An Analysis Of Bebe Moore Campbell's 72 Hour

Dealing with mental illness is difficult, but even worse when caring for a family member with a mental illness, creating the feeling of a lifetime of servitude. Bebe Moore Campbell uses flashback of slavery throughout the novel, 72 Hour Hold to explain how taking care of a family member with a mental illness can make one feel enslaved. Flashbacks throughout the novel are used to describe a mother’s, Keri, struggle of taking care of her bipolar daughter, Trina, while also insinuating that she feels her daughter’s illness has enslaved her. With the usage of slavery flashbacks author Bebe Moore Campbell creates a new reality, in which mental illness does not only affect the person suffering but also the people around them. The purpose of these flashbacks are not to just describe a minority, but to highlight the impact mental illness brings to the individual as well as the now indebted caretakers. The worst fear for slaves on the run would be the sound of frantically barking dogs. In the beginning, of the novel Keri describes her morning and states, “I’m always grateful

An example of a real life situation that constitutes this idea is one mother’s recount of her son’s illness, “Her son would no longer come out of his trailer home to get food to make a meal. So, she became a delivery service. She brought food to the trailer, left it outside and hoped her son would open the door and take the food”(“Impact of Mental Illness on Families”). In this example, a mother describes when the situation with her son became so severe that he would no longer leave his house even for necessities. To the point of his mother becoming his so called “slave” and delivering groceries to his house. Even though he would not acknowledge her due to the amount of fear his illness created. Through this instance in which a mother becomes a delivery service to her son’s illness shows this slave like impression on