Musings of a Mentor - Heart disease and Illness are clues.....

Musings of a Mentor

Jul. 19, 2006

Heart disease and Illness are clues.....

Posted in How To Read Literature Like A Professor

Literary Tools
These ideas are inspired by How To Read Literature Like A Professor.

XIV. Heart Disease
1. Bad love life
2. Loneliness
3. Cruelty
4. Pedophile
5. Disloyalty
6. Cowardice
7. Lack of determination
8. Character is wrong or making bad choices

To me one of the most obvious cases of heart disease being a major clue to the character's psyche is, Mr. Dimmesdale in Scarlet Letter. He is a coward, disloyal to his vows and Hester, and his body is punishing him for what he won't confess. Or the Grinch, who had to overcome his heart problems to find love.

When characters are shot, stabbed or staked through the heart it is often seen as the only way to kill them. With brave characters it is because of their strength and loyalty we would really believe anything else. Evil characters have hearts of stone, or are cold hearted, so they need to have that part of them destroyed so that they can die.

I think heart disease is easier to use in literature than in movies. You will often see it used with parents who need to make things right before they die, or men who won't express their feelings. I have also seen the idea flipped around and a child born with a heart that was too big, gives new life and love to the family before they die.

Where have you seen characters with heart problems?

XV. Illness
1. Illness gives clues to the character of the person who is sick
2. Illness also give clues to what a character is experiencing, for example:
    1. Malaria means gossip, either subject of or participating in
    2. Plagues are God's judgments
    3. TB and AIDS are wasting away diseases, and show the characters are wasting away or have been forgotten by society
    4. STD's and mental illness often go together
    5. Paralysis of the body often means the character is or was paralyzed mentally or spiritually before

Rent is the first story I can think of where the character Angel has AIDS and it is directly related to her/him being thrown away by society. Unfortunately, sickness and sin are often mixed together in literature and society. Some authors like Toni Morrison also talk about humans being sick because the world they live in is broken. So, when you see a sick character, look inside them and look at the world they live in. Something caused the illness and what ever it was points to the theme of the story.

Where has a sick character taught you something about life, society or the way you treat people?

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