Henry’s and Septimus’s Deadly Disorder

Lauryn Boorstein

Professor Houston

English 257G

19 February 2010

Henry's and Septimus's Deadly Disorder

Does Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cause veteran's to commit suicide? For over century's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been known to take many veterans lives. According from Veterans Administration, every single day of the year about eighteen veterans take their lives due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These shocking statistics, have proven that hundred twenty-six veterans are reported to commit suicide every week (Veterans Administration). Authors, Virginia Woolf and Louise Erdrich, both published separate novels that introduced two veterans who suffered from this horrible mental illness. Both characters in these fiction novels did an excellent job at providing realistic information to the readers on what can happen to a Veteran who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Woolf introduced Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway as a Veteran of World War I and Erdrich introduced Henry Lamartine Jr.

English: Cases of PTSD and Severe Depression Among...

Portrait of Virginia Woolf by George Charles Beres...

English: Portrait of Virginia Woolf

in Love Medicine as a Veteran who had been a prisoner of the Vietnam War. In each novel, the veterans lived extremely different life styles in dissimilar eras of history. Even know both characters were established in separate novels, they still shared pragmatic similarities when returning home from war.

In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf successfully portrays to her readers Septimus Warren Smith chaotic views of the world when returning home from the war. Focusing on Septimus views Woolf also focuses on how society treats and perceives Septimus, by uniting the insane with civilization, rather than separating Mr. Smith. In the novel, Sir William Bradshaw was introduced as a renowned London Psychiatrist. While seeing his new patient Septimus, Sir William Bradshaw... "Priest of science" diagnoses Septimus "a case of complete breakdown- complete physical and nervous breakdown (106)". Bradshaw does not wait for verbal interaction with...