It is hard for me to be sure what Mr. Foucault was feeling. There are so many ways to look at an essay like this; maybe he felt as a prisoner of the Panopticon because of the constant ridicule he had to face for his sexual preference. Never knowing if he was being observed or frowned upon and facing verbal abuse for his choices. I can understand how these situations could make a person compare his own life to a prison, still I find it hard to believe that this was an essay written with the intent of arousing pity.
             One classmate suggested the possibility that this was written with a religious intent. I am not yet ready to concede to that idea.
             To me, it seemed as if the author wanted to convince his readers that the idea of Panopticism is a good idea. Or to defend the idea of Panoptisism from someone who may have criticized the idea. The analogy of the leper and the colony that the lepers confined themselves to was an example of how, in the past, society would leave it to the people being ostracized to separate themselves from the rest of society. The analogy of the small village in a state of quarantine, forced to adhere to certain rules, no mater if they agree or disagree, and the must cooperate or fall on pain of death. This shows society using force to isolate the minority so that they wont infect the majority. Once the threat of the plague has passed the village is released and allowed to integrate with the rest of society once again. This method is similar to the Panopticon because it incorporates the idea that you must cooperate because someone is always watching and someone will always be aware!
             of any changes in the conditions of the people being observed. The Panpticon offers these same advantages, but you can reduced the amount of workers necessary to secure a town. It also can be used for other purposes, such as education, punishment, medical, and industrial, as Mr. Foucault informed...