A Beautiful Mind

     The movie, A Beautiful Mind represented the concepts of genius, insanity and madness in the mathematician John Nash. It was as if the movie meant for us to see how some of the most brilliant people lacked in other areas of mental ability. I am not saying that all genius’s are insane or mad but it has been said that there is a fine line between the two. In my opinion to be a genius means you are extra-ordinary meaning a genius is far beyond an ordinary or “normal” person. In the movie John Nash is depicted as being brilliant in the way he chooses to solves various equations and problems. This sort of use of the mind only comes with being a true genius. Most genius’s like John Nash think in a way that no one else thinks, they think in ways that are so far “outside of the box” most fail to even comprehend. It is as if to be a genius one must truly be somewhat “insane”. It has been said that “true genius requires insanity” not in the sense of being crazy but simply thinking like no other. A genius, just like John Nash; has the ability to solve a problem or arrive at a conclusion with an approach that no everyday individual would use. A Beautiful Mind presents genius, insanity and madness in a very interesting and intriguing way.  It depicts both the struggle and hardships John Nash encountered in securing his genius and extraordinary knowledge from the instability of his own madness. He, despite having a better grip of reality; never seem to truly overcome his paranoid schizophrenia. John Nash always saw the characters his mind created’ despite his lack of acknowledgment toward them. A Beautiful Mind depicted the remarkable realization that no matter how intelligent or unintelligent a person may be, our mind truly controls us, we do not /can not fully control our mind.

The Cheshire-Cat: Sign of Signs

     In the article The Cheshire-Cat: Sign of Signs, M.S. Ashbourne talks about Charles Dodgson a.k.a. Lewis Carroll and the birth of two of the greatest children books; “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. The article starts with the depiction of Dodgson’s life, who was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832. As a child he was said to have quite a creative mind and way of being. Dodgson was said to have entertained himself along with his seven sisters and three brothers by inventing toys, games and puzzles along with writing poetry and essays among other things. At the age of twenty-four, Dodgson had his first encounter with Alice Liddel, the girl that gave life to two of his most famous stories of all.
     The creation of “Wonderland” came about on July 4, 1862. On that day Dodgson along with friend Robinson Duckworth and his three young daughters; Lorina, Alice and Edith took a boating trip. On the trip the girls demanded a story be told and as a result Dodgson created a tale about a girl named Alice and the adventures she encounters after haven fallen down a rabbit hole. Alice who of course had been the character of the story, wished for Dodgson to write it down. So one Christmas he complied titling it “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground" later the title was changed to “Alice Adventures in Wonderland”. The story sparked the interest of many due the questionable relationship both Dodgson and Alice shared, along with much of the stories meaning. The story was thought to represent aspects of real life just as in the past Dodgson had wrote stories that contained the element of “self-reflection”.
     The article speaks about how much of the story characters are thought to represent something real in relation to Alice or Dodgson or both. One character in particular was the Cheshire-Cat; that although serves as a minor character among many, leaves one of the greatest impressions of all. It is said to believe that the Cheshire-Cat was created to remind Alice of the wonderful times she spent with Dodgson. The article than continues to talk about the various signs or connections between  the Cheshire-Cat and the real life of  Dodgson. These connections or signs included the Cheshire-Cat representing the birth place of Charles Dodgson, along with much of the characters actions being a manifestation of Dodgson himself. Such things as the grinning can be seen to be his happiness when he was with Alice and the Cheshire-Cat’s concerned ways toward Alice can be thought to depict Dodgson’s real love and care for her. The Cheshire-Cat unlike any of the other creatures Alice comes across in “Wonderland” was interested in her well-being unconditionally, much like Charles Dodgson unconditional love and care for Alice Liddel in real life.