Anomalies, Paradoxes & Inconsistencies - Sirena, Shomeel, Shannon Flashcards
Anomalies in Human Behaviour and Motivation
Winton’s father’s calm and collected behaviour in reaction to the traumatic road accident that unfolded before him (including the victim’s father’s abusive behaviour towards him) → deviates from the typically panicked and aggressive behaviour one would have in response to a traumatic experience
E.g. ‘I was rattled by what I’d seen and disturbed by how business-like Dad was. He was calm and unhurried; this drama did not seem to impress him’ (pg 33) - Winton failed to understand why his father is responding to such a disturbing event in such a ‘calm’ manner due to its contrasting with Winton’s panicked reaction and his consequent expectations of others to react similarly.
E.g. ‘Dad dusted himself off and came clapping back in his thongs, chuckling at something the coppers had said.’ - ‘clapping’ and ‘chuckling’ signify his relaxed and unconcerned behaviour. He is wearing ‘thongs’, an accessory associated with casualness, further depictive of his unconventional behaviour in such a scene.
Paradoxes in Human Behaviour and Motivation
Although strangers can be motivated to unnecessarily cause harm and suffering to others, they also have the capacity to go to extremes to help others without anything in return. ‘His actions taught me something new about strangers- that while they could wreck your life and do you harm they were also capable of mysterious kindness’ (pg42) - a stranger caused severe harm and suffering to Winton’s father, contrasting the idea that a stranger is also capable of kindness - however this is seen in a stranger’s kind act of helping to care for Winton’s father while he was recovering from severe injuries. (contrasting idea of ‘harm’ and ‘kindness’ - opposite adjectives to describe an individual)
Despite the suffering that accidents cause individuals, they are a significant human experience that should be perceived rather positively in order to stay in touch with reality. “And to exist at all in this universe is to be caught up at the scene of perhaps the happiest accident of all” - Through growth and maturity, Winton realises that he doesn’t think that accidents should be perceived negatively and that one’s sense of life should not be consumed by the negativity of accidents.
Despite children being in their formative years, their emotions (e.g. anxiety) enable them to react instinctively to traumatic experiences. - Children have the ability to assess a situation without their parents explanation.
“How quick children are to absorb the unexpressed anxieties of their parents; how fluent they become in the unconscious art of compensation”- pg 40
‘The margins between coping and not coping, between psychological survival and total collapse…’
Inconsistencies in Human Behaviour and Motivation
Winton’s father and the injured man’s father have differing motives, perspectives and relationships to help the injured man → portrayed differently. The victim’s father reacted violently in this situation whereby one encounters a traumatic experience/accident.
“Yet in a second from thin air they can manufacture chaos and carnage”
