Aftermath of Prison
In Chapter 6 of book the 2nd, we are introduced to Doctor Manettes actions which is most likely coming from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a a type of anxiety disorder which can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event. This can range anywhere from witnessing death in war, near death experience, or in Doctor Manettes case, experiencing extremely long amounts of time confined in prison. When I hear of PTSD, the thing that first comes to mind is experiences in war. This made this passage stick out to me because I have never heard of this disorder arising from time in Prison. It made me question what Doctor Manette really had to experience throughout his 18 years of imprisonment.
On page 102, Miss Pross explains the process of Doctor Manettes activity at night. "Sometimes, he gets up in the dead of the night, and will be heard, by us overhead there, walking up and down, walking up and down, in his room. Ladybird has learnt to know then, that his mind is walking up and down, walking up and down, in his old prison...But he never says a word of the true reason of his reslessness to her, and she finds it best not to hint at it to him" (102).
Dickens does a great job illustrating just how severe Doctor Manettes case of PTSD is. Throughout the book Dickens has always made his text challenging, in order for the reader to question the meaning of a particular passage. He does this very well in this passage because he leaves the reader wanting to find out exactly what happened in Manettes time in prison? Often times I hear of cases of PTSD being treated within a matter of a couple months, or years. Doctor Manette has been out of prison for many many years now, so my question is: Why does this man still have to face the symptoms of this anxiety disorder at this point of his life? Like the author has before, I am sure Dickens will answer this question in some text in the future.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=post-traumatic-stress-trap
I agree with Jack in this post. Doctor Manette was away from the real world for so long, that is has made it extremely hard for him to transfer into the real world, with people all around. Around this area it talked about how Lucy was the only one who could calm him and sometimes she couldn't even take away his depression and stress. This post puts me in perspective of how hard it must of been for Dr. Manette to come from solitary prison, into the real world with people all around him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jack here. Dickens describes many occasions where one can relate someone with PTSD to Dr. Manette. Jack gives one of the occasions when Dr. Manette is walking around at night, when he should be sleeping. I thought it was interesting how Jack incorporated questions for the reader to think about about what made Dr. Manette acquire this disorder, what happened to him in prison, and why does Dr. Manette still suffer from PTSD if it has been so long since he has been in prison. By adding in context clues as to the fact that Dr. Manette isn't always in his right state of mind, Dickens makes us want to know why Dr. Manette is going throught what he is going through.
ReplyDeleteJack:
ReplyDeleteAfter your quote from page 102 spend some time reflecting on what is particularly meaningful in that quote. Which words stand out to you? What do they mean?
You're asking the right questions about Dr. M. -- nice job.