Paranoia+-+Who+Goes+There

Post your group's answer here. It might be a good idea to type your answer in Word first and then cut/paste it into here. Place your responses at the bottom of the page..


 * 4th Block**

Paranoia is everywhere, especially in Who Goes There. As soon as the thing was discovered everyone began to flip out. The main cause of paranoia is frustration form the brew being crammed together and the thing eating people and animals. It’s ruining their minds. Frustration is really coming from the crew members being crowded together at the base and its driving then crazy. When people are crowded together, it can begin to be frustrating and make you want to explode like Blair did. “Keep away from me – Keep away – I won’t be absorbed – I wont be”. This quote was not said to the thing it was said to a crew member that had not been classified as the thing., not knowing who it maybe. The crew members need to talk about the situation more in stead of pointing at who they think it is. Paranoia is in the real world also. When humans are afraid, the first thing they do is point fingers at who did it or who could be the thing Campbell is showing us how paranoia affects everyone. He is basing it from real life and is trying to show us through his writings. Frustration is caused by paranoia and paranoia is caused by problems. All of these topics are based around one thing and that is the crew being scared of the truth of the results. This can really affect them and their social life.

Once the creature is brought to the camp, paranoia spreads like a disease. Blair doesn't want to thaw it out for fear of what it can do. Once they thaw it out, he goes into a deep sleep thinking that everyone is now a monster and are out to get him. "McReady looked speculatively at the doctor. 'It might be like an infectious disease. Everything that drank it's blood." McReady gets suspicious and paranoid that the thing will spread thoughout the camp as an infectious disease. Many times, one person's paranoia and suspicion falsely lead others to that same suspicion and paranoia. Everyone in the crew believes that Connant has been consumed by the Thing and everyone is keeping a close eye on him. Alast, no one believes that they will make it out of the Big Magnet alive.
 * 5th Block**

It's very typical, in our human nature, to be afraid of the unknown or things that are different from ourselves. Suspicion is also tied in vey closely to paranoia. To acuse someone falsely of something. For instance, if someone stole a cookie from someone else, that person would probably assume that the person closest to them stole the cookie when it could have been someone on the other side of the table. Everyone is paranoid of something. For example, some people are afraid to try new foods. It could be good or nasty. Some people are afraid to meet new people. The new person could be nice or mean. The point is you will never know unless you try.

ken_booker:** There are many things that contribute to the crews paranoia. One big contributing factor was the crews fear of the alien. You can see this when Connant is in the room with the alien at night. He hears lots of noises and he keeps refering to the alien. Connant's paranoia(hearing noises and refering to the alien) are all coming from fear of the alien. Another thing that contributes to the crews paranoia is human instincts. Humans have way of becoming paranoid when they don't understand things.You can see this in the crew. There are much more factors that contribute to the crews paranoia **.
 * RESPOND BELOW** format - your username in bold (like this **bhlspectrum:** ) then type your response
 * remember responses should be thoughtful and constructive (min. of 3-4 sentences in length)

CrazeSus142011:** Paranoia has a funny way of popping up when we don't understand something and it's unknown. This goes into humans fearing the unknown because we have a tendency to being comfortable knowing everything. So because the alien is new and unknown to the crew members they naturally fear it, and soon this leads them to becoming paranoid, especially once they discover it can imitate other beings. Campbell is giving us the message that we tend to fear what is unknown to us, just naturally without us really thinking about it.


 * Alyssa:** According to definitions.com, paranoia is :"a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts, which are ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to disturbances of consciousness and aggressive acts believed to be performed in self-defense or as a mission" or "baseless or excessive suspicion of the motives of others." This seems like an incorrect way of describing fears which motivated the crews behaviors in John C. Campbell's //Who Goes There// . It would seem like the paranoia is justified with all the commotion that occurs with the discovery of the Thing. Overall, this group did a nice job in underlining the the key points supporting the haze of paranoia.


 * Carmina:** It actually interested me that the 5th block group brought up the issue of paranoia leading to false accusations, but what they did not bring into consideration is that all of this suspicion and paranoia is completely part of our human nature. As humans, it is our instinct not to trust, and to accuse the person who we believe is most guilty for something, and then, we, as humans, justify to ourselves, psychologically, that this person is EXTREMELY guilty even without plausible evidence because this is what we feel is the right thing to do. I agree that paranoia leads to numerous false accusations, but I don't think we purposely intend to falsely accuse anyone. I think that we just jump to conclusions very easily, because of our "animal" instincts to jump on our "prey" and attack what is threatening our life and well-being.


 * Alec:** Paranoia is mentined in most harror stories. It is used when a character is scared of the thing that will hurt them. In this story the crew is scared that they will turn into the thing and who has alpeady turned into it. You can really see this when they test the crew's blood to see who is the monster. will finish


 * Nicholas:** I think Heather and I did an excellent job. I also feel that we explored every possible aspect. What we did was combine My essay and Heather's essay in to one enormous paranoia discussion.


 * Aaron:** Paranoia is common in our story. Paranoia can be caused by a number of things, but i think the main cause is obssession. Everyone is obssessed with the Thing and becomming an imitation they are driving themselves crazy. Everyone wants to stay safe and free from the alien. To do this they must watch their own back and be on the alert at all times. They must try to seclude themselves without being mysterious, but that no one can harm you if they are an imitation. The Paranoia really got the best of Blair and for a while it had gotten the best of Connant. The Thing is playing mind games with thse people one by one. It is always one step ahead eating away at you and picking off at you. It has driven these men to the point where it is a life or death situation. They have let their paranoia get the best of them and because of it it s making them logcally incorrect in their brains.