Depression or the search for meaning in Aritha van Herk's Restlessness

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Restlessness and Depression

III. The Existential Vacuum

IV. Conclusion

Bibliography

I. Introduction

Dorcas seemingly leads a desirable life. Working as a courier is an interesting and well-paid job which makes her travel all around the world. To her disadvantage she has to move from one hotel-room to the other so she rarely stays at home. But there are people who care for her. She is in love with a physician who waits for her when she is on her journeys. Besides him there is also her caring aunt, her only relative in Canada.

Despite this, she hires an assassin to kill her. Asked for her reasons she explains how she values her life. From her point of view she has lived a “substanceless life” (van Herk, p.9) burdened with loneliness and homesickness. Traveling around the world she tried to find a place to call her home. Dorcas claims that she failed to find her identity and the meaning of life. Death is the final destination which she expects to be her salvation. According to her stories it is near at hand that Dorcas suffers from a severe depression. Several aspects will be given to support this presumption, and the killer’s influence on Dorcas will be analysed.

Moreover it will be suggested that Dorcas’ attitude towards life is not an exception in today’s society. This individual case might reflect problems of individuals in present time. That does not imply that every member of our society suffers from depression. But life today challenges us more than life a hundred years ago, so that many people are emotionally stressed out. In this era of communication and globalisation individuals can’t hardly afford to take a break. Being always on the run causes restlessness. But restlessness is only a symptom. The real problem is that many people become aware of the lack of meaning in their lives. A psychological approach will be introduced which examines (deals with, evaluates) “man’s search for meaning” (Victor Frankl).

II. Restlessness and Depression

The novel Restlessness from Aritha van Herk deals with an unfortunate woman who hires an assassin to kill her although she apparently leads a pleasant life. While sitting in a hotel-room or walking through the streets of Calgary the assassin makes her tell about her life.

At first sight Dorcas, the central character in this book, leads a life others may be envious of. She is a so-called “successful and independent woman”. Working as a courier she has the opportunity to travel around the world and to get to know foreign people and places. Although she is rarely at home she has a relationship with a physician. Another important person in her life is her considerate “Tante Katje” who cares for her since her parents left Canada. For all that, she hires the assassin Derrick Atman to put an end to her seemingly happy life. Taking a closer look on her stories her decision becomes more comprehensible. Dorcas’ stories illustrate her attitude towards her restless life and give an idea of how she despises it. It can be concluded that she suffers from severe depression because numerous features of depression can be found in her thoughts and behaviour.

First of all the term Depression needs to be defined. From a psychological point of view “depression is a normal response to many of life’s stresses.” (Atkinson et. al, p. 635). Feeling depressed is a state of mind that everyone actually knows. Depression turns out to be a mental disorder if a person’s view of an event is inappropriate negative and if these thoughts last for a long time. The symptoms of depression can be divided into four categories: emotional, cognitive, motivational and physical symptoms. Therefore it is not necessary that a depressive person shows each of them.

An important emotional symptom is sadness which is caused by the loss of pleasure in life. Individuals feel hopeless and lonely. In some cases people commit suicide or at least warn to do so. Cognitive symptoms are a negative view of oneself and the rest of the world. A low self-esteem is caused by blaming oneself for any failures. Because depressive people do not believe in improvement they have a hopeless future to look forward to. The extent of motivation varies between depressive people. Some are very passive and have difficulties in starting activities. In some cases an increased motivation makes individuals suffer from restlessness and insomnia. Physical symptoms consists of exhaustion, sleeplessness, and a loss of energy and hunger. Several of these symptoms can be found in Dorcas’ personality and will be explained in the following paragraphs. In addition some psychological theories will be introduced which try to determine the causes of depression. Symptoms and causes are intentionally combined to evoke a complex picture of Dorcas’ depression.

There are four main perspectives of depression. In general depression often has several causes which are a mixture of the following theories. The behavioral perspective suggests that a “lack of reinforcement plays a major role in depression” (Atkinson, p. 640). Depressive people do not get enough positive responses from their environment. The biological perspective explains that depression is caused by a biochemical abnormality. The mood is normally regulated by an addition of drugs (serotonin). Both theories are just mentioned for the sake of completeness. The following theories are more interesting in regard to Dorcas. Psychoanalysts attribute depression to an important loss, especially in childhood. This psychoanalytical perspective will be later explained in greater detail. At first we should take a closer look at the cognitive perspective. Cognitive theories do not focus on the behavior of people, but on their perception of themselves and the world.

The psychotherapist Aaron T. Beck developed one of the most important cognitive theories. According to him depressed people are distinguished by the “Cognitive Triad” (Beck, p. 41f) which include a negative picture of the person itself, a negative view of the present world and negative expectations of the future.

Dorcas has a negative and self-critical viewpoint for various reasons. She always feels suspicious of herself. Travelling from one city to the other she has been trying to find her identity which is, according to her, typical Canadian. After she failed to find her identity, travelling has been her opportunity to escape from herself and the rest of the world. Dorcas admits her “inability to cope with mundane cruelties” (van Herk, p. 90). Instead of facing the demands of life she avoids them, which is a typical feature of depressive people. She can imagine only one way out of her restlessness, which is death, the most consequent avoidance. Dorcas is sick of life and she has no will to keep on fighting. Atman asks her if she is restless because she is travelling, or is she travelling because she is restless. Supposing restlessness and travelling are dependent from depression, it is not necessary which is initiated by which. They are symptoms among many others. On her numerous journeys she got to know many places, but she never felt sheltered. Even life with her “dear one” in Calgary cannot provide a real home because she still suffers from loneliness. Dorcas feels guilty because she failed to find a place to call her home. Her sense of guilt can be also traced back to her negative view of the world. According to Beck depressive people “make some systematic errors in thinking […] that lead them to misperceive reality in a way that contributes to their negative self-schema.” (Atkinson, p. 641). They tend to blame themselves for negative events in their life even if there would be a positive and more realistic explanation. The feeling to fail to meet the demands of life and the fear of failure cause a negative view of the future.

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