All My Puny Sorrows By Miriam Towes

You’d Never Say It’s Just Cancer Get Over It

A human in his lifetime experiences pain in many different forms, some from giving birth, others from a disease, few from an unexpected injury of some sort. These get medical attention, get well soon wishes from people and are treated with respect because that sort of pain is tangible. Many people also encounter an intangible pain which is also known as a mental illness in which the person’s mood, behaviour, thoughts, and actions get affected and often torture the victim until they die. In the novel “All my puny sorrows” by Miriam Towes, Elfrieda gets diagnosed of a severe mental illness in which she is addicted to committed suicide and wont rest in peace until she does. Due to her illness she does not get the same treatment, gets negative attention and unhelpful comments because the society does not consider her illness to be a real illness. Mental illness is not being taken seriously in this society, which can be shown through the illness not being identified as an illness, is a social stigma and inadequate health care services are provided to the victim
Many people in this society refuse to accept mental illness as illness because it

does not show any external symptoms which can be cured immediately and believe

that the patient could easily snap out of it. Elf is admitted in the hospital after attempting

to kill herself by cutting her wrists and drinking bleach. Yoli her sister tries to find a

doctor to check up on Elf since no body has checked up on her in days, but everyone

is out of sight and “busy”. She finally finds a doctor and begs him to check on Elf but

does not succeed due to the fact Elf is not willing to speak. Even though Elf would not

speak...

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...s not a “mental patient”

in the first place and was suffering from other major illnesses. The society does not

provide good care and treatment for the people who are suffering from a mental illness

because it is not considered an illness and it is a joke to most people.

In final analysis, mental illness is not being taken as seriously as an disease or a

injury in this society and should be given more medical attention, should be recognized

as a illness and should not have stigma attached to it. Lonely Lotus once said “ if mental

illness could be seen on a sufferer maybe society would not “just get over it” greatly

reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society

see what kind of pain mental illnesses causes to the victim, maybe they would start

taking it more seriously and would not poke fun at it.