While I already have the majority of my response paper written, and most of the ideas jotted down, I have a large compilation of notes on Septimus and psychology in general that might not end up in it.
Perceptions of Reality
-We know that Septimus is not insane in the sense that insanity is being incoherent and rambling randomly with no purpose, once we are taken inside his mind, though what comes out of his mouth might appear so.
-The fragments that he speaks aloud or has Lucrezia write down are enough to concern the people listening, but his thoughts are quite coherent.
-Whatever goes on inside Septimus' mind is the representation of his reality: he believes Evans to be walking towards him, if only just for a moment before returning to "absolute" reality.
-The shock of the war and the death of his closest friend are what seem to be the main triggers for his madness/state of mind.
-The distinctions between reality and hallucinations aren't apparent to him at the time they occur, but when he is in a relatively clear state of mind, such as when he is sitting with Lucrezia making hats, he is aware that he is the only one around him that thinks and sees and hears the things he does.
-For all we know, the things Septimus describes in his mind are actually happening, and that Lucrezia is not openly aware of them, and therefore cannot pay enough detail to notice that birds are actually singing in Greek.
-Septimus sees the truth in his perceptions and his brain is sending him subliminal messages. Because he has not fully dealt with the death of Evans, manifestations of his friend appear subconsciously to allow him to remember the pain and consciously deal with the pain of the years past.
-Septimus' poetic and artistic side from before the war come out even more radically and make him exaggerate the things he sees, and he can't separate reality from these exaggerations.
Clarissa might reflect on an event as terrible while Peter remembers it as one of the greatest things he has ever experienced.
Everyone's perceptions of reality are distorted by emotions, memories, and their character -- not just in the novel, but in real life too. A color that looks dull and boring to one person might be seen as the most intricate of colors to another. Take the color turquoise for example. I might be speaking of my favorite color turquoise while someone else is thinking of the color turquoise. There is a gap between descriptions of colors. How do I know the color blue to me is not the color blue to someone else, and that when someone points to something and labels it blue, that becomes my shared definition of that color as well?
Anyways, as Clarissa thinks of something exciting that Peter thinks is boring, Septimus has an exciting reality that other people just cannot see. Whether or not he his hallucinating, or seeing supernatural things, or making things up -- it doesn't matter, because to him, it's real and that is what shapes him and his decisions and ramblings, what HE perceives his HIS reality, whether or not anyone else agrees with it.
Perceptions of Reality
-We know that Septimus is not insane in the sense that insanity is being incoherent and rambling randomly with no purpose, once we are taken inside his mind, though what comes out of his mouth might appear so.
-The fragments that he speaks aloud or has Lucrezia write down are enough to concern the people listening, but his thoughts are quite coherent.
-Whatever goes on inside Septimus' mind is the representation of his reality: he believes Evans to be walking towards him, if only just for a moment before returning to "absolute" reality.
-The shock of the war and the death of his closest friend are what seem to be the main triggers for his madness/state of mind.
-The distinctions between reality and hallucinations aren't apparent to him at the time they occur, but when he is in a relatively clear state of mind, such as when he is sitting with Lucrezia making hats, he is aware that he is the only one around him that thinks and sees and hears the things he does.
-For all we know, the things Septimus describes in his mind are actually happening, and that Lucrezia is not openly aware of them, and therefore cannot pay enough detail to notice that birds are actually singing in Greek.
-Septimus sees the truth in his perceptions and his brain is sending him subliminal messages. Because he has not fully dealt with the death of Evans, manifestations of his friend appear subconsciously to allow him to remember the pain and consciously deal with the pain of the years past.
-Septimus' poetic and artistic side from before the war come out even more radically and make him exaggerate the things he sees, and he can't separate reality from these exaggerations.
Clarissa might reflect on an event as terrible while Peter remembers it as one of the greatest things he has ever experienced.
Everyone's perceptions of reality are distorted by emotions, memories, and their character -- not just in the novel, but in real life too. A color that looks dull and boring to one person might be seen as the most intricate of colors to another. Take the color turquoise for example. I might be speaking of my favorite color turquoise while someone else is thinking of the color turquoise. There is a gap between descriptions of colors. How do I know the color blue to me is not the color blue to someone else, and that when someone points to something and labels it blue, that becomes my shared definition of that color as well?
Anyways, as Clarissa thinks of something exciting that Peter thinks is boring, Septimus has an exciting reality that other people just cannot see. Whether or not he his hallucinating, or seeing supernatural things, or making things up -- it doesn't matter, because to him, it's real and that is what shapes him and his decisions and ramblings, what HE perceives his HIS reality, whether or not anyone else agrees with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment