"The Body is a Bloody Battlefield": Jackie Kay and the Body in Flux — Page 5:
21 The fact that there is an apparent mis-match between the ratio of Afro-Caribbeans in Great Britain (3%) and the number of black inmates in mental hospitals (17%) indicates that cultural perceptions of "madness" still affect the medical profession (Dennis 193). According to recent sociological research by James Nazroo, "it is well known that, as well as being more likely than any other ethnic group to be hospitalized for psychotic illness, Caribbeans are more likely to be compulsorily treated and to be treated on locked wards" (319). Similarly, in another study it is claimed that black people "are more likely to be … diagnosed as 'schizophrenic' and treated with anti-psychotic drugs than white people are" (Babiker and Arnold 48). Astonishingly, according to Anna Marie Smith, "there are several "black-specific" categories of mental illness currently in use: 'West Indian psychosis', 'paranoia', 'religious mania' and, for Asian women, 'marital psychosis'" (88). Ussher notes that this is a factor in some diagnoses when labels of madness are more readily imposed on those from other ethnic backgrounds, and are therefore "clearly reflections of xenophobia or racism" (139).
22 In order for Thelma to avoid one of these stigmatising labels she must conform to certain patterns of behaviour. If she does not remain contained within society's code of "acceptable" conduct (which in this case is to remain silent and hide her anger), she may be prejudicially assessed. As Smith points out, "Where black women break the boundaries of that containment […] they are often pathologized" (88). Similarly bell hooks states "where black women exceed the boundaries of soliloquy, they are punished in terms of both physical abuse and madness" (qtd. in Smith 88). Women's anger has long been misunderstood and feared and, for this reason, has been perceived as symptomatic of someone who is "mad." By attaching this label to behaviour that is sometimes seen as potentially anarchic, women's anger has thus been controlled. The fact that those who have the power to make such evaluative judgements (in medical and legal professions for example) are largely white and male, has serious implications for black femininity.
23 Thelma's social environment is obviously one that has attempted to contain her anger. Whilst Thelma does manage to break out of such bonds (although of course at the expense of stigmatisation and isolation) there are many who remain unable to find a voice. For these, it may be that their only way of "speaking" is through exhibiting symptoms of mental illness. R. D. Laing (a key figure in the Anti-Psychiatry Movement of the 1960s) supports this idea that the behaviour exhibited by some people needs to be seen, not as the impenetrable conduct of an "insane" person, but as a means of communication. In this way, Laing believed, the "symptoms" exhibited by schizophrenics, for example, rather than being associated with pathology, could be usefully understood as "a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unliveable situation" (95). Although Laing's work does not specifically address issues of race, it is clear that his philosophy espouses the idea that "deviant" behaviour (regardless of an individual's age, race or gender) can be misinterpreted.
24 In "Shell" (Why 137-155), Kay describes such an "unliveable" situation and the resulting "deviant" behaviour. Doreen is a black single mother, silenced and criticized by her bullying son, Louis; deserted by her son's father; and shunned by neighbours. Unable to articulate her despair, Doreen descends into a form of "madness," and as she sinks deeper and deeper into herself, the pain of her life intensifies. Interactions with her son have reached a point where, "Louis has decided to talk at her though the idea that she might have anything to say hasn't crossed his mind" (143) and, "She doesn't bother to answer anymore […] She can't bring herself to get involved" (138). Because she has no voice and no listener, the body becomes the primary focus of her attention. She stops eating anything nutritious, loses control of her bowel, defecating in the bath, finally developing a delusion that there is a shell-like growth on her back.
25 The course of her "illness" culminates in the belief that she has actually metamorphosed into a snail. Asked by her son why she will no longer be able to take him to school, Doreen answers "I'm a bit encumbered" (154). As well as the satirical aspect inherent in this interchange, Doreen's shell could be read as a metaphor for the burdensome role that she has involuntarily had to adopt in order for herself and her son to survive. In this way, her "encumbrance" is analogous to the story of racism. Irene's shell (although imaginary is nonetheless "real" in her mind) is emblematic of a stigmata that marks her as different, in the same way that visible differences in skin colour mark some as "other." The physical and mental "weight" referred to in Off Colour, that is connected with being black in a prejudicial society, could be allegorically associated with the "burden" Irene must carry. Such an encumbrance has literally driven her to think and behave in a way that could be defined as "mad" - crawling along the ground and eating buttercups for example. For Irene, however, the shell becomes, not only a weight or burden, but a comfort too.
She almost feels tenderly towards it, as if her shell is a lover, a solid companion that knows and accepts all her faults. Nothing could surprize or shock her shell now. Since she had it, the neighbours haven't bothered her. She has retreated. (150)
The difficulties she must face within her "real" environment (the "unliveable situation" if you will) are thus replaced by the protection of her imaginary one.