Letter to the Editor
It was not Mr. Inman who used that label To the Editor: Katherine V. R. Smith, Ph... D. recently took issue with language in the Tryon Little Theater’s production of “Welcome to Mitford”. Dr. Smith wrote, “I was offended by Robert Inman’s choice to overtly state that one of his characters is ‘a schizophrenic’ and go on to mock what is a serious and heartbreaking illness.” I would like to make several comments: (1) It was not Mr. Inman who used that label. It was used by one of the characters in the play. Uncle Billy, the husband of Miss Rose Watson, used the phrase in reference to his wife. Given the character of Uncle Billy, “schizophrenic” could well be the most appropriate term available to him to describe his wife’s condition. No one criticizes Harper Lee for having Mayella Well’s classmates in “To Kill a Mockingbird” refer to Tom Robinson by using the now-objectionable “N” word. In the context of the story, the word is exactly what some of the characters would have used. We need to distinguish what a character would say from what an author would affirm. (2) Robert Inman based his play on a series of novels by Jan Karon. It is Karon who first characterized Miss Rose as schizophrenic in “Angel of Light” when she wrote: “He [Father Tim Kavanagh] couldn’t imagine the old couple giving a party; his mind was perfectly boggled by the notion. Rose Watson had been diagnosed as schizophrenic decades ago, and although on daily medication, her mood swings were fierce and unpredictable. To make matters worse for her long-suffering husband she was quick going deaf as a stone but refused to wear hearing aids.” A decades-old diagnosis may not be contemporaneously correct but that was the diagnosis available to Father Tim. I seriously doubt that Father Tim was a licensed clinical
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psychologist. (3) Characters say things in plays that may not be politically correct and may indeed be offensive to some of the audience. A good author will have the character say what is most appropriate for the play’s context. When an author tells us that a character is schizophrenic and yet the audience continues to laugh at the actions of that character, perhaps the author is challenging the audience members to learn something about themselves. Perhaps one should be offended with the audience and not with Take advantage of generous Federal & We utilize "state-of-the-art" diagnostic testing to Mr. Inman. State tax incentives when you install a – Lorin Browning, Ph.D. determine the cause and best treatment for your
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