Self-Image According to the public medical health institution, narcissism is described as a personality disorder where people have an inflated sense of self-importance and an extreme preoccupation with themselves, but paradoxically underneath this grandiosity, the narcissist suffers from a chronically fragile low self-esteem. The narcissists’ egoistic behavior is designed to reaffirm their sense of adequacy. Since narcissists are incapable of asserting their own sense of adequacy, they seek to be admired by others; however, their extremely fragile sense of self-worth does not allow them to risk any criticism. Therefore, meaningful emotional interactions with others are avoided. By simultaneously seeking the admiration of others and keeping them at a distance, narcissists are usually able to maintain the illusion of grandiosity no matter how people respond. I have been exposed to a narcissistic individual in my life; her name was T Twin. She came across as a very friendly person who loved attention and was always preoccupied with fantasies of success, beauty, and intelligence. She always believed that she was better than everyone else. We were placed into a group project together, in where she began to delegate the work loan amongst the group. Some individuals in the group did not like the way she handled certain situations and questioned her thought process about the project. T Twin did not like how the other group members were treating her and became extremely mean, where she began to disregard the feelings of others; she strangely had the ability to feel empathy for them. Then, T Twin started to focus on her own obsessive needs and pursue her own goals without care to the other team members. We decided as a group that because I was close to her, I should talk to help her understand the situation better, so we can work as a team to get the project done. I explained to her that no one was against her but just trying to learn and comprehend the assignment like her. I reassured her that she was very liked and admired by everyone. She claimed that if it weren’t for her, the project would not get completed, and she believed she was the only one was working and getting the job done. With my rage, I managed to convince her that she was not the only one working on the project, and it was a team effort. I explained if she wanted to take credit for the project on her own, she could speak to the professor about working alone as the rest of us would work as a separate team. The fear of being humiliated led her to believe that she needed to change her ways and work with us and not against us. It has been a year and a half since we were in that class together, and every time I see her, she talks about the Communication Study project. She still believes that other five group members and I owe her the A we got. She is so delusional that cannot let that go after all this time. In Tobias Wolff’s The Night in Question, the characters are convicted of their own narcissism and doomed to the private hell of their intractable self-centeredness. Wolff’s emotionally crippled characters show us the most salient elements of narcissism, which include self-pity, learned helplessness, cynosure delusion, victimization, and lack of self-awareness.
In the first story, “the Chain,” all characters of the story have narcissistic personality in way that they cannot see anyone happier than them. Brian Gold, the main character of “the Chain,” relays many narcissistic characteristics. Self-pity and victimization are narcissistic illnesses Gold encompasses. According to Wolff, Gold pities his low station in life. He believes a more grandiose existence, one rich in bling and opulence, will make him happy when in fact what he really needs is integrity and dignity. Many people who have these characteristics seek relief through lashing out at one’s perceived enemy. In Gold’s case when the dog hurts Gold’s daughter, he seeks his vengeance by taking matters