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Analysis Of The Yellow Pill By Charles Manson

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Charles Manson was a man behind the deaths of nine people in the late 1960s. He was a cult leader manipulated many of his followers to kill innocent people for many absurd reasons: that he was the second coming, that he was both Christ and the Devil, and that Armageddon was coming. Most people saw Manson as a madman. A select few, however, admired Manson for his cunning; to his own followers and in his own eyes, Manson was extremely clever, rather than being insane. In Rog Phillips’ “The Yellow Pill,” two men, by the names of Dr. Elton and Jerry Bocek, are either in a psychiatrist's office or in the vacuum of space. Jerry continuously tries to convince Dr. Elton that they are in a spaceship, yet Elton thinks that Jerry is insane. Evidence throughout “The Yellow Pill” shows that the two men are clearly on Earth, but that does not necessarily mean that Jerry is insane. Like Charles Manson, Jerry is simply well versed in manipulation; he did not have a skewed sense of reality at all.
One of many flaws in Jerry’s elaborate lie was when he first visited Dr. Elton’s office. He was bound by a straightjacket and was guided by policemen, but he claimed to be tied up in ropes and surrounded by gearlockers. After a quick session with Jerry, Elton ordered the officers to take Jerry away and they did as they were told. However, when he left, Jerry had no explanation for how the policemen, supposedly inanimate gear lockers, were capable of taking him away from Elton’s office. Phillips

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