useless). Congratulations, I feel that this is one of those rare moments when some of the less useful information from our health textbook actually gets applied in a meaningful way.
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