What do you think seems to be the reason for Ignatius's strange or unusual behavior? After looking online, I have found many instances where people believe that he would have been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. After looking up the symptoms, I would have to agree with this theory. The symptoms that I see match with Ignatius's behavior are the following:
1)Dislike any changes in routines (doesn't leave New Orleans, always wears green hat)
2)Appear to lack empathy (relationship with his mother)
3)Have a formal style of speaking that is advanced for his or her age (incredibly advanced vocabulary)
4)Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about (his writings and Myrna)
5) Talk a lot, usually about a favorite subject (story about the bus, his valve)
6)Have heightened sensitivity (reactions to his mother, ear w/ dorian) - Although this might be more Ignatius overreacting than him being overly sensitive.
Do you think he has Asperger's syndrome or is there some other explanation for his odd behavior? Do you think he is normal but instead uses these tactics to his advantage in manipulating the other characters?
source- http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms
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Kara,
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very interesting point. This summer, I went to a play that focused on a man with Asperger's syndrome and thinking back, his characteristics were very similar to those of Ignatius. You've matched the symptoms up quite nicely. What really stands out about Ignatius is his apparent contentment with his unique position in society. He does not seem to care how others judge him, almost as if he's living in his own little world. The idea of a mental disorder makes this apparent contentment more believable.
I don't think Ignatius has Asperger's syndrome, but I do agree that he has a lot of similar qualities to a person with this syndrome. The one distinction I see between Ignatius and a person with Asperger's is the lack of empathy. I think Ignatius can understand what other people are feeling, but he chooses to ignore other people's feelings becaue he's selfish, and he tends to use his perception to manipulate people like the workers in Levy's factory or his mom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Connor that this mental health issue could explain an awful lot on Ignatius's situation. On the otherhand it seems to easy to me to classify Ignatius as suffering from a disease. I think his condition is deriving from something way more complicated than just an illness. I was thinking of the same thing the other day when we were having the discussion on wether Ignatius is crazy. Its too easy to classfiy him as crazy. His way of being and thinking is just completely different to ours and his world is tuned to a completely different frequency than ours.
ReplyDeleteI think Ignatius does have Asperger's syndrome. He has all of the symptoms of it as kara listed above. Ignatius is being overly sensitive. He is not just overreacting because usually normal people do not overreact to everything like Ignatius does, particularly with Myrna.
ReplyDeleteFascinating thread, gang. Great work.
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