PTSD is not a new
phenomenon. It has probably been around as long as there have been wars.
After World War I, those suffering from PTSD were often called
"shell shocked.” One of the main characters in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs.
Dalloway, Septimus Smith, is a war veteran suffering from
depression and PTSD who ultimately commits suicide. He experienced the trauma
of losing a good friend in the war, which drove him over the edge of sanity.
This is clear each time the narrator takes on the perspective of Septimus. One
such passage appears on page 15, soon after we are introduced to him during the
“motorcar montage” scene: “The world wavered and quivered and threatened
to burst into flames. It is I who am blocking the way, he thought. Was he not
being looked at and pointed at; was he not weighted there, rooted to the
pavement, for a purpose? But for what purpose?” (Woolf, 15). This
passage not only illustrates Septimus’ nihilistic world-view (“for what
purpose?”) but also shows how his illness has damaged his ability to interact
with the world around him in a regular way. He seems disoriented standing on
the pavement among the crowd of excited car-watchers.
Septimus’
wife, Lucrezia, has sought the help of doctors to try to alleviate her
husband’s suffering (Woolf, 21). She expresses frustration that Dr.
Holmes has told her nothing is the matter with Septimus (Woolf, 22-3). PTSD or
“shell-shock” was not considered to be a real condition in early 20th-century
England. Veterans suffering from mental health issues were often branded as
weak and cowardly. We discussed this issue—and the injustice of it—in class.
Woolf’s novel
served as both an anti-war statement and a challenge to those who questioned
the legitimacy of “shell-shock.” The character she creates in Septimus is a
tortured man who is a living testament to the horrors of war and its effect on
the human psyche. Unfortunately, these same issues remain with us today, and
more soldiers than ever are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from
PTSD. The article linked below from the National Center for Biotechnology Information
discusses the evolving understanding of PTSD both in society and in the medical
world. Woolf’s journey inside the mind of Septimus in a sense signals her
support of the countless World War I veterans who suffered from this disease.
When we see the world from Septimus’ eyes, it is clear that he is not a coward,
but instead a man who has experienced a traumatic event that greatly damaged
him. Woolf's novel is as pertinent today as it was in 1925 when it was
written.
I think Woolf's commentary on masculinity in regards to war and mental illness is also really interesting in the story of Septimus. You have this character who develops his "manliness" during the war by ceasing to feel emotion for anything, and as a result he's now a basket case who can't properly function in society and has suicidal thoughts. The idea that masculinity is based on a lack of emotion doesn't make a lot of sense for the new generation of soldiers who have to watch their friends get blasted to pieces. Feeling nothing is unhealthy, yet the older generation (lacking the knowledge of what these men faced) still expect them to talk of glory and fit right back in, leading to many shell-shocked soldiers being labeled as cowards. I thik it's important that Woolf manages to call out this definition of masculinity as dehumanizing and dangerous, as we see in the case of Septimus (I'm upset about that suicide spoiler although I see now it's on the back of the book...)
ReplyDeleteSeptimus's entire story in this book is very tragic. He was just a poetic youth that thought that he was destined for greatness, and he didn't know what he was truly getting himself into when he signed up to fight. Reading your post it's upsetting to know how negatively the society viewed these psychologically problems and how uneducated doctors were about these things in general. Woolf does a great job of demonstrating the toll that these mental issues can have on individuals, and it was really eye-opening seeing how differently Septimus viewed the world in comparison to everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI really like your take on Septimus's views and behaviors. I think the book did a good job at showing people's ignorance of PTSD, which was even worse back then. The doctors don't help Septimus, due to their ignorance as well as their insensitivity. It made me especially angry when Holmes called Septimus a coward after he jumped, which as you said, was not true. Holmes isn't even considering what was going on in Septimus's mind when he jumped out the window.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that, although "shell shock" was first diagnosed in World War I (and associated with the particular horrors of trench warfare and all the new lethal innovations that characterized that war, like chemical weaponry), soldiers have presumably been traumatized by war for centuries. It's hard to imagine an American Civil War soldier not being deeply affected by his experiences, even if there was no psychological or medical vocabulary for talking about it other than "cowardice" (as in _The Red Badge of Courage_) or other judgmental terms that frame it as an inappropriate or unfortunate failure to remain appropriately detached from the experience.
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