In both “Witty Ticcy Ray” and “A Surgeon’s Life,” Sacks peculiarly describes Tourette’s Syndrome and the individual as two separate entities known as “it” and “i.” He rationalizes this by arguing that “any disease introduces a doubleness into life- an “it,” with its own needs, demands, limitations.” Nonetheless, as we discussed in class, despite these demands that Tourette’s places on the host, Sacks also goes on to state that it “intertwines itself in every possible way,” leading the host and the disease to become a “single, compound being.” This is not only evident in Dr Carl Bennett from “A Surgeon’s Life,” but even more so in “witty ticcy Ray.”

The difference between the two is that we see how Ray is without his Tourette’s. He is described as slower and less balanced. He finds himself not only less volatile, but less spontaneous and “musically ‘dull’.” In fact, before putting him on haldol, Sacks feels the need to meet with him for three months in order to actually separate the man from the disease and his life as a “ticcer.” And we are led to believe that Ray actually found life rather boring without Tourette’s- “heavily dependent on his exotic disease,” he found activities such as drumming and ping-pong, which did fulfill him with the aid of his tics, no longer exciting due to his lack of spontaneity.

The last time we see Ray, he is off haldol on the weekends. While not having Tourette’s helps him with his work and day-to-day activities, he is only truly fulfilled when he has the bolstered imagination and unpredictability that Tourette’s provides him. I feel that this is an important notion- that not every sickness is a sickness, and for all its faults, can still add to an individual’s enjoyment of life.