• Author / Uploaded
• Brian Sio

• Categories
• Psiquiatría
• Ciencias del comportamiento
• Sicología y ciencia cognitiva
• Salud mental
• Psicología clínica

Citation preview

Horrors of the Road Main Characters: Piers’ wife Other Characters: Piers, Miss Jacobs

Story: The whole story is Piers’ wife talking to her psychotherapist (people who treat mental sickness and impairment) about her husband Piers and their trip in France. Throughout the story she keeps saying she loves her husband, and it’s others’ fault of making problems for them.

Page 97 She went to the therapist because Piers said so. She mentioned that her legs have stopped working one day without reason, and still no doctor can find out what and why it happened. Then he started to talk about his husband Piers of how handsome and clever he is.

Page 98 She went on and she also said she and Piers have 4 children. She said Piers is a Nobel Prize winner, and that he is a particle physicist. She then started mentioning their trips to France. They kept going to France in holidays until their largest son, Brutus, is 15. It’s been 5 years since then. She told us the scene about the families lining up for the ferry.

Page 99 She started to mention how “bad” the French drivers are and how “impossible” their road signs are, while saying their car’s condition is very bad, because of the bumps and cracks. She changed her topic to how her legs stopped working. It started in their thirtieth wedding anniversary. They are going to France again in Piers’ new car. It can go to 110 mph, but she said he will only drive to 55 mph, the safety speed in the States. (Remember

they are British, States usually mean United States) She also said he forgets to drive on the right when they are in France. (British drive on left side, while most places drive on the right side) She said she likes to take Valium (A medicine which calms people and stop anxiety), because she always have fast heartbeats. She said Piers like melons, and he will even try to touch every melons, including the melons in the boxes of the shop to see which is best.

Page 100 She said when she is going to get into the car after buying melons her legs stopped working and haven’t walked since. Her heart problem stopped since then too. She then talked about their camping trips. Piers prefer less crowded sites.

Page 101 She said once the campsite is too crowded that Piers requested some campers to move their tents to give him space at ten in the evening. She said it was the camp watcher’s fault, and Piers knocked his door to request a space for him. She said he was over-reacted, but said it wasn’t his fault. She also said Piers like picnic lunch at 3 pm. She blamed the French for being not nice, by beeping at them while they drove the wrong direction in a roundabout (a circle road).

Page 102 She said once they crashed with someone else and he even forgot to brake the car after he went out in gear (gear: possibly a weapon). She said not much damage is done but people’s car are always smooth and new, better looking than theirs because they waste their money often. They always got pulled out of the car and being honked. She thought Piers is a safe driver and blames the road signs for not being straight-forward and the French drivers being terrible.

Page 103 She complains how bad the road signs are and how it is hard to see. She sometimes takes Valium when they have accidents in

their trip. She told us their children, Fanny went to New Zealand after college, David is a racing driver, which Piers said it’s dangerous, Angela is doing psychiatric nursing.

Page 104 She keeps on complaining the drivers in France. She went on about how Piers asked about every dish in the menu, how long they take when eating in restaurants. He also tasted every wine in the free wine-tasting events, without buying any. She said Piers don’t adjust the back mirror before driving, and that she would take another Valium. She again blamed the French, not his husband’s actions.

Page 106 She then started blaming the therapist Miss Jacobs, accusing Miss Jacobs as a feminist (feminism: once a term for male-female equality, now sometimes a word meaning female domination) and that her husband was right every single time. She then called for Piers to take her away.

Story Summary: This story is about the wife of Piers who is completely loyal to his husband, even if his husband is terrible at some point. Her loyalty is too much that she believes everything is other people’s fault, not his husband’s. In fact, his husband is greedy, not being careful enough while driving, somehow violent, and is not sensitive to other people’s feelings. He is so closed-minded and have only his set of mind. Yet his wife kept supporting him and blame for everything else rather than himself, even if he is the one being wrong. Maybe Piers’ wife knows, but don’t want to accept it. Perhaps, Piers realized his wife is not right, and took her to the psychotherapist to try to change her attitude, but she is just too reluctant to accept that her husband is wrong in many ways.

Important notes: -Piers was waiting in Miss Jacobs’ drawing room when she is talking with Piers’ wife. -Piers’ wife fell twice after the incident: once on a sofa, once on sand. -Piers and his wife went to Paris, New York, Tokyo to seek for medical help, but they all said it was “hysterical paralysis” -Piers is a particle physicist, and Piers’ wife mentioned “cyclotron” (a device used to observe the behavior of atomic and sub-atomic particles) while talking about Piers. -Their new car was a MG (Morris Garages), a sports car. -Valium, or Diazepam, a depressant used to treat a variety of conditions, including anxiety, muscle spasms, restless legs syndrome, and is also used to cause memory loss. Side effects include sleepiness, increased risk of seizures, occasional agitation and cognitive problems which can be in effect for more than six months. (Piers’ wife is a habitual Valium taker. The side effect of valium might be the reason of her legs not being functional. Her usual taking of Valium is probably because of Piers’ “exciting” driving skills) -“frites” a French meaning fried potatoes. -“Piers have left our car in gear” this possibly means he is armed with a weapon. -Piers have 4 children: Brutus, Angela, David, Fanny -Angela is a psychiatric nurse, David is a racing car driver, Fanny went to New Zealand after college. -Piers said eating slowly in a restaurant is good because a) it is bad for digestion if they hurry, b) they are happy to see people appreciate their food. -Abreaction: A release of repressed emotion. Piers’ wife knew it was difficult to live with Piers but she tries to hide it here.

-Feminist was a term meaning male-female equality, but in modern days it is sometimes meant female domination. The reason is some people mistaken this word as another meaning, which should be sexual equality. Probably Piers’ wife meant the second meaning when she spoke it out. (Possibly slightly negative) -Valium is also said to give extreme thoughts or suicidal thoughts, Piers’ wife might be affected by the side effects of the drug.