The Hitchhiker Schizophrenia Analysis

People might think that all main characters are normal, well-minded characters that turn out to be heroes; this is not always the case. Jacob from the story “The Hitchhiker” has a disorder called schizophrenia that is affecting his life. Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that alters a person’s perception of reality (“Schizophrenia” 1). They may see or hear things that don’t exist, and might believe that others are trying to harm them. Undoubtedly, Jacob has schizophrenia because he has delusions of persecutions and he constantly hallucinates. To begin, Jacob constantly has delusions of persecution. A delusion is “a firmly-held idea that a person has, despite clear and obvious evidence that it isn’t true. Often, these delusions involve illogical or bizarre ideas or fantasies” (“Schizophrenia” 1). A specific type of delusion is called delusion of persecution is a belief that, “others…
Hallucinations are “sounds or other sensations experienced as real when they exist only in the person’s mind” (“Schizophrenia” 2). While Jacob was in the car, he started to have visual hallucinations. He saw the hitchhiker do things that were just in his mind. While Jacob was in the backseat alone with the hitchhiker, he saw that the hitchhiker’s hand slid into his jacket and curled around something underneath the material[...] a knife. A moment later his hand reappeared and [Jacob] caught the glint of silver” (Horowitz 236). Jacob actually believed that the hitchhiker wanted to stab him with a knife. Jacob thought that the silver object in the hitchhiker’s pocket was a knife, even though the whole experience was just in his head. The hitchhiker never had a knife, and never wanted to stab Jacob. Jacob formed this whole experience in his mind because he truly believed that the hitchhiker was a murderer. Although it might seem real, Jacob created the sensation in his mind, to prove to himself, that the hitchhiker wanted to kill