Thursday 27 September 2012

Is Henry Darger eccentric?

Ok so the biggest conclusion about Henry Darger was found by an article which is our class assignment. I would like to attribute the source that I will copy the paragraph from but this is so true and it explains a lot about Henry's life:

"Schizotypal personality is a milder version of the clinical psychiatric condition called schizotypal personality disorder, which is among a cluster of personality disorders labeled "odd or eccentric" in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The schizotypal diagnosis grew out of large epidemiological studies in which researchers noticed that the relatives of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were more likely to exhibit odd behaviors and beliefs than relatives of those not afflicted with schizophrenia. Schizotypal people, for instance, may dress in an idiosyncratic style; their speech patterns may be somewhat out of the ordinary; they may respond ineptly in social situations; their emotional responses may be inappropriate; they may believe in supernatural phenomena such as telepathy and omens; and they may be hard to get close to -- both physically and emotionally. In short, schizotypal individuals are eccentric."
(Scientific American Mind; May/Jun2011, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p22-29, 8p)

Henry appears to have schizotypal personality. He has magical thinking which was able to motivate him to create a whole new world with so many unreal things. He has unusual perceptual experiences. His childhood was abused by a lot of people. It was rough and probably that is the reason why he wrote about children. Last but not least, he has mild paranoia. He snuggle himself into his own little world. No one knew about him or his work until he was gone. Henry possesses all the forms of schizotypal personality, and what it is was explained above. This symptom is one of the explanation for Henry Darger's behavior.

In fact, no one really cared about what he was doing. They kept thinking that he was weird and lonely and all. He never talked to anyone. If it was you, would you come and talk to some people like him? But when he died, luckily, the neighbor found his work. From that, the whole world would open their mouth with a great surprise. But that is just the later story. His life was poor. Everything was so gloomy. The real life was boring even his inner one was rich and exciting. All the circumstances must of had impacted on his behavior that some people might suppose it was mental disorder. However, it is actually not.

The big question about Henry Darger is: Is he really creative? YES HE IS. Sir and ma'am, the story happens in his writing has NOTHING to do with his real life. Well it does somehow but most likely that it is unreal. Then since the story is not like his real life, he must of created something new. That new thing is creativity. The ability to create such a huge story like "The realms of the unreal" is enormous. But also the time he spent to write it was not small at all either. And the way he made it long but not boring is an appearance of creativity. He had to come up with new ideas, new paintings, and new contents. Nothing was repeated identically. Then why are we questioning his creativity? He must care about his paintings so he drew them so perfectly. The proof is now all of his work is presented in a reputable museum in New York city. He is truly talented. 

I would doubt his mental health. However, his behavior did not seem to be crazy at all. He really only got that schizotypal personality. A lot of things have impacted on him to push him to the top of his ability, to create his world. I admire and appreciate that so much. Rest in peace Henry.

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