A Literary Analysis Of Still Alice

The emotional focus of Alice Walker 's story is rage, red-hot and isolating. As I read this piece, I became livid, not only at the thought of her devastating injury and her family 's apparent disassociation, but also at Ms. Walker herself. It appeared to me that she never let go of it. Instead, she seemed to embrace her anger.

Just Love me: My life turned upside down by Alzheimer’s (Lee, 2003), has allowed Lee (2003) to put on paper what an individual going though Alzheimer’s disease thinks and feels. This book has been written in order to better inform individuals that have Alzheimer’s, as well as the non-suffers who have been touched by Alzheimer’s in friends and family. It follows Lee (2003) though her struggles with early onset Alzheimer’s, describing her experiences before being diagnosed as well as how her disease progresses. It also examined the difficulties in diagnosing a disease that is not yet well understood. Lee (2003) talks about her everyday struggles as the disease worsens and she begins to lose her occupations and the person she use to be.

She becomes very reactive and unapologetic. Her final step in harming her marriage is stonewalling. Alice starts to pull away from Michael and his love. He wants to help her, but she is not ready to accept that yet. She makes is difficult for the entire family to heal by doing this. She becomes withdrawn and pushes away those who love her. These things are very are very apparent in this couple’s relationship.

Alice has gone though a lot, but things start to go well for her. She’s with Joel, her family loves her, and she’s friends with kids that don’t smoke or drink. She stops writing in a diary, but dies a few weeks later because of an overdose. Either she was drugged or she started doing drugs again.

This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and

Also, the character of Alice has some interesting meaning to the story. The character of Alice may be modeled after the author Alice Munro because they have shared similar experiences between men. Apparently, the author had been through a divorce and many of the

Since Alice is not thoroughly involved with the work of her sister and father, she spends the majority of the book expressing her concern with various ethical issues that come to mind. As mentioned earlier, Alice’s primary concern is whether or not she and her sister are diagnosed with Huntington’s. Since her grandfather and mother both had the disease, she must consider the fact that the more the disease is passed down, the more likely it is that it will be expressed at a younger age ("Genes and Human Disease"). As a result, she must keep in mind that if she does turn out to have the disease, not only will her offspring have a 50% chance of being diagnosed with disease, but they also have the possibility of expressing the symptoms at a younger age. In addition, she has the unfortunate experience

“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book

Socioeconomic status is a defining factor in nearly every society around the world. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the issues of class and stratification are manifest in many types of media, including films. Like many nations, the United States operates under the class system. The sociologist Dalton Conley defined the class system as, “an economically based hierarchical system characterized by cohesive, oppositional groups and somewhat loose social mobility” (Conley 249). Still Alice and The Notebook depict social stratification and the struggles between different socioeconomic classes. Still Alice follows the life of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, as she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and fights to retain her memories and relationships. The film is set in modern day America, in which there is a stigma associated with dementia, there is a large degree of gender inequality, and some careers are viewed as prestigious (e.g. doctors and lawyers) while others are condemned by society (e.g. starving artists). The Notebook shares the story of Noah Calhoun as he tries to revive the memories of his wife Allie, who suffers from dementia, by reading her the story of their undying love. While Noah reads to Allie, the movie displays their life in the 1940s. During this time, America was facing World War II, segregation, and a highly stratified society (U.S. Timeline, 1940-1949). When the movie shows elderly Noah and Allie, it takes place in

The emotional focus of Alice Walker's story is rage, red-hot and isolating.  As I read this piece, I became livid, not only at the thought of her devastating

A major influence on Alice's identity was when she was a young child and her grandmother would tell her stories about events that occurred in Cambodia. In Alice's teenage years, her beloved grandmother has a stroke, developed disabilities and eventually had passed away. It is around this time where serious psychological problems occur for Alice. This almost forces her into a mental state in which she knows she does not fit in with the Australian culture. She believed she had to do everything she could to change that otherwise Alice knew she would break down mentally. Alice was forced to attempt to fit the social standards of Australia.

I saw Still Alice this week. I wanted to see the Glen Campbell movie (which I will watch later) but opted for this one first. What a stirring movie! Watching the progression of her decline, and realizing that she KNEW that she was affected, was very sad. It was heartening to see the support that her family gave her, even while dealing with their own issues. The fact that she was proactive on the front end, in obtaining the diagnostic testing helped her family be better able to understand what was happening and to support her. I love the fact that she and her daughter were able to have a better relationship, and that her daughter was truly able to see her mom, even when her mom had trouble seeing her earlier.

In my opinion Alice is having a difficult time dealing with her 2nd divorce. I feel that Alice has a low self-image about herself, because she stated that she is not a happy person. I also noticed that Alice is a very solitary person. She does a great deal of things by herself, such as reading and going to movies alone. She displays a flat affect with the therapist she speaks in a low monotone fashion. Alice stated that her mother and sisters are very outgoing people, however she is more like her father, who is quite and not very sociable. Her mother would make jokes about Alice, comparing her with her father, in a negative way and I feel like she has used those negative jokes to reinforce the low self-image she has of herself today.

was how Alice Walker grew up. She has written stories about her life, and stories that have had

One summer day a little girl named Alice had her nose in a boring book. Suddenly, a white rabbit ran by screaming “Oh dear, oh dear, I’m late!” He checked his watch and disappeared down a rabbit hole. “I must find out why he’s in such a hurry,” Alice cried as she followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole until she hit the ground and landed in front of a tiny door. She finds a tiny gold key and bottle labeled “DRINK ME” on a table. “Maybe the potion bottle will shrink me to fit through the door”, and with that Alice drank the potion and shrank into a tiny human girl. Alice ran through the door and found herself in a colorful garden. Suddenly, Alice no longer feels like herself. She then finds a cookie labeled “EAT ME”, so she eats it. Once again Alice is upset but is able to shrink herself down. Still upset, Alice cries so much that she creates a pool of tears. Alice comes across a mouse who leads her to some other animals and to shore. After her encounter with these strange animals, Alice finds herself again in the path of the white rabbit.