What Is Man's Need For Control In Nirvana

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Man’s Need for Control in Nirvana: A Shitty First Draft Everyone faces struggles in life which seem insurmountable, as if all hope is nearly lost. In those moments when everything feels so chaotic and disorderly, often times, people react in the only ways they know how. Regardless of the situation, humans seek to calm the storm by gaining control, in whatever capacity they are able to. This proves to be the case in Adam Johnson’s short story Nirvana, where a computer programmer creates a holographic version of a recently assassinated president to cope with his death, to the protests of his potentially permanently quadriplegic wife. As tension builds in the house around his promise to help his wife commit suicide should the time come, he is confused by her need to fall asleep listening to Nirvana. Eventually, he creates a holographic Kurt Cobain for his wife to converse with as a way to hopefully bridge some understanding between the two. Underlying this idea of a couple’s struggle to communicate lies a larger question, one of human nature. Johnson uses his piece in this way to illustrate man’s desire for control during moments of questioning and desperation. One of the more futuristic influences of Nirvana comes with the hovering of a drone outside the narrator’s window,…show more content…
She would be able to watch her child grow and develop inside her, even as her own condition potentially worsens. Though incapable of controlling her own body, the idea of creating a healthy baby not only would allow her to live vicariously through her child but also prove that she is still capable of some things herself. With so much uncertainty plaguing their home, the prospect of bringing comfort through parenthood is a temping one, and one which Charlotte especially appreciates because of her ability to exercise a degree of

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