Context Expository- Whose Reality?

[domorox]

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'It is easier to remain happy in a world of illusion than it is to face reality.'


The Paracosmic Phenomenon

Picture yourself in the midst of a battle to save Middle-Earth, slimy, disgusting orcs charging towards you, unleashing their villainous master's wrath on your comrades. You yell in the ancient elfish language of Sindarin, ’Hado I phillin'! And feel the arrows of your archers glide past your ears and into the oncoming foe. Chances of victory are slim, but wait! There is hope! A magical force has struck down your enemy, releasing the ground from beneath their feet, cleansing the world of all darkness that occupies its murky shadows.

The human brain has an infinite capacity to perceive the world and develop a reality for itself. Described above is what researcher Robert Silvey first portrayed as a paracosm. Many people spend countless hours daydreaming of scenarios just like these, which can be traced back, right to childhood. The creation of an imaginary world, with imaginary characters, places and objects becomes an integral part of the human mind allowing it to resort to a world of illusion, rather than face the complexities of the real world. While it is common for children to create these paracosms, it is very rare to hear of adults still engaging in this kind of creative thought later in their lives. There is an inherent characteristic embedded into the brain that makes humans revert back to their childish paracosms when affected by uncertain events such as death or trauma such as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Dealing with the emotions of a death or severe trauma sends, sends the mind into a whirl of disorder, causing the brain to naturally concoct a paracosm for a softer or happier outlook on life constituting what we perceive to be real. The definitive parallels between Blanche dealing with the death of her husband and regular human reactions expose the common response all people share in the face of adversity.

Paracosmic tendencies commonly develop early on in childhood and become a product of what children perceive around them. The invention of a paracosm allows children to immerse themselves in a world of illusion, constructed by their feelings towards the real world and its harshness. From the eyes of a child, the world is a different place, a vast array of complicated adults, clinging onto their own objective values and beliefs. A parent's reality greatly influences the way children perceive the world through their own feelings and emotions. Children cannot construct their own paracosm without first having a solid base to support their imaginations. Children will all perceive television shows differently, and from them, will construct their own world, maybe incorporating characters or themes into their imaginary creation. Whatever the influence, it can be agreed upon that children perceive reality in a different light to adults, whether of a paracosmic nature, or simply in their everyday lives, with the troubles they are witness to affecting their perception of reality.

While paracosms first surface during childhood, it is a special occurrence that brings out a paracosm in adulthood. As a result of more experience and a greater perception of reality, an adult can construct their paracosm with extremely finite detail such as that of C.S. Lewis when writing his Chronicles of Narnia. It is clear to see the underlying influence Lewis is trying to affirm throughout his novels, incorporating his religious emotions and ideals into the stories and characters. It is these incredibly detailed and thought-through ideas that formulate an adult's paracosm. Freud spoke of a writer's paracosm as a ‘fantasy world, which he [the writer] takes very seriously'. A common tendency of adults is to return to their childhood paracosm as a way of dealing with unprecedented emotions and feelings thus finding a sanctuary in the face of destabilizing events. Tennesse Williams emphasizes this adaption by his portrayal of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire having to deal with the painful loss of her husband who shoots himself after she expresses her disgust with him. It is feelings of insecurity and guilt that drives Blanche to such lengths to keep her paracosmic world alive. A human's prime instinct is to know what is real and what is to come, to have everything planned out and certain. This is inherently impossible as humans cope with the unforseen and unknown and ultimately construct their own paracosms, representing a method of dealing with the emotions that shape reality. 

The creation of a paracosm is the mind's defence mechanism to block out reality, and fit in with the world around it. Sylvia Plath describes her paracosm perfectly writing ‘I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead, I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head).'  Blanche Dubois, the leading protagonist in A Streetcar Named Desire arguably lives in her own paracosm, escaping the reality of everyday life. She constantly takes long, hot baths, symbolizing a metaphor for purification or the washing away of her sins, additionally, drinking excessively, describing them as giving her ‘a brand new outlook on life'. The paracosm she creates is most likely due to the death of her husband, whom she loved dearly and most importantly the part she played in his death. She lives in a world where she is in a higher class, wearing only the most expensive clothes and not ageing a day past her twenties. Stanley Kowalski plays an integral role in bringing Blanche back to reality, invading her paracosmic world and reducing it to pieces. Blanche feels threatened by Stanley and tries to persuade her sister Stella to leave him as ‘she can't live with him'. She describes Stanley as ‘common' and therefore an intrusion on her imaginary world. The notion of Shep Huntley, a wealthy businessman, coming to take Blanche away on a long cruise, is part of a recurring theme we see commonly used in ‘chick’ literature, such as the critically acclaimed 50 Shades of Grey. Once again it is Blanche's inability to deal with the extreme emotions that have plagued her past, that force her to concoct this world of illusion.

Paracosms are an integral part of a child's life, producing their own perception of reality, and engaging in the type of imaginative play, many adults lose later on in life. Their interpretation of the world becomes a product of their newfound feelings and emotions. When adults invent their own paracosm, it is more detailed than that of a child's, expanded all through life to incorporate society's ethics and morals in a much more mature manner. For humans, it is a way of escaping reality and in some cases a method to deal with trauma that becomes more than just an imaginary world, transcending into the way adults carry themselves in real life and symbolises a sanctuary they can retreat to when faced with extreme hardships.

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