Elliot's Illustration: 2011

Thursday 8 December 2011

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

For my coursework I have been studying a book by neurologist Oliver Sacks which describes the case histories of his patients. I had to choose between 4 chapters of the book to illustrate and then provide effective imagery from my research. The serious case matters I chose were as follows . .

Transports- A Passage To India, a 19 year old woman named Bhagawhandi, suffers from seizures that cause her to fall into a dream like state, at which point she dreams of India, she envisions her home country and culture, and family. In the end however she eventually dies and finally is at peace, at home.

Losses - The Lost Mariner, Jimmy.G is a World War 2 veteran who has no recollection of the last 40 years of his life and still believes it is 1945 and he is 19 years old. He has no knowledge of new periodic numbers or discovered planets, all he can feel is dis-belief in relation to the real world. He is almost unaware any time has passed at all.

The World Of The Simple - A Walking Grove, Martin.A, aged 61 suffers from Parkinsonism and also meningitis at infancy and he has limited education because of this, but on the other hand he also has an outstanding musical knowledge. His father was a famous singer at the Met, he knows over 2000 operas, and even though he is unable to read music, he can retain an entire opera after only one hearing. He can remember every actor, every prop and every costume from all the performances he has seen. He can also recall every bus, train and subway route through and into New York City and also every street sign and building house for house.

Excesses- A Matter Of Identity, William Thompson, remembers nothing for more than a few seconds, his mind is a whirlpool of imagination, he does not see people or places for what they really are, he can be whoever he wants to one minute and the next be something totally different, people are impartial to him as they are forever changing, he is obsessed with narratives and living them, he could be a store owner one minute the next, in an Arabian Nights story, the possibilities of his imaginations are endless due to this disorder.