Running Head: ALIENIST PAPER
Alienist Research Paper
Mikaiel Ishaque
St John's University
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Alienist Research Paper
The novel The Alienist by Caleb Carr takes place in America in the late 1890s to early
1920s. The plot consists of many important characters such as Laszlo Kreizler who is an alienist
-- an alienist is another term for a psychologist -- who took care of some people who were
mentally ill, we also have Theodore Roosevelt who was at the time a police commissioner.
Another main character is Johnathan Moore who is a freelance writer and is also the narrator of
our story. The plot consists of a series of murders that happen in New York City and how the
main characters try to solve these cases due to the local policemen not wanting to solve these
cases based on the people that have been killed. The life that most people lived during those
times is far different from the life that we live in today.
One example of how times have changed is the diversity in our workforce; mainly how
women have joined the workforce over the past several years. In the book (chapter 7 page 78),
we are introduced to a character named Sara Howard who is a female secretary working for the
police department. In today's day and age more women have joined the police force, breaking
from traditional gender roles. An example can be found from a New York Post article, discussing
how there is an increase of Asian women are joining the NYPD. We see from this article how in
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general American culture has changed due to us seeing how women in minority groups have
joined a workforce.
Daily life has changed greatly in NYC, we see it mostly in how our police try to handle
crime. A CBS News article discusses how the police in New York have tried to build
relationships with other people in order to cut down crime. In the book, we see how the police
have little regard for helping others. One example from the book that can be shown in the book
(chapter 4 page 25) when Roosevelt demands the arrest of a killer who is said to murder a
transvestite we see the police resisting the order and they try to make an excuse for not doing the
arrest. We see how in today's date the police try to help solve problems and arrest as many
criminals as possible. The NYPD is shown to change and be more open-minded to certain cases
in today's date. We see this happen in real life too; for example on the NYPD government site we
see the police force openly saying that they are "Building the relationship with the LGBTQ
community and the NYPD through: Providing senior safety presentation Conducting
"Conversation + Cops" workshops".
In The Alienist we read about how our characters get assaulted. One example of them
getting assaulted is in chapter 11 page 125 in th