Worldview of Amanda Farmer

Visual representation

» “If you want to achieve something you must first make some sacrifices. Once you get what you want, life has a ruthless way of taking it away from you. Our valuables, loved ones, everyone will one day be taken away from us.”

» This represents how she thinks the world functions. In the animation we see that the person works very hard to collect the marbles one by one. Each time she tries to collect more marbles she ends up losing them again. Her bag of marbles never grows bigger. The marbles represent all the things that we take so much time to cherish and nurture in our life. In her worldview she states that no matter how hard people work to achieve their goals, or obtain material possessions they will all be eventually lost or taken away from us.

» “After witnessing the death of my husband while disarming an IED explosive I realized that I was only a sacrifice, a pawn in the selfish plans of our government. I am a living warning to the other young adults who join the military.”

If you have played chess of any type, you would know that this is one of the most common opening moves. The pawn, (in this case a picture representing Amanda Farmer) is moved to the middle of the chess board in hopes of having an early board control advantage. However, the pawn is basically a sacrifice usually eliminated in the first four to five moves. In Amanda’s worldview she states that she is only a pawn or even a living sacrifice. This pawn play represents her role not only as a sacrifice for the monolithic and impersonal plans of the government, but also as a living warning to all young people who want to join the army. In chess, the consequences of losing a pawn in the opening moves are minimal. Amanda has already suffered the consequences in real life. She realizes that she was not as proud as she thought she would be, but rather ashamed of her role.

» “I see the world as a dark tunnel, where I see only glimmers of hope. However, my doctors and the medicine they prescribe are what blind me in the dark of the tunnel. Just when I feel I can recover and return to normal functioning, I find myself dependent on pain killers and prescription medication. ”

» The pictures in the previous slide represent how Amanda sees the world. She is constantly held back from a full recovery. The chain balls represent different hurdles that we must overcome before we can function normally again. For Amanda she sees the world as a place where she is weighed down by these hurdles. Every step for recovery is a difficult process for her.

Grief

Medicine

ANGER

Depression

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