Reaction Paper

Reaction Paper

Introduction

Dr. Meggie OÆConnor is a licensed practicing psychologist in a small Michigan town. She is firmly fixated in the belief that science will ultimately answer all the questions of the mind. However, her world belief system is shaken when she meets Winona, a South Dakota Lakota Sioux teaching the old customs to members of the Ojibuaway and Ottawa tribe, living on the Pesawbestown Reservation. Winona provides spiritual instruction to Meggie, who surprisingly grasps her teachings.

Upon Winona's death, Meggie is gifted with her mentor's sacred pipe; an instrument that when used correctly can take the owner down the true spiritual path. Meggie also becomes involved with Winona's former student, Hawk, who is now the teacher of the old ways. The last thing Hawk wants in life is to fall in love with an Anglo, a person who could never comprehend the road he has chosen to travel. When Rising Spirit, his ex-wife, comes to see him, Hawk feels he ought to give her, the personwho shares his cultural heritage a second chance. However, Hawk will never fully understand Winona's true meanings of the spirit world until he stops stereotyping individuals residing on the mortal plane.

Priscilla Cogan paints an unbelievably realistic canvas of a segment of the Native American culture that encompasses more than just the spiritual world. Ms. Cogan's novel describes the mindset and the problems confronting the old way teachers who must deal with tradition and an encroaching outside world that threatens mass annihilation through assimilation. The underlying theme of Compass of the Heart is simple: It is the soul and not the ethnic background that determines whether one can accept traditional ways that seem antiquated in the information age. Meggie and Hawk are a glorious couple, who struggle to find a path that both can lovingly walk together.

Body and Summary

At issue principally is the ethics to include emotions with reference to the recovery of the patient. Winona Pathfinder, the elderly medicine woman who has introduced psychologist Meggie O'Connor to the spiritual ways of Lakota prayer and healing. Soon, however, Meggie's teacher and friend will cross over to the Other Side, leaving Meggie, newly divorced, to make her way on her own. But before she goes, Winona nudges her young cousin Hawk to walk alongside Meggie on a journey of the heart and soul. The story has a number o0f ethical implications to it but an optimistic, aspect aswell.

As Meggie attempts to learn the motivating factors behind Winona's death wish, their roles as therapist and patient reverse. Winona's instruction and the healing traditions facilitate Meggie's metamorphosis into a higher level of awareness.

Meggie's emotions were aggressive for the recovery of this patient. She was emotional in a number of circumstances. The level of emotions were in constant conflict with ethical standards. There's a certain distance that has to be kept between the patient and the doctor or whoever is taking care of the patient Taking care involves a level of ethics in a positive way as well ...