Sunday, March 21, 2010
Manic-depressive?
I'm no psychologist, but the mom from The Shadow Year seems a little bipolar. The author describes her as having "bursts of energy" or creativity that last a little more than a week. It seems like she doesn't do much of anything for long periods of time, then all of sudden she paints a masterpiece. On top of this, she has sporadic fits of rage throughout the novel. Also, I think it's more than coincidence that many famous artists are bipolar, and her hobbies include painting and playing guitar. She also enjoys chain smoking and drinking, but I don't think those are creative outlets.
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I got the same feeling, about the mom being manic-depressive. Although I blamed that a lot more on how much she drank - she seemed to be teetering pretty close to the edge of alcoholism. I'm betting the fits of rage came from the alcohol too; she seemed pretty unhappy with her life, and when she'd had too much to drink, she was unable to control that frustration and her temper.
ReplyDeleteShe acts allot like Annett Bening's character in Running With Scissors. I agree that the manic-depressive behavior probably went hand in hand with alcohol abuse.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that the drinking is caused by the manic depression, and then the drinking causes the fits of rage, etc. She only ever seems ok when she stops drinking, but then she falls back into the cycle.
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