Barry and his Giant

    
     The Boys Next Door is a great piece of work where a lot of solid themes can be extracted and applied to real life. I want to focus on one aspect of this play where Barry and his father, Mr. Klemper reunite after not seeing each other for 9 years. What I am hoping to learn from this scene and from Barry, is how to not shy away from the giants in my life that I face and affect me every day of my life. Barry thinks that he needs to be superstar golf pro for his father to accept him. I pick up on the fact that Barry was probably abused as a child by his father, from the scene where they reunite. Once Mr. Kempler hits Barry across the face, Barry seems to go into this shell of fear from back when he was a kid. He made himself something he is not, partly because of his disorder and probably because of his child hood abuse situation. Now I know that Barry suffers from schizophrenia, but I do not know what the causes of it are. Here is some research that I found on schizophrenia....

"Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects the way a person acts, thinks, and sees the world. People with schizophrenia have an altered perception of reality, often a significant loss of contact with reality. They may see or hear things that don’t exist, speak in strange or confusing ways, believe that others are trying to harm them, or feel like they’re being constantly watched. With such a blurred line between the real and the imaginary, schizophrenia makes it difficult—even frightening—to negotiate the activities of daily life. In response, people with schizophrenia may withdraw from the outside world or act out in confusion and fear."

    
     This passage states that a schizophrenic may believe that others are trying to harm them. In this same article where I found this passage it states that, "most cases of schizophrenia usually appear in the late teens or early adulthood." With this information I can guess that Barry's case of schizo was probably affected by his father. Again this conclusion is made from the fact that Barry seemed to immediately curl up into a child-like state of mind once his father harmed him. So maybe in this case, Barry's disorder could have been prevented if he had just "faced his giant" and confronted his father's actions. It is a difficult and daring task (one that I have failed to own many of times) but, avoiding a situation might make one feel comfortable for the moment, but have devastating effects on one's life the more the giant is allowed to grow.




http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm