Month: December 2015

Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil

Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil
Narrated by Robertson Dean 
(This is an edited version of a review I wrote for my retired blog. I’m republishing because it is timely with a documentary I’ll be reviewing on Saturday.)

In this opiate-veiled book, Thayil introduces readers to the seedy underbelly of Bombay. It begins in the 1970’s and transitions with surreality into modern-day Mumbai–which has lost not only its tradition and identity, but also it’s name. The story follows several memorable characters, all of whom fight addiction in one form or another. Addictions range from opiates to violence to sex. 
The most memorable character is Dimple, a pipe-wallah, a prostitute, and an addict. Dimple was abandoned by her mother and sold into prostitution as a child. At the age of 9, she was castrated and her penis was removed, transforming her into India’s “third sex:” a hijra. Some men specifically prefer hijra over male or female prostitutes. When we are introduced to Dimple, she is a little older, and is suffering the ill effects of her surgery–including addiction to opium, which was originally given to her as a narcotic for her pain. The story follows Dimple as she transforms from a beautiful young woman to a sickly and shriveled middle-aged woman.

Perhaps I’m reading too much into the story (I think it would be clearer after a second reading), but I think Dimple was meant to represent India. When we met Dimple, she was young and beautiful, as was the young India. She had been docked and gelded, yes, but she was beautiful, intelligent, and had potential if ONLY she could get out of her rut. Perhaps this is meant to imply that the Westerners had “docked and gelded” India (by their colonization and then partitioning of the land), but that India still had potential. She was still beautiful. But time passed, and the slow-and-easy opium life in the “best opium den in Bombay…maybe even India,” was forcibly supplanted by frightening hallucinatory “cheap” chemical-laced heroin. During this time, Dimple became increasingly sick. Likewise, India itself was getting sicker from the negative influences of modernization. As time passed, Dimple’s name changed, as did Bombay’s, and their identities were lost in the harsh new world.

This book was allegorically very deep, and I’m sure that a second, third, and fourth reading would teach me something new every time. But, unfortunately, once was enough for me. I don’t regret reading the book…it will stay with me forever. But the violence, sex, drugs, and sickening human condition described was enough for me the first time around. Don’t get me wrong, all of these negative issues were handled with graceful tact. But it was still difficult for me to read.

Now, a note on the narration: I imagine this book was a very difficult one to read aloud. Robertson chose to represent surreal quality behind the veil with an airy tone of detachment. This tone was meaningful and perhaps necessary, but some might prefer to read the book instead. For me, Robertson’s tone of detachment didn’t distract from the story once I got used to it and understood the purpose. I was happily able to engross myself in the flow. 


The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh, by Rivkah Scharf Kluger

The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh: A Modern Ancient Hero
By Rivkah Scharf Kluger
As a young student of Jung, Kluger was encouraged by her mentor to study the archetypes of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Throughout her career, she gave many lectures on the subject, and was working on this book when she died. This is Kluger’s posthumous opus about the archetypes of Gilgamesh. As you can imagine, this is a very Jungian literary analysis. Her thesis was that the Epic of Gilgamesh was a coming-of-age story in which the character developed became fully aware (or conscious). 

In the first part of the story, Gilgamesh has only an id. He is wild – forcing the men to slave night and day on his building projects. Mothers would weep at the untimely deaths of their husbands and sons who had died from overwork. Gilgamesh would rape the maidens. He would ride around on the shoulders of children (how he managed this feat, I don’t know). Enkidu, likewise, was pure id – though in a different sense. He was someone who could run with the animals because he wasn’t yet quite human. 

When Enkidu and Gilgamesh met, there was the first inkling of ego – they became conscious that there was something else to their selves besides this wild energy. But even after they fought Humbaba, they were still a little wild. They scorned Ishtar, throwing insults (and bull haunches) at this revered and dangerous goddess. They were aware of their egos – they wanted immortality through glory – but they still had no self-control. 

This insult to Ishtar was another step in their development. Ishtar was the mother goddess, as well as the sexual goddess. By insulting her, they separated themselves from their “mother figure,” thus becoming men. Granted, immature men, but men all the same. 

After insulting Ishtar and maddening some others of the gods, Enkidu died. Neither Enkidu nor Gilgamesh was ready for this turn. They had not come to grips with the reality of death. In fact, even after Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh was in denial. He waited for his friend to return until maggots fell out of Enkidu’s nose.

This realization of death was a new step in Gilgamesh’s life. He now needed to discover his superego,  which is the part of himself that would moderate the impulses of the id – his child-like, uncontrolled desires – with his ego – the part of him that was aware of the needs of the real world. Basically the superego is his conscience. 

He dressed himself as a wild-man, in some ways regressing away from his ego’s consciousness, and went on a quest for immortality. Along the way, he was tested – over and over – by gods and men. They kept telling him to turn back, his quest was pointless. But he passed all of those tests and reached his goal: Utnapishtim, the man who had survived the deluge and achieved immortality. Much to Gilgamesh’s disappointment, Utnaphishtim couldn’t tell Gilgamesh how to become immortal. But he gave Gilgamesh a plant which would restore the youth of whomever ate it. 

Instead of eating it right away, Gilgamesh decided to bring it back to his home in Uruk to share with others. Perhaps this was his first glimmer of conscience? But, of course, even this plan failed. A snake found the plant and ate it. Gilgamesh’s journey for immortality had failed. But it was not pointless. Because in that journey, Gilgamesh had gained wisdom. He’d become aware of his conscience. He was fully conscious. 

This was a very difficult book for me to read because I’m not very familiar with Jungian literary analysis. In fact, I don’t think I really processed what Kluger was saying until I tried to put it into my own words. Therefore, this book wasn’t very enjoyable to me, and it will not get a very high star rating. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good analysis, only that it wasn’t for me. 

Gender Dysphoria – Homosexuality and Transgender

In the past, there was an amazing amount of stigma against homosexuality. King Henry the VIII of England declared “the detestable and abominable vice of buggery” a felony punishable by death. It was not until 1861 that the maximum penalty in England was reduced to 10 years in prison. Similarly, in 1885, when lesbianism was about to be criminalized, Queen Victoria declared lesbianism to be impossible, and therefore there was no point in making a law against it. In the US, the last law prohibiting homosexuality was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003. As recently as 1973, homosexuality was a diagnosable disorder in the DSM. 


However, homosexuality was accepted in non-Western cultures. For instance, in Melanesia, which is a group of islands in the South Pacific, a society called the Sambia believe that semen is important for physical growth, strength, and spirituality. They also believe that the body is only capable of creating a small amount of semen, so they must get the semen from elsewhere. In order to maintain adequate semen levels, boys exchange semen through oral sex. After puberty, the teens can penetrate the younger boys, thus providing them with semen. As the teen ages, he “transforms” into a heterosexual, and ends sexual intercourse with boys after the birth of his first child. Melanesian children who refuse such practices are considered abnormal and are therefore very rare. 

Thankfully, Western culture is beginning to accept homosexuality. In the 1960’s gay and lesbian people began to be more active for their rights. Such activist action led to increased brutality of police and homophobic citizens against homosexuals. Most recently, homosexual activity, although still highly stigmatized by some groups, is more widely accepted as within moral boundaries. Same sex marriages have become legal in all 50 states. 

Despite the removal of much of the stigma against homosexual people, there is still a shocking amount of stigma against transgender / transsexual people. In fact, trans people are the minority most likely to be killed in the US. As of October 2015, 22 transgender women have been killed in the US. Considering how rare trans people are in the US, these are shocking murder rates. 



Again, the stigma against trans people is most pronounced in Western culture. For instance, before being colonized by the British in the 18th century, transsexuals were revered as holy people who could remove the Evil Eye and bless homes and other places. But with the British also came stigma. Now, transsexual women resort mainly to begging and prostitution. (I will review a documentary on this subject on Saturday.)

In the US, transsexuals must jump through many hoops and red tape in order be approved for surgery. It is a several year-long process. The first step is to be diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” – persistent discomfort about one’s biological sex, or the belief that one should be another sex. Gender dysphoria can be diagnosed in children if six of the following characteristics are met: strong desire to be of another gender; a strong preference for cross-dressing in boys; a strong preference for cross-gender rolls; a strong preference for toys, games, and activities associated with the opposite sex; a strong preference for playmates of another gender; in boys, a strong rejection of typically masculine toys and activities; a strong dislike of one’s sexual anatomy; a strong desire for the sex characteristics of the opposite gender. 

Generally, boys with gender dysphoria more often turn out to be homosexual than transexual; however, the large majority of adults with gender dysphoria develop this characteristic as a child. Given that most children with gender dysphoria grow into emotionally healthy adults, there is some controversy about the inclusion of child gender dysphoria in the DSM-5. In fact, when children with gender dysphoria are brought in for counselling, it is often the parents who receive the most counseling. 

In adults, gender dysphoria can be diagnosed if two of the following traits are present: an incongruence between the person’s sexual gender and his perceived gender; a strong desire to be rid of one’s sex characteristics; a strong desire for the sex characteristics of the opposite sex; a strong desire to be of the other gender; a strong desire to be treated as the other gender; a strong conviction that one has feelings of the other gender. 

After an adult is diagnosed with gender dysphoria, he must undergo years of therapy, including a year of living as the other sex. Only after all these years of hard work can the transsexual be approved by insurance for gender reassignment surgery. 

Disclaimer: I apologize for the male (or male->female) leaning of this post. I’m making these posts to help me study for my Abnormal Psychology class, and the book was mainly about men on this subject. 

This is a series of posts summarizing what I’m learning in my Abnormal Psychology course. Much of the information provided comes from reading my James N. Butcher’s textbook Abnormal Psychology. To read the other posts, follow these links: 

The Definition of Abnormal
A History of Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal Psychology in Contemporary Society
Contemporary Viewpoints on Treating Mental Illness – Biology
Contemporary Viewpoints on Treating Mental Illness – Psychology
Frontline: New Asylums
Brave New Films: This is Crazy
Clinical Mental Health Diagnosis: Biological Assessment
Clinical Mental Health Diagnosis: Psychological Assessment
Does the DSM Encourage Overmedication?
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome – The Basics
Panic Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Hoarding and Body Dysmorphic Disorders
Depression – an Overview
Personality Disorders – Clusters and Dimensions
Personality Disorders – Cluster A
Personality Disorders – Cluster B
Personality Disorders – Cluster C
Biological Effects of Stress on Your Body
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Borderline Personality Disorder
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Paraphilic Disorders
Gender Dysphoria – Homosexuality and Transgender
Anxiety Disorders
Bipolar Disorder – The Basics
Suicide – An Overview

References:

Butcher, James N. Hooley, Jill M. Mineka, Susan. (2014) Chapter 12: Sexual Variance, Abuse, and Dysfunctions. Abnormal Psychology, sixteenth edition (pp. 405-442). Pearson Education Inc.

The Three Sisters, by Sonia Halbach

The Three Sisters (The Krampus Chronicles Book 1), by Sonia Halbach
This book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange 
for a fair and honest review. 
Every Christmas Eve, Maggie has the same dream. Santa is walking on the top of her grandfather’s manor, when suddenly he slides off the end. But this year is different. This year, it’s a nightmare in which he is pushed by something sinister. Awakened from her dream, she decides to go sledding – ending up in an accident that leads to meeting the handsome (but older) Henry. Henry has come with strange claims: that Maggie’s grandfather, who is well known for writing the poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, had plagiarized his poem. 


While exploring the mansion for proof of plagiarism, Henry and Maggie are accidentally swept into a strange underground village named Poppel – a village strangely resembling Santa’s fabled home. But not all is right in Poppel. It is ruled by tyrants called the Garrison, and Nikolaos is missing. She and Henry must find three hidden objects before the end of Christmas Eve, or else Maggie, Henry and their families are in terrible danger – as is the hidden village of Poppel. 

This was a refreshingly unique story based on the poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Alpine German folklore of the anti-Santa named Krampus. Who knew a world could be built just around such a short poem? And I’d never heard of Krampus before reading this book. (Of course, just yesterday I went to the theaters and found out that a movie named Krampus is soon to be released, though there seems to be no relation between the two.) I really enjoyed reading this book. It was cute, adventurous, and had a tad of romantic tension. And one thing I really loved about this book is that the story was complete at the end. That is the perfect beginning to a series, as far as I’m concerned. I will definitely watch for the next in the series. 

4 snowflakes for creativity, action, romance, and fun