This paper addresses the question of the definition of suggestion and some of its effects. More importantly, I address the overall or basic question of the power of suggestion. To do this I have chosen to look at scientific and non-scientific notions of the effects of suggestion particularly focusing on hypnosis and hypnotherapy. I do this with the intent of showing how much we as people are susceptible to forces that can alters us in powerful ways as well as bring into question what are those filter mechanisms that we use to counterbalance the potentially powerful effects of suggestion.

The individual’s search for identity in a world where society dictates the implementation of common generalizations is peculiar, as the strong hand of scientific opposition negates the importance of personality with regards to members of the human race. The population is widely accepted as the sole unit of biological evolution, and yet, humans all over the world are thought to slowly evolve as they change the manner of their ways in one distinct direction. This evolution, which in literature, is typically represented by the movement of one toward or away from “goodness,” cannot take place unless that individual obtains a persona capable of definition. This personality, immune to both duplication and recycling, is as important a possession to that person as any secular item used to help define it. With this in mind, it is no surprise that “we refuse to be each other,” as our sense of individuality justifies our actions and consequent evolution over time (Smith, 2). Questions remain, however, as we negate the significance of DNA sequencing, which both supports the idea of inimitability and disregards small-scale evolution. Is any given human persona truly capable of definition, given the limiting context of language? Can one truly be unique if general categorizations like race and class prevail as the most common methods of identification?

Have you ever heard of the Polar Bear Plunge?  Near the end of each blisteringly cold Wisconsin winter, a group of brave souls "plunge" for a few seconds into the freezing waters of Lake Mendota.  Well, last time I went to this event, my attention was drawn away from the human yelps toward a calmer spot on the lake where a flock of Canadian geese waded in shallow water.  I remember thinking, 'How do those birds have so much tolerance for the cold?'  The secret, of course, rests in thermoregulation - more specifically, geese use countercurrent heat exchange or circulatory adaptation to maintain their core body temperature as a controlled variable.  One can draw an intriguing comparison between the application of "control theory' in biological evolution and its application in literature as seen in Howard's End - through Forster's regulation and control of morality.

Stories are an integral part of our lives as humans. Stories have been in existence for as long as human have been in existence and have been experiencing things. The ways in which the stories are told have been ever changing and have developed throughout the ages. Stories were first told in the oral tradition and then written down. Many stories have been taken and changed in various ways throughout history and time has worked on them again and again. They are often open to interpretation and are changed in whatever manner the storyteller sees fit. The evolution of a story is often in parallel with changes which are occurring in society and culture. They are often told in response to a social necessity.

Literary Evolution in a Biblical Perspective

"Biological evolution is but part of the application of the evolutionary concept," (Calverton 520). Since Darwin's description of evolution as a process of change in biological systems, the word evolution has been applied to many subjects. V. F. Calverton describes modern thinking about history, philosophy, religion, and literature as a result of the process of evolution described by Darwin. Calverton explains in his article about literary evolution and social forces that "in almost every phase of thought, be it purely logical or experimental, man has learned to think in terms of the evolutionary concept," (Calverton 520). This is especially true in analyzing the work that embodies the culmination of literature and religion, the Bible. Evolution is commonly thought to be in competition with religion, especially that of Christianity. However, not even Christianity has been able to escape Darwin and his revolutionaries. The construction and generativity of the Bible demonstrate the ability for literature to be both a product and a source of evolution.

Females in the 16th and 21st Century: Gender Perception in Literature

It has been argued that stories serve as a representative of the era in which it was conceived. As such, it serves as a reminder of the ideals of its particular society, including those directed towards gender. Through literature, one can gain insight as to what was expected of a males and females during a particular era and how it has (or has not) changed over time. The Renaissance was a time where to be a woman brought about images of a meek person who bent to the will of her male superiors, whereas in the modern day, this image is not necessarily true.

“One may as well begin with” (Forster 3) the evolution of literature.  There have been many instances in the history of literature where an author’s writings are disassembled, only to be reconnected, possibly with different characters and scenery, but still having the basic themes and ideas of the original piece.  Zadie Smith’s On Beauty has this type of interconnection with E.M. Forsters’ Howards End.  I found it rather remarkable how a similar tale could evolve within two completely different societies and contexts.  Howards End is based in equestrian England in the early twentieth century among different social classes, and On Beauty is based in present day Massachusetts among social and racial classes in a university atmosphere.  What appears to make up the plethora of differences between the two similarly based stories is the audience to which the story is written.  This adjustment to a story to better connect and interact with the audience, I think, has always been the driving force for why authors find the need to revamp a story, such as Zadie Smith did with E.M. Forster’s Howards End and the writers of the Gospel of Matthew and Luke have done to the Gospel of Mark. 

It can be argued that evolution is solely a biological process – an interaction of time, chance and chromosomes. In class we discussed how language and thought also contain elements of evolution. After reading Forester’s Howard’s End and, to some extent, Smith’s On Beauty, the question arose in my mind of how much culture and sociology can affect the evolution of a community or an individual. Although the evolution of characters happens on a much smaller scale, compared the decades and centuries of change that Mayr describes, it appears throughout both books. In Howard’s End the lives of the characters are dictated by society and the changes they make to their lives are directly related to the aspects of the culture around them.

“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.” These are the words of the neurologist and psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. The multicultural aspect of the world we live in is what makes the world remarkable and diverse. Through our differences the process of evolution is able to continue and through this progression humans adapt to the culture. Freud argued that our civilization is controlled by Eros, a force that combines “human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind.” Inevitably, there are many disputes based on issues such as race, sex and religion. However, what we must appreciate is how far the western world has come in the past two centuries. In short, the evolution of culture has arisen from a process of struggles.

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