Mr Atreides Aid Th Doctor example essay topic

Achilles Anophtheis (Achilles Revisited) Achilles Anophtheis (Achilles Revisited) Essay, Research Paper Achilles Anophtheis (Achilles revisited The director walked onto the stage, gingerly adjusting his radiation mask in order to fit the microphone beneath it. His nervous coup boomed through the hall. After shuffling the papers on the podium before him, he began "Welcome ladies and gentlemen of the Pre-Apocalypse Archaeologic a Society. We have called this session to impart to you a matter of th utmost importance, a discovery of the highest order.

As you ar aware, our teams have only recently been able to sift through th debris of the razed cities of our belligerent predecessors, thanks t the efforts of our colleagues at the Physical Research Society who with the aid of Allah, have made our task infinitely easier with th invention of a radiation suit which allows our field workers to wor even in areas of the highest radiation concentration: the cities o what was formerly the United States of America. The discoveries ar literally pouring in, and we have our hands full simply cataloguing th numerous finds. Our first find was a small rectangular object containing a spool of thin ribbon, which one of our historian identified as what was known as a cassette. Simply put, it wa device on which sounds could be recorded.

From its small size, ou historian conjectured that it was of a type designed for recording th human voice rather than music. Armed with this belief, we manage to convince the Censor Society to allow us to reconstruct th primitive machine to play back the message we hoped it would contain. They agreed; on the condition that we did not do so until they had a chance to screen it for the negative influences tha caused the downfall of the last corrupt civilization. They due approved it and we are now ready for its first public presentation "Before we begin, I would like to explain some of the terms used i the recording, for those of you who lack the benefit of an historic a training. The tape is evidently the recording of a psychologist.

Yo are all aware that the sacrilege which led to the destruction of th Nuclear Age was primarily caused by the decline in religious belief an values. A psychologist was the person who supplanted the role of th confessor in this blasphemous time. He labored under the delusion that the immortal soul was accessible on a scientific, human level and, like most of the scientists of the day, impiously discounted Alla as an unnecessary complication. We found an infamous saying whic pervaded much of the Pre-Apocalypse literature: ? Religion is th opiate of the people? Well, psychology became the new? opiate o the people.

The patient with whom the doctor is dealing with in the recording has been identified as a prominent businessman of the day. He i what was called an arbitrageur. A man who specialized in dealings o their stock market, a term I am sure all of you are familiar with. I any case, an arbitrageur bought and sold companies for a profit. I the few pieces of literature we have been able to recover, it seem that such men were regarded as the heroes of their age. I refer o course to the numerous copies we have of the autobiographies o Donald Trump, Robert Camp eau and the like.

Evidently the culture considered these books to be of great importance, for we found hug amounts of them in large buildings. This was apparently fo safekeeping since the storage facilities were located well away fro the centres of attack in the event of a nuclear war. The periodical of the day also reflect the reverence in which these men were held as they are frequently mentioned. It is another mark of th degradation of the society that the primary estimate of a man? worth became the amount of money he earned.

It is difficult in thi holy age to conceive of such blasphemy, but it is necessary that w do so in order to avoid the same traps into which they fell. We hav managed to reconstruct the scenario as far as was possible, but w endeavored to retain all of the original conversation in addition to ou own narration. I don? t think that there is anything further that yo need to know about the recording, except perhaps that it appears t be incomplete. I would ask that you remain as silent as possible because the tape is of very low quality and the accent is ver difficult to understand.

If you are having trouble, I suggest that yo follow along in the transcripts with which we have provided you. ' Th Director signaled for the tape to begin, and left the stage Dr. Zeis loaded the cassette into the machine and tested it. I wouldn? t do to have it chew up the tape again, especially not for's important a patient: the sort of patient who could make his care. or break it. He knew he couldn? t afford to squander his goo fortune.

As his mind wandered over the seemingly endless ramifications of success, the static crackle of the inter co interrupted his reveries. It was his secretary warning him that Mr Reussi was on his way in. The doctor rewound the tape and offer up a quick prayer that it would work. The door swung open and on of the world's richest, most powerful men strode in Mr. Oswald Achilles Reussi had made his fortune by taking ove companies and turning them around. He was able to start at suc high level because of the substantial inheritance he had receive from his father. He was rich enough to ensure that he received onl the best sort of publicity, and that was why he had been so i rat when the media learned that he was in therapy and had printed th story with a glee that only those who made their living from so rdi details were capable of acquiring.

Dr. Zeis had regretted hi indiscretion, but that sort of publicity was simply too tempting t resist. He had only been able to calm the fuming man by convincing him that it was essential that he not be afraid of the stigma o therapy in order for it to work for him. An old dodge, but it ha performed its function and placated the incensed patient Oswald crossed the room with a gruff greeting (Dr. Zeis had learn early that this was not a man to waste time). He took his customer position, sprawled on the couch. Dr. Zeis did not place any value i Freud's theories regarding the merits of the couch, but he didn? t hav the heart, or the nerve, to object "Well Mr. Reussi,' he began, glancing down at the few notes he ha been able to salvage from the previous session's mangled tape, "las week, we established with a fair degree of certainty, that you ar suffering from an unresolved Oedipus complex.

This, in turn, ha contributed to your success, by engendering in you a sense o competition with your father. The matter was not helped by the fac that you frequently suffered comparison with him in your youth "This week I hope to confirm the conclusions we drew through a brie examination of your present life. This examination will, hopefully, yield manifestations of this dysfunction, and then we may direct ou efforts to its resolution. So, perhaps you could tell me about what i troubling you most at present. ' Oswald shifted uncomfortably an seemed to be searching for a topic. He eventually settled, an began "You? ve probably heard about my attempted takeover of Trojan Inc. the rubber company.

I was not in it for the money, I suppose that al I really wanted was to complete a deal of historic proportions. At an rate, I had submitted a bid, and, because of the amount of mone involved, didn? t expect to encounter any serious competition. Th board of directors was not very happy with the offer, but I knew th shareholders would not allow such an opportunity to pass them by Just when I was hammering out the final details and preparing t submit the offer to the Securities Commission for final approval former friend of mine, Alexander Atreides, came in and pulled a whit knight, right under my nose. "I? m sorry,' the doctor interrupted, "but I? m afraid you? ll have t explain technical terms to me; I? m not well versed in the language o business. I don? t understand what you mean by a? white knight? ' Oh, that's fairly straightforward.

A white knight refers to a strategy that companies use to prevent being taken over by a hostile party They find someone who they would like to take over the company and then they convince him to undertake the attempt by promising him the endorsement of the board of directors. Although in this case Alexander offered his services to the directors, convincing them wit guarantees of job security. So the board naturally jumped at th chance, and he stole the company from right under me. "How do you feel about his actions? "I was angry at first, but now he's in serious financial trouble because his attempt to pull off? the greatest takeover in history? is bein stalled by the company's Chief Executive Officer.

' "I read somethin about it in the paper. He's attempting to take over Trojan, but th head of the company, Hector Prince, won? t let him. "That's right. ' replied Oswald. "Trojan is the world's larges manufacturer of condoms, and with the present scare over soci a diseases, it's business is booming. They also own several tir companies; basically, they own anything that involves the use o rubber. "Can you help Mr. Atreides?' asked the psychologist "Yes, but I? m not going to.

I believe that this is some sort of div in retribution. Fate is paying him back for cheating me out of m company. ' said Oswald complacently "Did he do something illegal? "You mean in stealing Trojan from me?' The doctor nodded "Not really, but it's not the sort of thing one does to one's friends mean he knew that I wanted the takeover, and that this compan was the target I had chosen over five years ago. I had just bee biding my time until an opportunity presented itself; and when it did he was right there to take advantage of things I had told him a friend... confidential things.

' "Mr. Reussi, I have heard near enough,' the doctor said, putting down his notebook, "but there i one more thing that I need to know. If Mr. Atreides had not don what he did in the Trojan takeover, would you help him to defeat Hector?' "I would jump at the chance of making that dog Hector squirm. He's one of the most despicable men I know. He never fails t point out that my father married into money, while his family is one o those that trace their ancestry to the Mayflower. "Then, if I may, I suggest that you go to Mr. Atreides? aid. ' th doctor knew that this would not be received warmly and wa prepared to defend it. "Why should I help Alexander?

He's as much o a bastard as Hector!' The doctor cleared his throat "Firstly, it would be to both of your advantages to see Mr. Prince out You? ve already stated that you would like to see him squirm, wel here's your chance. And to top it all, you would have a chance to b part of the largest takeover in history. You stated yourself that thi was your main motive in the matter. ' "It's true that I would like t see Hector squirm, but I hate to have to save Alexander in th process. ' said Oswald doubtfully "Secondly, we have already established that you have an unresolved Oedipus complex and-' "I? m not absolutely certain that I understand what it is to have an? unresolved Oedipus complex?

,' Oswal interrupted "I apologize for not clarifying my psychological terms for you. A Oedipus complex, as you are probably aware, is a normal childhood phenomena. Because of the child's natural love for his mother, h views his father as being in competition with him for that love, and as a result, develops a hatred of him. The complex is usually resolve by the child's development of a? castration complex.? Two primary reasons contribute to this: first the child is frequently scolded fo touching his genital area, and, secondly he may see a naked girl an believe that she has been punished for the same crime, by having th offending organ amputated.

In his irrational fear of castration, th boy tries to compensate by ridding himself of all thoughts of hate by repression, and attempts to love his father. Naturally, this i drastically simplified explanation of a complicated process. Do yo understand now?' asked Dr. Zeis. "Yes. You believe that I did no suffer from this... uh "Castration complex?' offered the doctor. "That's it,' said Oswald "and therefore I never overcame the sense of competition with m father.

"Yes,' confirmed the psychologist, "that's it in a nutshell. You see you were never really around your parents when you were a child and because they spent so little time with you, they were loathe t scold you. Also you said yourself that you frequently suffer e comparison with your father when you were a child, and this serve to enhance the sense of competition. So now I am attempting t suggest a therapy that will aid you in overcoming your dysfunction. "But how will helping Alexander accomplish anything?' asked Oswal dubiously "The only way to triumph over the problem is to consciously avoid behaviour that it causes.

And the scenario you have just presente to me involving your friend, Mr. Atreides, is just such behaviour. explained the doctor. "You mean to say that I am merely acting unde a compulsion when I refuse to aid Alexander?' asked Oswal dubiously. The doctor nodded. "But wouldn? t you do the same thing i a friend of yours stabbed you in the back like he has done to me? an stolen my dream?' asked Oswald "I anticipated this objection. ' said the doctor complacently.

"That i why I have a third reason. Ask yourself, if you were in his position would you have acted similarly? "Well... ' hesitated Oswald "You see that such behaviour is common in the business world, an you would probably have done the same had the roles bee reversed. ' said the doctor triumphantly. "What you must realize i that all these years of competition have made you unable to accept defeat. The only way you can accept losing to Mr. Atreides without causing yourself considerable mental anguish, is by being a factor i his destruction, taking your revenge. "I still don? t know,' said Oswald doubtfully, "I can? t-' The sound o telephone ringing broke into the conversation.

A look of anger passe across the doctor's face as he stood up to answer it "I apologize Mr. Reussi,' he said. "I thought I told my receptionist t hold all my calls. ' "No need to apologize,' said Oswald, pull in hand sized, rectangular object from his pocket. "I believe it's m phone. ' He unfolded the phone and extended a concealed antenna "Yes?' he said tersely, and listened for a few seconds, his fac growing taut. "Are you sure?' he asked.

After listening for a few mor seconds, he folded the phone back up and folded the antenna "That was a friend of mine,' he explained, "Robert Patrol, telling m that his company was just taken over by Trojan. Hector's first mov upon gaining control was to have him removed from the chairmanship Hector knew that would get me. ' He remained seated for a fe seconds and then stood up, pulling on his jacket "I believe you are right doctor. ' he said. "I am going to help Mr Atreides; and when we succeed I? m going to throw Hector out lik dog. ' and so saying, he left the room.

The doctor sat down again. H wondered over the man's motives, and came to the conclusion tha he had not accomplished very much. All Reussi was doing wa transferring his wrath from Mr. Atreides to Hector "Ah well,' he thought, "I shall have to try a different approach nex week. ' He pressed the stop button on his tape recorder The Director returned to the stage and signaled for the tape to b stopped. "I believe, gentlemen, that you are all aware of the prof an theories of Sigmund Freud?' he glance around the auditorium observing their nods "Well, for the first time, we are able to see those fanciful theories i actual application, rather than in text. The members of the Cen so Society have graciously permitted us to listen to this recording i order to allow us to see the depths to which rationality can plunge We must remember, as we attempt to rebuild our society, that th only way is God's way, as specifically set out in our sacred Books hope that you have gleaned the dire lesson that this recording has t offer.

We must, at all costs, avoid the un plumbable depths o depravity to which the Nuclear Age descended, and construct ou Society in accordance with the decrees of God. Praise God! The audience rose and emphatically returned his farewell, well aware that they were being closely observed, and that any failure could result in the severest consequences.