He says he’s helping me. It would have helped a lot
if he’d told me told me that he can see what I see, told me that it’s just not
delusion. [p. 40]
The passage reveals
vulnerability that Orr has of his ability. Or maybe not of his ability, but of
his sanity? Orr is grasping the last strands of his sanity and Haber is using
that completely to his advantage. The passage also, to me, was the first real
sign of Haber’s manipulation and control. Orr is put on more drugs, forced to
dream effectively more often, while left to face the change alone because
nobody would confirm that it is actually happening. It irks me so much that
Haber is acting all high and mighty and manipulating the situation so Orr does
not get any confirmation that his effective dreams are not of his imagination.
It is an effective tool of manipulation for a corrupt psychiatrist, really, to
make sure that the patient is left doubting their own sanity, because as soon
as Haber acknowledges that what Orr has is real, especially with that mic of
his recording all the sessions, Orr has complete legal ground to sue Haber and
get out of the situation. Or, Haber is also a psycho for believing Orr. Maybe
that is why he refuses to acknowledge them. Seriously, no psycho should be
handled by a psycho. The passage also reminds me of the authority Haber has as
Orr’s psychiatrist. He has the power to help, but he is restraining for it.
Instead, what I am more reminded of is that Haber has the power to assign Orr
into the required therapy for the deranged or put him into an institute. That
threat just becomes clearer as the novel goes on. It takes so long for Orr to
realize that Haber is indeed doing this out of personal gains, like it took
this long to find out that maybe Haber is not out for the good of Orr.
I agree, I think that while Orr is very stable he still wrestles with feelings that he may be insane. I think you are absolutely right when you point to Haber's manipulative behavior - we see that later in the novel, this control escalates to the point where Haber regards Orr as less of a person and more of an instrument for his control. I think that Haber is actually psychotic, which becomes more clear as the story progresses.
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