The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat Essay

The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a collection of short stories telling of people with abnormal brain disorders. These stories are written by Oliver Sacks, who has either witnessed the affected people and how their brain works, or has heard about them, and transferred these stories into short clinical tales, some of which being published in other books, such as ‘Witty Ticcy Ray’ and ‘Reminiscence’ in the London Review of Books. Sacks is the common character throughout each of the 24 stories, although he is not the main character. The main character, instead, changes throughout each story, as they are the people whose lives and disorders are written about by Sacks. Each tale in the book has their own theme, but they all are very similar. The main theme is of how little changes in a person’s brain or a slight disorder can cause a serious change in someone’s life or make the way they perceive life to be completely different than the average person’s. The book is broken down into four main sections, each section going into more detail of the main theme. The four sections (losses, excesses, transports, and the world of the simple) contain a small collection of stories that deal with …show more content…
The fact that such strange occurrences, such as trying to remove your wife's head by lifting it off, or not being able to recognize pictures of your family, but still having the ability of your sight is amazing to hear about. Although they didn't completely know what was wrong with him, it was fascinating that when Dr. P lost some abilities, his brain replaced them with other abilities that are already strong because of his experiences and path in life. This is shown in the portion of the story when Sacks tells the reader “He does everything singing to himself.” (Sacks, 17). As a music teacher, these portions of his life took over in situations where he was losing other