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  • Essay / A theme of following natural instincts in Dante Alighieri's Inferno and the film Get Out

    Everyone has had that inner voice that gives someone an "I have a bad feeling about this feeling" moment, but whether we listen to it or not depends on our discretion. When people find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation, they usually have a feeling that something is wrong. Most people can't explain why they feel something is wrong, but they know how to listen to that inner voice. What happens when someone ignores their inner voice? For most people, ignoring our instincts leads to a bad outcome: it lands us in the "sunken place" or even one of Dante Alighieri's nine circles of hell. What if their inner voice told them two different things: either save themselves (self-interest), or take the risk of saving others (compassion)? Instinct can be a powerful tool for avoiding unwanted consequences because intuition gives us immediate insight. In director Jordan Peele's Get Out, the "sunken place" is depicted as a trivial state of control over one's actions. The “Sunken Place” of Get Out is a modern revision of Dante Alighieri’s Purgatory. Both versions describe a version or part of hell where one is neither punished nor rewarded, one is simply powerless and voiceless. In Peele's version, the "sunken place" is a state into which the mind enters, rather than a place. Instinct is defined by the American Psychological Association as "an innate, species-specific biological force that drives an organism to do something, especially to perform a certain act or respond in a certain way to stimuli." specific” (APA Dictionary of Psychology). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Basically, instinct is a deep-rooted behavioral mechanism that directs specific species to behave in certain ways. For example, instinct can be observed when we see someone who needs help and we offer to help them. This is an example of the compassion instinct, or the instinct that drives us to relieve those who are hurting or suffering. The compassionate instinct is one of two basic human instincts that affect survival and is the direct opposite of self-interest. Unlike the previous example, there is a bystander effect, that is, a reduced need to help someone in the presence of other people. The propensity to truly contribute to reducing someone's suffering is modified when others are present. For example, a student bystander watches a bully publicly ridicule another student into submission in front of a crowd. The student spectator is less likely to help the crowd and more likely to do so if there were only three of them. As I mentioned previously, there are two main basic instincts that affect survival and the prevention of bad outcomes: the compassion instinct and the survival instinct. At first glance, the compassionate instinct does not seem to lead to the "sunken place" or hell, but it is our connection to others that will punish us by sending us to hell or reward us by sending us to heaven. Hell is mentioned figuratively or literally, which is why heaven must also be considered as such. “Compassion is defined as the emotional response to the perception of suffering and involves a genuine desire to help.” This means that a person's desire and need to help someone without expecting a reward is like "Dacher Keltner of the University of California atBerkeley invented an “instinct of compassion.” Compassion has two main elements: empathy and altruism. Both related to social connections with other people. Empathy is the emotional mirroring of another person. Towards the end of the movie Get Out, a police car approaches damn Chris, the main protagonist, and I felt the irony of the situation as he probably did. Chris fought his way out of Armitage's grasp only to be caught while seeking revenge on his girlfriend, Rose. I felt the betrayal that Chris felt towards Rose, because I have experienced betrayal in my own life. My experiences helped me understand how Chris was feeling and so I wanted him to overcome his obstacles. Altruism refers to actions taken out of concern for others, regardless of what happens to the benefactor. Altruism can occur in small situations, such as helping an elderly person cross the street. A more serious example of altruism is running into a burning building to save people. As I mentioned previously, in an example where a bully subjugates and shames another student, a perfect example of altruism is helping the student escape the bullying from the bully. Helping the student who is being bullied requires either being altruistic or showing empathy toward the student's suffering. The stimulus causes emotional or simply selfless concern for the student's health. Altruism, being the practice of selfless acts, is a practice and often does not require much, if any, thought. The altruistic half of compassion is the quicker form of instantaneous intuition or instinct. Empathy requires a few moments of recognizing and reflecting another's feelings in the same way, and then acting on those feelings. Although it may not seem like it, compassion is an important instinct for avoiding the “sunken place” and hell. In the film Get Out, Rod Williams realizes that his friend Chris Washington is in trouble and tries to persuade the police to help him investigate. Throughout the film, whenever the audience sees Rod, he constantly gives advice and warnings throughout the film. Chris is constantly dependent on Rod. This is shown when he cares for Chris's dog and shows responsibility by feeding Chris' dog only dog ​​food. When Rod realizes the potential danger Chris may find himself in, he acts altruistically based on his deduction that the Armitage family is turning black people into sex slaves. Comically he's wrong, or maybe not, but either way, Rod goes to the Armitage estate to probably get his friend out of trouble he was in, regardless of the potential danger he might get himself into. find. Rod's character was the embodiment of the compassionate instinct. According to Dacher Keltner, compassion conveys the message that a person's trustworthiness is worth establishing a lasting connection with. The compassionate instinct helps everyone survive through connections. The survival instinct is the self-centered act of preserving one's life and legacy. The survival instinct is the most basic instinct of all animals. It is ineffective to prioritize the survival of others over their own. The fact is that there is always a risk that someone will fail in their task of saving others, and in those cases, two people instead of one are lost. The priority of one's own survival is more important than human instinct alone. It’s actually the foundation of evolution and all things biological. If plants evolved in a way that was beneficial to other species, they would eventually.