So far, I’ve liked Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind. As seems to be the consensus, it’s a fairly “easy” read (at least, compared to the previous two texts). However, I found myself being a bit distracted, or at the very least wondering, of Jamison’s use of the word “black.”
I would say that Jamison uses “black” in a manner that is typical to most people (i.e., using the word in its readily accepted association). A few instances thus far include:
- “With his capacity for flight came grimmer moods, and the blackness of his depressions filled the air as pervasively as music did in his better periods. Within a year or so of moving to California, my father’s moods were further blackening, and I felt helpless to affect them.” (34)
- “I soon found out that it was not just my father who was given to black and chaotic moods.” (35)
- “My mercurial moods and recurrent, very black depressions took a huge personal and academic toll during those college years.” (48)
Basically, black defined as “(of a person’s state of mind) full of gloom or misery; very depressed” (I pulled that quickly from a Google definition).
However, I’m not sure I like this usage. While I wouldn’t expect her to write of her depression as “pink,” I also don’t think a color should necessarily be associated to a particular mood (similar to how “blue” is associated with depression). I’m no color theorist, linguist, or any knowledgeable what-have-you, but I guess I’m wondering: Does Jamison’s use of the word “black” play into a kind of cliched/stereotypical portrayal of this kind of neurodivergence, and is this a “bad” thing to use this trope/metaphor as it might play into reifying the conversation regarding the experience of (manic) depression? Or is Jamison noting some kind of fundamental characteristic that is important to pin down for discussing the condition?
Note: I might be making a hoopla out of nothing, nor am I sure how to answer these questions.
Michael, I am glad you wrote about this in your post because I am also confused by her use of the word black. I am sure we are not the only one also. Numerous times while reading the novel I had to stop and think when she uses the word. I am still puzzled and confused because so far the novel doesn’t give me no clues to why she is using the word black. Now that you mention the definition of black, it sorta makes sense to me because whenever she uses the word black it’s always about something depressing or gloomy. “She had a charismatic way, a fierce temper, very black and passing moods, and little tolerance for the conservative military lifestyle that she felt imprisoned us all” (ebook, 11). Her sister always seems to be in a dark place, she is never happy, she hates school, she drank and smoke, hated living the military life. I feel her sister is in a black place because of her family constant moving from state to state. She doesn’t adjust to life like her sister and brother because she knew that she is going to be moving, so what’s the use of her going to school.
This is a really interesting thread. I’m curious to hear how others are responding to “black” as a metaphor for describing moods. Jamison is a mood scientist. Her research focuses on the physiology of moods. So I don’t think you’re making hoopla out of nothing. You’re noticing how language and figures of speech shape meaning.
It would be interesting to compare Jamison’s use of “black” to other figurative descriptions of depression in her memoir–and to other figurative descriptions of various states of mind in other texts we’ve read.
Great observation! I had not really noticed how many times she uses the word “black” to describe the mood. I am not sure if she is simply not able to describe it in another way or maybe she has used this word to better relate to the audience. As you said, when we see the colors of “black” or “blue” we do automatically associate it with sadness. A Strange concept to think that a color signifies emotion, but perhaps that is why she consistently uses that word. Her audience knows exactly her mood now and perhaps she could not better describe her emotions other than trying to help us relate it to what we know already. Usually as a writer, the author will purposely repeat certain words throughout a text if it has some sort of significance or a deeper meaning they want the audience to know. I guess we can never know for sure.
Michael,
This is such a great observation. I never really noticed her use of the word black. I took a look back at the instances you mentioned and I feel almost as if this was Jamison’s way of describing her “episodes” in the most broken down, simple way she could think of. The use of the word black allows for all readers, whether you have any prior knowledge or not, to relate to her description. I think we all kind of share the same interpretation of what that color would mean when describing mood. Jamison is pretty “straight forward” in the whole book and I think had she used anything else or something more complex or medical it would have thrown off the tone she had so successfully set.
I definitely see what you’re saying, Jessica and Brandely. I’m thinking I’m the odd one out here, because I personally don’t associate the color black to signify a downcast mood/emotion. But there certainly seems to be a consensus on that specific color idea, so I’m thinking I only really understand that usage because I’m aware of the majority’s interpretation.
At the conference I just got back from, a group of psychologists, artists, and filmmakers are working on a project where they help children visualize their phenomenological experience during the seizures. These are seizures that don’t cause any motor symptoms. People just seem to space out or “become absent.” In the past, people have thought of this as the disappearance of consciousness, but it turns out that people do have conscious experiences during the seizures–altered ones. So the artists are talking with the kids and using various tools to help them depict their altered states.
One of the kids said that she sees himself in a sea of black–like space. This kid said the black is both scary and comforting, as when you look up at the stars. So the artist’s challenge is to create a visual image using black that captures both feelings.
It strikes me that black can convey a bunch of feelings, depending on context. For example, it can signify power (as in a black power suit) or perhaps melodrama. Or an ironic feeling of fear in goth culture, for example.
There could definitely be an interesting research project in this.
Black is a kind of color which make things seemed boring or depressing but at the same time it kind of gives us the feeling of being warm. We do try to avoid black color in our lives, but it still comes back in many ways, for example, sometimes things do not work out in life the way we want it and we feel so broken and depress. The author usage of color black makes us think what she goes through in her life, but maybe that’s the color help her to get it over with her mood change.
“No amount of love can cure madness or unblacken one’s dark moods. Love can help, it can make the pain more tolerable, but, always, one is beholden to medication that may or may not always work and may or may not be bearable.”
Your argument for your post seems to fit this quote very well. Having read your post, I began to think about how color plays an important part in shaping a story. What makes this part interesting is how her use of color creates an opposite right away. She continues to create an uncomfortable, dark, depressing atmosphere until we reach the word “rainbow”. This word relieves us of that world immediately. There is no transition between the gloomy world and this one that we are in now.
I didn’t realize how often she uses the word “black”. I think that I’m so use to writers using colors to depict a feeling that I overlooked it.i don’t think that it is “bad” for her to use this color to describe her manic depression. Yes, the color black have negative attachments so it may cause others to think negatively about manic depression, but this is the way she feels about it. Manic depression is not a “good” thing. Not to sound mean or anything but all of these mental illnesses that we are looking at are labeled mental illnesses for a reason, there’s a differentiation. I feel like if she used another color, like a “happy color” to describe her depression, it would come off fake because although some of us never experienced it, we have a feeling that it’s not the greatest thing in the world.i see what you’re saying about her use of the color black, but I think she uses that color to simply convey her feeling to the reader and repeating the word black is her strategy.