Prison and Good Guards Essay

Submitted By ilysm2010
Words: 891
Pages: 4

1. The students in the experiment feel confused because the cops showed up at their house to arrest them for a crime they didn’t commit. They feel scared and dehumanized because they were just thrown on the car and searched, also when he was put in the holding cell, they blind folded him so he could think about what he did wrong. 2. There was no training on how to be a guard in this experiment. The guards were just set free to do what they want as long as they were not breaking any laws. They warned the guards what kind of things they could go through and the seriousness of the experiment beforehand; knowing this, I do not think I would have been a guard for this experiment. I could not play it off well and I would honestly be too scared to be a part of it. 3. The “good guards” did not object to anything that the “bad guards” did is because you can’t talk down to your superior. If the “bad guards” were above them in the chain of command, than they have no choice but to go along with what they did. Also, the “good guards” were not being treated badly; the bad treatment was directed to the prisoners. 4. If I was a prisoner during the Stanford experiment, I would not have been able to handle it. If I were in a dress with no under clothes, rubber sandals, and a heavy chain bolted to my ankle is too hard to even comprehend. Although all of the prisoners rebelled and joined forces with each other by destroying their ID numbers jail cells, I would be too afraid I would get in trouble and would just sit back in the corner and ponder why I’m there in the first place. Even though “real” prisons aren’t as bad as this experiment, it’s still the same concept and that is something I would not be able to handle. 5. The experiment was so thought through and conducted that the prisoners actually felt like they were in “real” jail. After being in “prison” for so long, it’s what they grew accustomed to. Even though the prisoners were volunteers, they thought they were being sent to a real prison and seeing what real prison was like. They didn’t try to work outside the prison system because that’s how they believed the prison actually worked. 6. I feel that prisoners may feel that the guards are demeaning and abusive towards them because of their character rather than the situation they are in because the guards are always evil and disrespectful and that’s the only way the prisoners see them, so that’s how they think the guards are at all times. 7. Reality in a prison setting is not having any freedom or any privacy. Reality is sitting in a jail cell with nothing to do except ponder all of your thoughts and continuously regret why you’re sitting there in the first place. Reality in a prison setting is wishing you were home with your family, your friends, or your dog. Illusions never really become “real.” Prisoners probably hope that their illusions will eventually become real, what they are falsely believing, I’m sure is much better than the reality they’re living in. The poem, “Within the illusion of life, Death is the only reality, but is