Self-Awareness In Quick's Book 'Pat'

For instance Pat’s self-awareness is demonstrated very early in the movie when he speaks of finding his wife in the shower with another man and beating the man up. In Quick’s book Pat does not recall this incident until near the end of the book. During a large part of the book Pat tries to recall why he and his wife are not together. It is only while playing a video cassette that he has a flashback to the incident. “Something in my mind begins to melt, and it feels as though I am experiencing an ice cream headache-or as if someone is churning my brain with an ice pick”. (Quick,pg.270). The time that the main character spent in the psychiatric hospital was also changed from 4ish years in the book to 8 months in the movie. This is a significant
change because the 4 years help to illustrate just how serious the main character’s condition was it also made impossible for some of the things that happened in the book to occur. Some examples are Nikki’s two children, Pats brothers’ marriage and many other things. The film did not show anyone trying to protect Patrick from the past and just how long he was in hospital. The main character’s attitude in the film was a lot less tolerant and caring then the character in the book. In Matthew Quicks version of the story Patrick believed that it was more important to be kind then to be right. In the movie Pat seemed caught up with being right and unsympathetic. He mentioned on several occasions that he did not have a filter or his mouth.