Sinking - Yu Dafu

"Because his room was on the second floor, the rattle of the leaves sounded so close that he was frightened almost to the point of tears. He had never felt a stronger nostalgia than that evening."

"In word he was more and more enveloped in a world of Fantasy"

"In less than three months he had become Nature's child, no longer separable from the pleasures of the countryside"

"Over some trivial matters he had started a quarrel with his elder brother which prompted him to mail to Beijing a long letter severing ties of kinship."

"Whenever his Japanese schoolmates laughed and joked in his presence, his face would redden because he thought the laughter and jokes were at his expense."

"This took him by surprise, and immediately his emaciated face flushed red. He wondered, "So he also knows my secret?"

Yu Dafu

Conclusion

Born December 7, 1896

Fuyang, Zhejiang, China

Died September 17, 1945 (aged 48)

Sumatra, Indonesia

Sinking - Yu Dafu

Mentally Ill

The work had gained immense popularity in China, shocking the world of Chinese literature with its frank dealing with sex

According to the evidence found throughout the story, both stated in the text and analyzed by symptoms of multiple mental disorders, it would be plausible that the man actually was mentally ill and had at least one mental disorder

Studied at Hangchow University for a short time.

Moved to Japan.

Studied Economics at Tokyo Imperial University between 1913 and 1922.

In 1921 he co-founded the "Creation Society", which promoted vernacular and modern literature.

"...a rumor circulated that he was mentally ill."

By: Benjamin Boardman

(Bao MingLe)

The man in the book exhibited symptoms of multiple mental disorders at different points in and throughout the story.

Bipolar Disorder

-Easily distracted

-Poor judgment

-Poor temper control

-Very elevated, expansive or irritable mood, such as racing thoughts, talking a lot, false beliefs about self or abilities

-Daily low mood or sadness

-Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions

-Eating problems such as loss of appetite and weight loss, or overeating and weight gain

-Feeling worthless, hopeless, or guilty

-Loss of pleasure in activities once enjoyed

-Loss of self-esteem

-Thoughts of death or suicide

-Pulling away from friends or activities that were once enjoyed

Bipolar disorder is a condition in which a person has periods of depression and periods of being extremely happy or being cross or irritable.

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a problem of not being able to focus, being overactive, not being able control behavior, or a combination of these.

Megalomania

"He himself had by then finished grade school and was changing from one middle school to another. All his family reproved him for his restlessness and lack of perseverance.

Megalomania (AKA Narcissistic Personality Disorder) is a psychopathological disorder characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs.

"Every time he closed a book, he made up similar excuses for himself. The real reason was that he had already grown a little tired of it. However, a few days or even a few hours later he would pick up another book and begin to read it with the same kind of enthusiasm.

"Looking around, he always found his fellow students engrossed in the instructor's lecture; only he, despite his physical presence in the classroom, was wandering far and wide in a state of reverie"

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Depression

"You're indeed a poet."

"Poet? Yes, I'm a poet. Bring me a brush and some paper and ill write you a poem."

After the waitress had left, he was surprised at himself and thought "How have i become so bold all of a sudden?"

"Sometimes, when he ran into a peasant in the mountain, he would imagine himself Zarathustra (Nietsche) and would repeat Zarathustra's sayings before the peasant."

"Oh, so it's you who are crying. It's really a shame that such a kindhearted person as you should be so maltreated by the world."

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions). Obsessions or compulsions that cause major distress or interfere with everyday life.

Personality Disorders

Depression may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods.

Schizophrenia

Nostalgia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it hard to: Tell the difference between what is real and not real; Think clearly; Have normal emotional responses; Act normally in social situations. Detaching from the world or isolating oneself from others is a symptom of Schizophrenia.

Nostalgia, a psychopathological condition affecting individuals who are uprooted, whose social contacts are fragmented, who are isolated and who feel totally frustrated and alienated.

"They are all Japanese, all my enemies. I'll have my revenge one day, I'll get even with them."

"He made every effort to dodge his fellow students..."

"Since he was very much concerned about his health, he now took a bath and had milk and several raw eggs every day."

"He thought he was the most miserable man in the world"

"His melancholy was getting worse with time"

"Suddenly his heart was over taken by a thousand melancholy thoughts, and his eyes were again moist with warm tears."

Paranoia

Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is a personality disorders which involves odd or eccentric ways of thinking. People with PPD also suffer from paranoia, an unrelenting mistrust and suspicion of others, even when there is no reason to be suspicious.

Hypochondria

Hypochondria is an excessive preoccupancy or worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the body’s condition despite the absence of an actual medical condition.

Sexual Frustration / Hypersexuality Disorder

"Hardly a day passed in which he was not troubled by is own fears as well as by his sense of guilt, and his hypochondria worsened."

"His megalomania in exact proportion to his hypochondria was thus intensified each day."

"After he returned home, he shut himself in his study all day...it was probably during this time that the seeds of his hypochondria were sown."

Suicidal Thoughts

Sexual addiction or hypersexuality is defined as a dysfunctional preoccupation with sexual fantasy, often in combination with the obsessive pursuit of casual or non-intimate sex, pornography, or compulsive masturbation.

"Suddenly he had an inexplaiable urge to drown himself in the sea... My poor shadow! You have followed me for twenty-one years, and now this sea is going to bury you.... 'O China, my China, you are the cause of my death!'"

"Dead as dried wood at twenty-one!

Dead as cold ashes at twenty-one

Far better for me to turn into some kind of mineral, for it's unlikely that i will ever bloom."

"It was a pity he had the lust of an ape and the timidity of a rabbit...He resigned himself to the fact that in his present mood he was obsessed with flesh rather than poetry."

"With all nature responding to the call of spring, he too felt more keenly the urge implanted in him by the progenitors of the human race. Unflaggingly, he would sin every morning underneath his quilt."

"He grew to loathe textbooks and turned increasingly to French naturalistic novels as well as a few Chinese novels noted for their pornography."

"Also, changing his major would delay his graduation for a year, which meant shortening his life by one year, and the sooner he died, the easier it would be to maintain a lifelong enmity toward his brother."

"His loneliness became most intolerable after he had cut himself off from all social contacts. Fortunately, the innkeeper's daughter held some attraction for him, for otherwise he could really have commited suicide."