Strange Heaven by Lynn Coady - Coursework Example

“Strange Heaven “ Lynn Coady (Pages 82) Bridget came to Halifax in August from industrial Cape Breton, to deliver her baby and gave it up for adoption. She was transferred to the psych ward of the children's hospital; she is incarcerated with five seriously disturbed teenagers and a flock of wan children. She’s depressed and apathetic and slightly detached from the rest of the people and the environment she grew up, but Four South is peaceful compared with the chaos she has back home. Joan, Bridget’s mother is taking the lead on everybody.

Joan’s character is appealing to me since she struggles how to raise and rear up an apathetic and depressed daughter who got pregnant, a developmentally delayed uncle Rollie and a grandmother who is experiencing dementia. And here adds to the hilarious, complicated life of the Joan his husband, Robert. Joan tries to keep the lid on, but she's no match for Robert's wild profanity. Facing all these dilemmas, anyone would wonder how she is trying to handle her dysfunctional family. Uncle Albert arrives to whisk her back to the bedlam of home and the booze-soaked social life that got Bridget into trouble in the first place.

Uncle Albert, a kind man who saves his eloquent wrath for outsiders, springs Bridget from the hospital for Christmas. He was the only person who thought of Bridget and has concerns about her depression or maybe the only person who feels how tough was Bridget’s experience was. He’s the only person who sees the problem while everybody is working on their own dysfunctions. He was the only person who observed that she was changed. Byron, an acne-ridden geek with bizarre delusions of grandeur.

As described by Coady, life on the ward is both a nightmare and laugh-out-loud funny experience. Byron seems to be annoying and arrogant, continues his desperate bids for Bridget’s attention. He explodes and have to be put in the quiet room where he'd sit cross-legged and howl like a hound. She had begun to think maybe she should do something but couldn't think what. Mona, with her tattoos and foul-mouth tries to convince Bridget to run away with her, as running from her wealthy father is the only control she has.

Mona’s personality contrast with Bridget. In my point of view, Mona contributes as a foil to the narrative to highlight Bridget’s bedraggled, anti-heroine personality. Bridget does reflect on and react to other patients on the psychiatric ward. I found the contrast between Bridget’s inner self and the personality forced upon her by family and community created the most engrossing dichotomy of the novel. Bridget’s detachment, insomnia, and other ailments make her as a compelling character.

I was constantly hoping for her to “find herself,” and take some kind of initiative, or responsibility. However, Cody summarized the situation well when she says: The family was a volatile thing. The family, usually the organism responsible for the child’s internment in Four South in the first place, could not normally be expected to comprehend why one of its number would need to be there. Bridget returns to her family when she goes home for Christmas. Her return to her home disorients Bridget and allows her to reflect on a number of things that got her to the point where she was admitted to Four South.

Her friend Alan, an urban Ontarian with a facetious habit of talking like a newscaster, has returned to Ontario, but Bridget recalls their relationship. His view of her hometown and her experience in the hospital has forever changed her view of home so much so that she feels like an alien among her dysfunctional family members and her gossipy, heavy-drinking old friends. She made some realizations and falls back into some of her old patterns of behavior, but heals in this environment more than she did in the psychiatric ward.

Reference : Coady, Lynn. “ Strange Heaven “.Anchor Canada. Canada.(1998).