December 15, 2016 - 23:22
Kate Weiler
Re-evaluating Remedies: Treatment’s Effects on Agency
There has long been a stigma surrounding mental illness and its treatment, and this is reflected in one time period in Ursula LeGuin’s short story ‘Vaster than Empires and More Slow’ and Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan’s more modern take in their graphic novel As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You can do to Stay in Denial. In the first piece, written at a time where the psychology of autism was thought to be much different than it has been proven to be now, one of the main characters is thought of to be ‘cured’ of his autism, but he is alienated from his peers because of the way he acts due to said treatment. In As the World Burns, Kranti visits a psychiatrist, and rejects the medication he tries to prescribe to her for what he perceived to be anxiety, depression, and a diagnosis of being “totally fucked up” (Jensen 48). The idea of ‘curing’ mental illness is a problematic framework, and this is shown in both of these works. Osden is a clear example of a character who has been treated for his mental illness, his major flaw, as seen by a psychiatric standpoint, and Kranti is indicative of a character who defies attempted treatment. While Osden goes through treatment for his mental illness, he is left at a definite disadvantage, as others generally hate him; however, he ultimately gains agency because of it. Kranti, who does not accept treatment, gains agency in a more direct way, and ends up surrounded by allies and filled with a sense of empowerment, because of her decision.
Osden was supposedly ‘cured’ of his autism through an extensive treatment, even living with his doctor, Dr. Hammergeld, until he was eighteen years old. “The therapy,” one of his colleagues notes, “was completely successful” (Leguin 150). The question to be posed here is, what is ‘successful?’ Due to his treatment, “his autistic defense has been unlearned, [so] he resorts to an aggressive-defense mechanism, a response in kind to the aggression which you have un-wittingly projected onto him” (150). In this way, Osden is an empath, and he can read other’s emotions and takes them on as his own; this often causes him to act in an aggressive, hostile manner. His peers, thus, describe him with many negative connotations throughout the short story, with adjectives ranging from “disastrous” (153) to “insane” (150) to “intolerable” (150) to “bastard” (151) to “evil” (156),” as these words seem to fit with what he projects onto them.Obviously, he is not well liked by those who know him.
One of his crew members, Haito, uses this feeling of distaste towards Osden to question the therapy people say ‘cured’ him. “’Why,’” she asked, ‘”if he suffers from our hostility, does he increase it by constant and insults? I can’t say I think much of Dr. Hammergeld’s cure, really…autism might be preferable,’” since, at least with autism, one can form relationships with others, something Osden seems incapable of (151). He wants to be left alone, and when this does not happen – he’s living in tight quarters with eight other people, so it virtually never happens – he lashes out. Osden, thus, is a character who is displayed as this miraculous case study, the first to be ‘cured’ of autism, a feat portrayed in a positive light; however, the way he acts indicates anything but a satisfied, soundly functioning human being. The ‘cure,’ which caused him to constantly feel other’s emotions, causes him more suffering than the modern understanding of autism ever could. The modern understanding of autism spectrum disorder is that it is a developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact, and based on the behavior we see from Osden throughout the short story, this ability has not been reinstated, and through the added empathy he has received from treatment, this struggle is magnified.This indicates that by being treated with a goal of getting rid of his autism, Osden was more harmed and left at a greater disadvantage than if he had been left to live his life without such extreme intervention.
Kranti, in a more modern setting, goes to a psychiatrist in As the World Burns, at the request of her best friend. When she is asked if she feels maladjusted, and answers that she is unsure, the psychiatrist automatically responds, “’Then I’ll just write a prescription,” his notepad reading “‘useless drugs’” (Jensen 46). He wishes to treat Kranti with medicine that will change her mind’s chemical makeup, even though he has no idea what exactly could be wrong in terms of her mental well-being. He explains to her that the drugs will “alter the chemistry of your brain, to smooth out the ups and downs of everyday life, enhancing enjoyment and productivity,’” indicating that the goal of medication is to improve one’s productivity and worth in society (47). Kranti, forever the skeptic, does not accept this idea. She lashes back, sarcastically commenting that “’All these bad feelings will magically vanish with a little pill, and I’ll be happy and adjusted to this gruesome reality, this ravaged planet and suffering people? My sorrow, my empathy, my caring, my sensitivity – you want to kill all that so I’ll be PRODUCTIVE, so I’ll be more useful to the big capitalist machine, do I have it right?’” (48). At this point, the psychiatrist has her labelled as ‘totally fucked up’ on his notepad, another note reminding him to prescribe a higher dosage than originally planned. According to this supposed medical professional, Kranti is “clearly paranoid, and a danger to self and others. She needs to be apprehended, for her own good and for the good of society” (57). The addition of this scene in As the World Burns is an important one, as it clearly lampoons society’s push for individuals to be productive and helpful no matter what the cost, and refines who truly has agency in such situations. The common idea is that in a situation with a medical professional and a client, the professional has all the agency, but by responding in this way, Kranti turns around who has the power over her mind and her body. Kranti rejects the medication and denies treatment, gaining agency that ultimately works to her advantage.
Agency is defined as “the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.” In “Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene,” Bruno Latour examines agency, redefining the term and extending it beyond humans. Latour notes that the common assumption is that human agency is the main source of action (or inaction) that shapes the world, however, we know that not all humans have the same negative impact on the environment, and that there is not one human who is responsible for changes in the physical world. Human agency is often seen as a collective entity, as well as an individualizing concept to suggest that the blame for changes in the environment is not evenly distributed across all humans, and this is a problem. Having agency, according to Latour, means having “meaning…for all agents, acting means having their existence, their subsistence, come from the future to the present…As long as they act, agents have meaning” (Latour 12). Agents, humans and non-humans, must have the future in mind at all times, and act accordingly. Agents cannot take quick fixes to their problems or to those of the world; they must take action, as difficult as it may be, in order to set themselves apart from the dominant group of those instigating the negative change. “Any possibility for discourse,” or positive change, “is due to the presence of agents in search of their existence,” according to Latour (12). By refusing treatment for what the psychiatrist labels as mental illness, Kranti is elongating, complexifying, and taking on her search for her existence, and taking on her role as an agent: her purpose in life, her potential, and her strengths and weaknesses. She feels empowered, thus, to take risks, expand her horizons, and make a positive difference.
Osden, ultimately, is left with “’fear…only fear’” when placed in an unknown environment (Leguin 170). The only solution to this fear, he finds, is giving in to it by joining and becoming part of it. Thus, Osden takes “the fear into himself” and accepts it in order to transcend it (177). By doing this, he gives him “self to the alien, an unreserved surrender,” and, per our normal way of thinking of power, loses any agency he had previously (177). Based on what Latour points out in his work, however, Osden may ultimately gain agency, despite his difficulties getting there due to his treatment.Because of his treatment, and his subsequent ability to empathetically communicate with other entities – both those who can speak and those who cannot – he is able to gain agency by joining together with the non-human environment that he fears, gaining power by losing his fear. Kranti, in a different setting, uses her fear as motivation to make a difference. At the end of the novel, she is seen joining up with others like her and taking action against her oppressors. Thus, she and Osden, in Latour’s view, gains agency. Kranti’s defiance of societal norms of what is ‘acceptable’ regarding mental health and subsequent acceptance of who she is gave her the power to make a change, just as treatment put Osden at a definite disadvantage in doing so, although he eventually succeeds. In this way, these two pieces of work make a bold statement about mental health and agency ultimately prevailing over the most compromised circumstances.
Works Cited
Jensen, Derrick, and Stephanie McMillan. As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial. Seven Stories Press, 2007.
Latour, Bruno. "Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene." New Literary History 45, 1 (Winter 2014): 1-18.
LeGuin, Ursula. "Vaster than Empires and More Slow." The Wind's Twelve Quarters: Short Stories. New York: Harper and Row, 1975. 148-178.