Dreams can often have a strange way of altering our mind’s perception of what is real and what is illusory. A person can awake from a horrific nightmare about the loss of a loved one and immediately feel intense panic or sorrow. Minutes later, once the person recognizes that the tragic events did not actually occur, reality sinks in and relief replaces fear. In a way, this common human experience can be inversely used to explain what mentally ill patient, Andrew Laeddis, experiences in the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Because he has endured numerous disturbing incidents in his life, Andrew’s developed disorder has prevented him from accepting the truth of his situation. Instead, he hides in his dream world to avoid facing the truth
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The author of the novel, Dennis Lehane, sneakily leads his readers to believe that Teddy Daniels’ fantasy is the truth. It is easy to become so caught up in the story told from Teddy’s perspective, that when the plot takes a sudden, unexpected twist, it is troublesome to accept that everything one believes to be true about the novel has been falsified the whole time. As Teddy, he is a U.S. Air Marshall, who has been sent to Shutter Island with Chuck Aule, his supposed new partner from Seattle. Their mission is to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando, who has mysteriously vanished from her locked cell without attracting the notice of any guard or orderly on duty. When Teddy and Chuck arrive on the island, Teddy notices the doctors and guards seem unhelpful and strangely unconcerned about the missing patient. When a search is organized to look for her, it seems to Teddy that he and Chuck are the only people who seem to care about finding her: “The search struck Teddy as desultory, as if no one but he and Chuck truly had his heart in it” (Lehane 56). Noticing the indifference of the doctors gives Teddy his first indication that something strange is occurring on this island. When he and Chuck take shelter in a mausoleum during the storm, Chuck brings up the idea, “’Let’s say they are doing some bad shit here. What if they’ve been onto you since you ever stepped foot on this island? What if they brought you here?’” (Lehane 150). It is because of statements like this that Teddy begins to develop his conspiracy theories within his
The author of the novel, Dennis Lehane, sneakily leads his readers to believe that Teddy Daniels’ fantasy is the truth. It is easy to become so caught up in the story told from Teddy’s perspective, that when the plot takes a sudden, unexpected twist, it is troublesome to accept that everything one believes to be true about the novel has been falsified the whole time. As Teddy, he is a U.S. Air Marshall, who has been sent to Shutter Island with Chuck Aule, his supposed new partner from Seattle. Their mission is to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando, who has mysteriously vanished from her locked cell without attracting the notice of any guard or orderly on duty. When Teddy and Chuck arrive on the island, Teddy notices the doctors and guards seem unhelpful and strangely unconcerned about the missing patient. When a search is organized to look for her, it seems to Teddy that he and Chuck are the only people who seem to care about finding her: “The search struck Teddy as desultory, as if no one but he and Chuck truly had his heart in it” (Lehane 56). Noticing the indifference of the doctors gives Teddy his first indication that something strange is occurring on this island. When he and Chuck take shelter in a mausoleum during the storm, Chuck brings up the idea, “’Let’s say they are doing some bad shit here. What if they’ve been onto you since you ever stepped foot on this island? What if they brought you here?’” (Lehane 150). It is because of statements like this that Teddy begins to develop his conspiracy theories within his