Windeye By Brian Evenson

Psychosis and Fantasy in Brian Evenson’s “Windeye”
In everyone’s childhood, little girls try their mothers’ high-heeled shoes, standing in front of mirrors. Little boys dream of becoming independent men, just like their fathers or super stars. Thus, almost everyone has fantasies about their own future life when one was young, and maybe they fantasize that they are teachers, police, or doctors in the future. All these fantasies are the normal performance of people at different stages. However, there is an illusion that does not match to the normal behavior of one’s psychology and physiology, which causes the person who has different kinds of mental illness. A person’s mental illness can be caused by many reasons, such as the death of a loved one and the experience of an unhappy life. In “Windeye”, Evenson shows the boy who has psychosocial diseases like obsessive compulsive fantasies, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dual personality by describing the boy’s idea “the sister always existed” even though the real fact is different from what he imagines.
The beginning of the story is that the boy recalls some interesting moments about his sister, and they play some strange games until one day the boy remembers the story that his grandmother tells him before.
Thus, they call the strange thing they find “windeye”. Then, the boy and his sister begin to focus on the window because of their curiosity about the “windeye”, but the sister disappears with a strong smoke. After that, the boy is very anxious to go home and tell her mother what happen. However, her mother denies and tells him that he never has a sister even though he is constantly present the details. The trouble begins in his life at that time. Meanwhile, the boy considers the problem of whether his sister existed for a long time, though he has split with his mother and he accepts treatment by doctors for many years. In the end, the boy cannot stop thinking everything about his sister until he stops his
life.
First of all, one of the main point related to the “windeye” is the boy who suffers from compulsive fantasies, which is kind of the psychosocial disease. Obsessive compulsive fantasies are characterized by repeated ideas, thoughts, impressions or impulsiveness. A person who has this disease can fully recognize this compulsion and compulsive action, but they cannot control themselves’ thoughts. At first, when the boy’s sister puts her finger under a shingle, he asks her many strange questions. “Is it smooth? He might ask. Does it feel rough? Scaly? Is it cold-blooded or warm blooded? Does it feel red?” (Brian, Evenson). This shows that the boy is willing to image something even if they are just playing a game. It may be a common thing for most of people, but for him he could not distinguish the differences. Thus, when his sister touches the shingle, the boy asks those question because he might think of the board as an animal. Accordingly, all these behaviors lay the foundation for boy’s obsessive compulsive fantasies in the rest of the article. Furthermore, although the boy’s mom tells him that he never has a sister, he constantly thinks about that a few weeks or months even if the boy thinks it how a terrible thing because it affects his life. Also, at the end of the article, the boy hopes there was no wind, no sister. It can be seen the boy doesn't really want to think about his sister anymore, but he can't control himself. Thus, the boy’s behaviors and thoughts are consistent with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Secondly, after analyzing the story windeye, it has another situation that the boy is suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder refers to the individual experiences, witnessing or going through one or more's death, or serious injury. In fact, the boy’s sister is real existed. Because of an accident in childhood, their game caused her sister to lose her life. Since then, his psychology has been so traumatized that he has been thinking about the time he spent with his sister. Meanwhile, the boy’s grandmother tells him the story about windeye because helping him to get out of the pain, and his mother denies his idea about whether his sister existed or not in order to cure his mental illness. However, although he is treated by doctors, he cannot control himself without thinking about his sister. According to the “the signs and symptoms of PTSP”, people with post- traumatic stress disorder often have nightmares or flashbacks. It has a condition called “re-experiences” –patients reproduce the trauma in a sudden and vivid repetition. Re-experiences can go into a dream or suddenly appear in a sober picture or physical and emotional feelings. (Catherine Roberts, The signs and symptoms of PTSP ) By showing this, that is why the boy keeps to recall and think some scenes about his sister because post-traumatic stress disorder may be accompanied by his life.
Finally, dual personality is a reason that causes the boy is struggling if he has a sister because a person with dual personality has two or more identities. According to Psychology Today, “Dissociative identity disorder, formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder, is a condition wherein a person's identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personality states. People with this rare condition are often victims of severe abuse” (Psychology Today). Citing these sources shows that the boy in real life is his own, but his sister is another him in his own world. On the one hand, the boy often plays some strange games with his sister, like a person closes another person in the toy box until one is intolerable. Besides, the author mentions many times that his sister laughing at him. From these perspectives, the boy may have been abused in childhood, so his younger sister is another child of his own in childhood. On the other hand, in the story, the ending of the younger sister is disappeared in the thick smoke. Thus, when the boy is a character of a younger sister, he also wants to disappear in the smoke because there will be no pain. Unfortunately, after he returns to the real world, not only is he treated by the doctor painfully, but also he has cracks with his mother. Thus, the boy has been always switch during his own and his sister, which is the psychological block.
In general, due to psychological illness, the boy cannot live like a normal people because some of his actions and ideas cannot be controlled by his own subjective willing even though his families and himself try their best to make him recover as soon as possible. In a word, compulsive fantasy, post-traumatic mental disorder, and dual personality, these psychological diseases seriously affect his life, and may even be accompanied in his all life. The author describes psychological activity and behavior of a mental illness appropriately and truly by showing the boy’s psychological struggle about the sister’s existed. Works Cited