“TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why
will you say that I am mad? The disease
had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the
earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily – how
calmly I can tell you the whole story” (Poe 138).
This quote demonstrates how a person struggling
with inner conflict can lose the ability to distinguish between their
perceptions and the reality that exists around them. Turmoil overtakes their mind and alters their
consciousness, all while they fight to pretend that everything is okay. A person who experiences inner turmoil will
try to mask their struggles and apply a deliberate effort to behave in an ordinary
manner. The harder they fight their
inner fear or guilt, the stronger it becomes.
Eventually those suppressed thoughts or feelings drive unnecessary
actions in order to try and manipulate the truth, or justify their actions to themselves
or others. You cannot win a battle
against your own conscious because the internal tension will continue to grow
until it is reconciled by exposing the truth, or madness sets in.
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