My UWCSEA Learning Journey

How does Tempest complicate our feelings towards Brian? (Consider the tone that underlies the way she describes him and reports his thoughts) Ultimately, how do you think she is positioning us to view Brian’s life?

Towards the end of the poem, Tempest showcases Brian’s inner regret and guilt of his past and tries to evoke a sense of sympathy for Brian. When Tempest describes Brian as an ‘old man’ with ‘no family’ who is saddened by the fact that he did not ‘have the guts to love’ people in his life back, we are shown how he is finally admitting to/apologising for his mistakes which makes his seem *a little* more respectable and we understand the feeling of loneliness he faces which draws out sympathies. However, as well as creating more sympathy for Brian, Tempest also describes his physical appearance in an unflattering way that creates a sense of aversion. By portraying him with a ‘big white belly hanging over his trunks’ and a ‘young Thai girl’ by his side, Tempest depicts him in the stereotypical image or trope of ‘the rich old man with a younger girl’ that could be considered ‘shameful’ or ‘disgusting’. Although Brian’s life has transformed and he finally feels the accept the impact of his mistakes, the fact that he is ‘running’ away from his problems to a place where he seems like a better person is off-putting.

How do the references to  the gods and Mount Olympus contribute to our understanding of Brian and the human experiences that he represents?

Mount Olympus is the mythical home of 12 Olympian gods in Greek mythology that is shrouded in clouds. When Brian relates Mount Olympus to his current life, we can see how Brian views his life/ parallels. Mount Olympus is a paradise hidden away from society amidst clouds, and Brian’s new life has resemblance to paradise for him as he can be ‘far away from his disgrace and pain’. This could represent the human experience of trying to escape guilt and regret by distancing yourself from judgement.\

Has Brian been socially marginalised?

We can see how Bryan does represent someone who is socially marginalised to some extent because he is “excluded from living a fulfilling and full social life” due to his lower socioeconomic background. The last 5 pages show numerous ways he has limited access to social resources. “His dirty little flat” is mentioned a couple of times, we see how he often drinks (“whisky”), he contributes quite little to society and even acknowledges that “he was a man going nowhere.” All of these factors lead to him feeling like he was living a miserable life. The end is contrasted with how he says, “I’ve lived” as if he was pointing out that he had lived a purposeful and “fulfilling life”, and he seems to have accepted that the past is the past and allows himself to move on. Could we say what he says at this point is incongruent with his actual situation? Throughout this whole last section he is still drinking his whisky, which shows that not much has actually changed as he still turns to the same methods of dealing with his emotions/problems.

Kaila Cristi

MY RESPONSE

New or nuanced insights to the concept of representation in literature / fiction

– I had never considered the impact of using minority groups (like the disabled or the mentally ill) as the ‘poster’ for inspiration and how it would ‘feel’ to be represented that way. It is a very common but serious trope that is very easy to overlook in society and that was a surprising realisation for me. I wonder how it would feel to be made into something that ‘normal’ society would be ‘grateful’ not to have. Would the ‘positive intentions’ of making inspirational posts this way further ostracise these group?

– Through this trope, I wonder if people with mental illness or even in the psychiatric care industry reading Cosi would feel a resonance with how psychiatric care is depicted as narrow and ineffective with their methods of treatment or if they believe Cosi is borderline stereotyping characters (especially, like Doug)

– Bechdel portrays her OCD and how her mother helped curb some of her compulsions by doing Bechdel’s journaling for her. Later in the book, there is lesser mention of her OCD, but more ‘ellipses’ in her diaries – Did her mother’s help ‘fix’ Bechdel’s OCD or force her to repress it?

– The idea of literature serving both as a mirror to people who are underrepresented and a window into the lives of people that others do not know of was a very well-put and elaborated on the multi-dimensional nature of literature.

CLASS RESPONSES

No matter how much we think we know about things like mental health and illness, the true complexity and multidimensional nature of it cannot successfully be captured and understood unless it is really expressed (well) through personal stories (like the main character with OCD in ‘The Weight of our Sky’). Literature is a lens through which we can understand a different identity from ours – making empathising with this identity more accessible to us. (Dhritika Jayanth)

It also made me think about how mental illnesses are often romanticised in the media nowadays, depression and anxiety are seen almost as a trend and are not taken as seriously as they should be. This however, is also the fault of certain people who misdiagnose themselves as being depressed, when in reality they aren’t. This means that people often have very mixed messages being sent to them about the nature of these mental illnesses. Moreover, Hanna spoke about how the media often portrays therapists and other forms of treatment to be useless and how “true love” would “cure” their illnesses. If you think about how a young person with this mental illness would feel whilst hearing about all these things in the media, it could completely change the way they choose to deal with their illness. (Gianina Flegueras)

Mental illness represented through Cosi is very exaggerated in order to bring a sense of humor and comedy to the play and when reviewing if this was actually harmful to the people with mental illnesses rather than helping this topic be less stigmatized, I initially had thought that this had brought more good to the topic of mental illnesses being accepted and talked about, however, after listening to Hanna’s talk I feel as if accepting a misrepresentation for the better purpose may actually be contributing to the negative image mental illnesses posses, considering this topic is very sensitive. (Mio Ozawa)

When the movie “Split” was mentioned, where she pointed out how the mentally ill are often depicted as the aggressor when in reality they are often the victim, (I have watched this film) and I got to thinking about what if directors/producers just wanted to make a film that represented a sort of character that ALIGNS with a certain mental illness, but not explicitly labelled as having that mental illness. The media may intend to be showing something else, but received by the audience as another. I think this is what makes the topic of mental illness so difficult to talk about (and “get right”?) because I had thought that it is a different experience for everyone and it is not up to the audience to judge how those experiences are depicted, but I understand it is harmful when only certain aspects or angles are shown. (Kaila Cristi)