Mental Health and Tale for the Time Being

 

    In loom of suicide prevention week, I wanted to focus today’s post on mental health awareness and how this necessary discussion ties into Ozeki’s, A Tale for the Time Being. While it was made transparent in the first chapter of the novel that suicide would be an impending topic throughout the story, another mental health issue that arises is Ruth’s own struggle with her perception and understanding of time. We come to learn that Ruth’s mother suffered from Alzheimer’s, and inheriting this disease is one of Ruth’s deepest fears. As Ruth becomes more and more invested with Nao’s diary, she feels herself losing track of time as she struggles to decipher between present and past time, as she wants to rescue Nao and her father. Ruth’s faltering awareness and cognitive capabilities during her journey through Nao’s diary allude to what it’s like to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and other mental health related illnesses. Losing track of time, and losing your sense of self, are common symptoms of Alzheimer's, and even depression, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. Thus, these mental illnesses run parallel with the prominent theme of time throughout the novel. 

This entire novel is based on the realms of time– whether it be past or present, and how time runs it's course. Yet, Ozeki comments on the implications of time by alluding toward mental illness. Both mental illness and death have the power to bring time to a halt. On page 342, we watch as Ruth becomes so invested with Nao's story that her own mental health begins to deteriorate. Ruth battles the illusion of Nao's diary being filled with empty pages, as she believes Nao's words disappeared off the pages. "It's like her life just got shorter. Time is slipping away from her, page by page..." (Ozeki 343). To Ruth, the lack of words means the lack of time left in Nao's life. Thus, Ruth's own mental health struggles juxtapose Nao. Nao's plan to kill herself has had the power to inflict unsureness and unrest in Ruth, which has led to her own mental challenges. 

Ozeki puts both Nao and Ruth against time to explore different mental health problems. Alzheimer's and suicide are collectively a race against time, and challenge the nature of time itself. While Alzheimer's allows for the hands of the clock to tick in any direction they want, suicide stops time all together, without giving it time to run it's intended course. Although suicide immediately stops a life all together, the Buddhist undertones of the novel may offer a varying perspective. In the final pages of the novel, as Ruth wonders what happened to Nao and if she survived the earthquake and tsunami, Oliver offers a more spiritual outlook. "...Is death even possible in a universe of many worlds? Is suicide? For every world in which you kill yourself, there'll be another in which you go on living. Many worlds seems to guarantee a kind of immortality..." (Ozeki 400). Oliver's understanding of life and death offers a much necessary closure to Ruth, which also has the power to lessen the load of the mental struggles she took on when reading the diary. Oliver's outlook on death is analogous to Jiko's religion, as reincarnation fights against death. Although Nao may no longer be alive on this earth, it does not mean that she does not live on somewhere else. There is a possibility that Nao is now living in a world free of ijime and thoughts of suicide. Hence, if one clock stops ticking, another one will start. 

Nao and Ruth's battles with the state of their mental health allow for Ozeki to promote awareness and compassion. By intertwining mental health and time, Ozeki urges us to recognize the symptoms of prominent mental health problems, as well as leaving readers with a sense of hope rather than despair. The novel ends on a optimistic note, as Ruth's state of mind begins to improve, giving her the courage to write a letter to Nao. No matter where Nao's clock has taken her, Ozeki's protagonists serve as a reminder that time keeps on taking us forward. 




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