Full text

Turn on search term navigation

Copyright Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC Centro de Comunicação e Expressão May-Aug 2015

Abstract

The visual metaphor of the ground crumbling stems from the known verbal metaphor of the same content. lakof and Johnson's deinition of conceptual metaphor and its relation to bodily experience is itting here, for the idea of losing one's ground seems directly related to that of falling down unexpectedly in a hole, for example. his particular instance of visual metaphor is centered on the other family members' experience with alzheimer's, rather than midge's. hey are the ones to receive the diagnosis, whereas the actual subject of that diagnosis is absent from the frame altogether. he image suggests that the ground crumbles for the family of a person diagnosed with alzheimer's, while not necessarily for the person herself. his is emphasized by the contrast with the frame directly below, with midge unaware of the drama of the situation, smiling ater the appointment. in her perspective, the narrative suggests, the stability of the ground is not an issue (it does not even igure in the frame), and she is simply glad the doctor was so nice. he implication of that visual metaphor is misleading, however, since the person with alzheimer's, though not always aware of the situation, does comprehend the severity of the illness as it progresses. midge is portrayed, for example, several times showing frustration with the illness: "i hate what's happening to me," she says (42). he visual metaphor seen on the quoted page is a good example of the potential problems in appropriating someone else's story of disability. as the perspective shits from the person with disability to the person telling the story, so does the focus, which could lead to a silencing of the former's experience in favor of the latter. The visual metaphor of receiving the diagnosis in Tangles is closely associated with the historically constructed myth and stigma surrounding alzheimer's. he historicity of the perception of alzheimer's is the main topic of Jesse f. ballenger's book, self, senility, and alzheimer's disease in modern america: a history (2006), for, as he points out, "[...] it is ironic that our public discussion of a disease that robs individuals of their memories proceeds with so little appreciation of its past" (3). hrough the process of retracing that past, one could see how in the eighteenth century, for example, dementia and old age were not the subject of the nightmare they eventually came to be in the late twentieth century (4). despite having been oicially "discovered" at the turn of the twentieth century, it was only during the 1980s, ballenger states, that alzheimer's emerged as "a major disease entity and public issue," frequently described as an epidemic for an increasingly aging population (8). around that time, through a series of government, mass media, and advertising campaigns, the idea of old age became disconnected from that of senility or dementia in favor of a gloriied concept of retirement (9). his shit had the paradoxical efect, however, of "intensif[ying] the stigma of senility. as the meaning and purpose of old age was reduced to maintaining one's health and activity levels, disease and dependency grew even less tolerable" (9-10). in this rather utilitarian capitalist model, the work force had to be continually replaced, making the golden years supposedly the best period of one's life, when one could enjoy the rewards of a lifetime of hard work; senility, in its turn, represented the opposite of the ideal surrounding the retiree's context (9). in this scenario, an aging body was not supposed to entail an aging mind, gerontologists airmed (9). The chapter begins with the account of an acquaintance's suicide and the indication that it might have been related to alzheimer's. he irst ive frames are dedicated to that story and illustrate, in a very static fashion, the deceased, the method, and the alleged reason for it: "she was a wealthy, elegant old lady. hey found her in her car in the closed carport with the engine running. she had let a medical book on her cofee table. it was open to the chapter on alzheimer's" (67). he detached, almost journalistic, tone of these irst frames is contrasted with the rest of the chapter, which has a much more intimate and domestic atmosphere. he remaining part of the chapter portrays telephone conversations between sarah and both her parents that occurred on the day she heard about the suicide and on the following day. one frame stands out in the page, with a complaint midge makes to her daughter: "i'm not a real person anymore!" (67). he jagged lines of the balloon indicate the intensity of the statement, at least for the listener, and the blackness surrounding it suggests that it was enough of a shock to block everything else from sight for sarah. he juxtaposition of the two stories, the acquaintance's suicide and midge's complaint, establishes a connection between them, while, at the same time, placing in evidence the metaphor of 'losing oneself ' or 'losing personhood,' commonly associated with alzheimer's. hroughout the chapter, with the exception of the suicide account in the irst few frames, the visual narrative focuses primarily on the narrator's perspective: her side of the conversation is the only one being portrayed, for example. in the following page of the chapter (figure 5), sarah discusses the repercussions of her mother's confession with her father, again over the telephone. The page quoted from the chapter entitled "Taste and smell" (figure 3), for example, portrays midge as a staree within the narrative. in the bottom six frames, midge is shown under the scrutiny of the narrator, who seems to invite the reader to join in on the inspection of the many symptoms afecting her mother, such as the odd choice of clothes, the sweating, the bad breath (59). he thirteenth frame of the page, in particular, where midge is presented carrying a shoe in her hand ater getting dressed, is revealing of this invitation to stare. in that frame, visual narrative assembles a list of oddities for the reader to linger on. a number of arrows point to midge's body, visually substantiating her deviance in the narrative: * Accessories and footwear carried around until abandoned * Dressy oice skirt * Guatemalan hat almost always * Messy hair * Turtleneck even when hot (59) Ultimately, in Tangles, the visual narrative mimics the staring process. he positioning of arrows literally points to the ways in which midge deviates from the norm, inviting the reader to dwell on the frame in order to take in all of the information. he inal frame of the page is emblematic in this regard, as it portrays the young sarah pointing at her mother in shame: "i was so embarrassed. it reminded me of when i was a teenager and i wouldn't walk with her at the mall because she dressed weird" (59). he reenactment of the selfconscious embarrassment of her teenage years in the last frame suggests a more critical view of the staring being performed in the earlier frames. or, at least, it indicates the narrator's awareness of the, perhaps unavoidable, process of putting her mother in the position of staree. Besides this questioning, Tangles ofers some alternatives of representation that do not engage in a type of staring that objectiies the staree. he visual metaphor of the lying bird (figure 6) appropriates the blank stare that marks midge as a subject of alzheimer's in a liberating way. as a bird lying away, midge is still an object of her daughter's stare and is still portrayed bearing the recurring blank stare characteristic of her illness in the narrative. unlike other depictions throughout the story, however, in this particular frame she does not appear constrained by that stare. in comparison, the frame at the bottom let of the page presents a more 'realistic' portrayal of the event, for the narrator, and in that frame midge is seen staring down, with a sad countenance-a representation conined to the limits of her blank stare. as both types of portrayal are juxtaposed, one can see the potential of visual metaphor as an empowering narrative device in terms of representing disability.

Details

Title
THE VISUAL METAPHOR OF DISABILITY IN SARAH LEAVITT'S GRAPHIC MEMOIR TANGLES: A STORY ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S, MY MOTHER, AND ME
Author
Dalmaso, Renata Lucena
Pages
75-92
Publication year
2015
Publication date
May-Aug 2015
Publisher
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC Centro de Comunicação e Expressão
ISSN
01014846
e-ISSN
21758026
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1778765310
Copyright
Copyright Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC Centro de Comunicação e Expressão May-Aug 2015