ISU Essay

Depression is a condition that can affect anyone but it doesnt solely affect the individual
but it also affects the people around them. In the case of A Perfect night to go to China the
main character was a normal person until his son disappeared but a series of events led to him
committing suicide. On the other hand the main character of the Color Purple loses all faith in
god and becomes helpless. In Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe a man deemed a respectable
warrior committed suicide and finally in Anils Ghost by Michael Ondaatje a man who tried to
help Anil attempted suicide.
In A perfect night to go to China By David Gilmour the main characters son
disappears and goes on a downward spiral that leads to his destruction. Initially he wants to find
his son but loses faith and his temper gets the better of him. The main character drinks
excessively, loses his job and gets hooked on morphine. Eventually he decides to travel to the
Caribbean where he decided would be his eternal resting grounds. He gets on a boat and takes
enough morphine pills to drift away and wake up in his dreamland and greets his son. In the case
of this character his depression led to him losing connection to his friends and family. At one
other event the man was hit rock bottom and decided to rob a banks but didnt because he saw a
woman walk in with her son. The character started to go on this destructive path when he saw in
a dream his son in a place called Caribbean town where people that are dead are. The man
believed his son was dead and wanted to take his anger out. Eventually the depressive state broke
him and he decided to overdose on pills. This demonstrated on multiple different occasions how
depression can make a person do stupid things but also how you give up on the people that
depend on you. The group member presenting this book said The book was slightly

disappointing and the main character could have had a better ending, since when a person hits
rock bottom they either get back on their feet and become great or they stay there and die.
The clich that depression can make you or brake you can be applied to these two novels.
In the case of the previous novel depression broke the main character, in the case of The color
Purple by Alice Walker depression broke her but with guidance the main character became a
better happier person. An individual suffering from depression is a volatile person and requires
guidance to be brought back. The main character had her children taken away and her sister
taken away. She was cursed by her dying mother and was married off to an abusive man. She
started to lose her faith in god which she held dearly and it was what kept her strong. She also
became a bitter person as she had nothing to look forward to. But eventually she gave up on god
but a woman named Shug Ivery helped her start a business and helped her get in contact with her
sister. The reader said The main character would have stayed with her abuser unless it was for
Shug Ivery who guided her to a better life. The main character met her kids who were grown
up now and left her abusive husband becoming independent. This demonstrated how if a person
stayed in a depressive state then their life comes to a halt and nothing will become better.
The next character discussed is Okonkwo in Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe was
abusive to his family but was a strong warrior and highly respected in his clan, but even mental
fortitude and respect is not enough to keep ones depression at bay. Okonkwos father was a bum
who owed many debts to people and did not put effort into his crops and land so he did not leave
much for the main character to inherit. Okonkwo built everything in his life with his own hands
and had a high positon in the clans court but he accidently killed a boy and was banished for
seven years. Upon returning to his home a group of missionaries arrived and were converting
member of their clan. He was arrested and held for ransom. Okonkwo was angry at the fact that

his people were not fighting back. After this he started to go into a depressive state and
eventually killed one of the missionaries. Right after he hung himself, there was no real
explanation given to why he did it but he was a broken man after he returned home. For a man
having built his life from nothing and then everything getting taken away is hard on anyone and
would leave the best depresses but Okonkwo was a man who showed no faltering and that is
what led to his downfall as if he had
Some people go through an event that changes their life such as Okonkwo did but a man
named Ananda in Anils Ghost by Michael Ondaatje attempted to commit suicide after he had
learnt about his wifes death. Ananda was trying to help Anil by reconstructing the skeleton of a
man they had found and one he finished the task Anil discovered Ananda with his throat cut
open. Anil later learned that Anandas wife was killed during a hostage takeover of the school
she taught at. After the events Ananda became more depressed and wanted to meet his wife once
more. But Ananda was found before he died and was saved. Anil managed to convince Ananda
from doing the act again and they went their separate ways. Not only did Ananda try to commit
suicide but Anils colleague attempted suicide after his wife was killed but this was before the
duo met. Suicide is a last resort and in this novel it can be said if both of those men had died
because they felt they had nothing to live for, then Anil would not have discovered the truths that
were going on in her country.
The group dynamics in each of the meetings went very well. Each member was able to
deliver their part to the group and was able to answer any questions that were brought up. The
other group members listened effectively and would bring up questions when something was
unclear. Occasionally a member would have trouble giving a through explanation of the part they
read in the novel because the novel was written in a complex manner. I feel initially I could have

done a better job delivering my part in the first meeting but as each meeting progresses I
improved. I look forward to working with these people again.

To sum up depression is a condition that can affect anyone and can bring people to end
their own lives. But depression not only affects the individual but also the ones around them. For
the people that committed suicide they left behind people that genuinely cared about them such
as Okonkwo who left behind 3 wives and 12 kids. The main character in a Perfect night to go to
China the main character gave up on finding his son and treated the people around him with
unkindly with led to him losing all connection to the people he knew. But for the main character
in The Color Purple found guidance and was able to leave her abuser, reunite with her kids and
live a happy life.