First off, I’d like to discuss Foster’s analysis of heart disease!
WOW! I must learn how to analyze this well! A cheating wife who just so happens
to have heart disease. It’s an obvious connection that I didn’t make until
after he explained it. The irony in this story! As tragic as her condition is,
it made the story slightly more amusing. I wonder how many more details there
are in stories that I read that are sitting in my face like this one.
So I’m guessing that this concept applies to other illnesses
as well? In the written world it seems, an illness directly reflects a problem
or conflict a character has. In the movie Forrest Gump, for example, Forrest begins
the movie with leg braces, barely being able to walk. He faces a confrontation
with some bullies and ends up running out of his braces to save himself. That
was him outrunning and overcoming his conflicts. Ever since that day, Forrest
ran everywhere he went. It kind of became the theme of the movie: overcoming
obstacles despite their gravity. Does Foster mean to include mental illnesses
in this category? Forrest had an intellectual disability in this movie as well,
which is why the movie was interesting. Everything he said was kind of
questionable. He said he did all this crazy stuff, but did he really? Is this a
message the author is trying to broadcast about a greater truth concerning his
audience? Have we thought we did something amazing, but are actually confused?
An illness can be used to display different messages within
a story. It can be used to call to attention certain events in a story. The
character’s condition will reflect the, sometimes, underlying problem inside a
story’s plot. (Like in Forrest Gump) It also goes a lot deeper usually and
discusses and highlights society’s problems. (That sometimes are unnoticed or
get ignored) By being crafty and writing about controversial topics by
disguising them as illnesses and diseases that reflect those observations,
authors are ministering and causing a large amount of people to subconsciously become
more aware of social and political problems.
In The Wizard of Oz, each character seems to be missing
something; a heart, a brain, courage, and a way home. Are these “diseases”
humans face regularly? Diseases of the mind? Is this kind of a parody to call
to peoples’ attention that even though some of us act like we’re missing a
brain, or feel like we don’t have the courage to do something, we actually do,
and the power to overcome these insecurities lies within us? That was the central
message of this work. Are works will illnesses actually created to showcase our
illnesses?
Are these things what make certain stories better than
others? Is the difference between a story that seems shallow and one that seems
vivid and rewarding the author’s message? Does every story have a central
(moral) message it wants to communicate to readers? Are there “illnesses” of
every kind in all types of stories?
This article is kind of the reverse of what I am talking
about, but still interesting. It is discussing how happenings in literature
inspired names of current diseases:
https://litreactor.com/columns/7-horrifying-ailments-named-after-literary-characters
