Physical Susceptibility As A Result of Psychological Trauma: A Study On A Doll’s House And Look Back In Anger

Physical Susceptibility As A Result of Psychological Trauma: A Study On A Doll’s House And Look Back In Anger

MST. Farhana Ferdouse

Stamford University, Bangladesh

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8080268

Received: 13 August 2024; Accepted: 20 August 2024; Published: 18 September 2024

ABSTRACT

This article explores the theory that the psyche has inevitable ties connected to the state of the body. We live how we think, or, we think, therefore we are. Whatever a person goes through psychologically affects him/her physically, so whenever a person is in distress or mental pressure, it makes him/her physically vulnerable. This paper explores how the characters, Nora and Jimmy from the plays A Doll’s House and Look Back in Anger are significant characters who live under mental pressure/ trauma which causes them to obtain mental illnesses. As a result of their mental diseases, they are mentally and physically susceptible. The main body of the paper analyzes these two characters, prescribing them psychological disorders depending on trauma or stress. The paper also includes detailed information about Nora and Jimmy’s respective mental illnesses. This is achieved by observing these two characters’ gestures accurately and analyzing their mental diseases based on their symptoms. Some parts of the paper talk about how it is important not only to check on our physical health but also our mental health. In the end, the paper thoroughly analyzes the causes and symptoms of Nora and Jimmy’s mental illnesses, as well as their repercussions on their family life.

INTRODUCTION

This research paper offers an analytical reading of the two characters, Nora and Jimmy, from the plays A Doll’s House and Look Back in Anger where both of the characters suffer from mental diseases due to their trauma in life. The protagonists Nora and Jimmy lead their life under so much stress that they end up becoming mentally unwell and it affects them not only psychologically but also physically. Nora suffers from Dependent Personality Disorder where she can’t think of herself as an independent woman and lives her life in a patriarchal society, under her husband Torvald‟s domination ( Danielle, 2014) . She is treated like his pet and doll first to her father, then to her husband in the play. Jimmy is another protagonist who suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He has severe anger issues and cannot escape his feelings of inferiority as the son of working-class parents. Jimmy and his wife, Alison, don’t seem to have emotional bonds as expected in a married couple and play the squirrel-bear game in their bedroom to escape reality. Alison accepts Jimmy’s unsuitable behavior and rarely complains despite her sadness and destitution which frustrates Jimmy. Jimmy wants something to fight back against, to feel passionate about which Alison fails to give him. Much research has been done on both the selected plays of this paper. In the case of the play, A Doll’s House, some of them are done on the patriarchal issue, gender inequality, and alternative ending, and focusing on the relationship or Nora-Helmer. And regarding the play Look Back in Anger, the relationship between Jimmy and his wife, Jimmy’s past, his violent nature, and others have been researched. Till now there is no such research paper that describes their psychological health which results in their physical vulnerability. The paper also explores their mental illness describing the symptoms through their actions. In the past, this particular area was very bold and was not the most discussed topic. As a result, people might ignore it. But nowadays people, dealing with mental illness or depression, are becoming more conscious and taking counseling and going for checkups. This is an analytical research, where data is collected from books, journals, and online resources. Being an analytical research, most of the characters of the plays especially the characters Nora and Jimmy will be analyzed based on their physical activities due to their mental health and their relationships with their surroundings as well.

Purpose of the Study

This research paper focuses on human psychology and its power to drive a person crazy or make him/her calm. We often talk about our physical health. We talk about the importance of a good and healthy physique and also suggest to each other to avoid unhealthy food and things that can ruin our physique. We often forget about our mental health. We give so much attention to our outer self that we forget about our inner self, which is our mind. We forget that a happy person is a healthy person. Our mind makes our body run. If a person constantly lives under mental pressure, s/he will become ill which will affect him/her physically (Gillihan 2016). We go to doctors when we become ill, such as fever, cold, and other diseases which affect us physically. But we hardly go to doctors or psychiatrists when we are depressed or traumatized. The paper gives a message about taking care of mental health besides one’s physical health. It shows that our mental health is equally important analyzing the characters, Nora and Jimmy from the plays, A Doll’s House and Look Back in Anger, which shows their physical vulnerability due to their mental illness/ trauma. This thesis is an inquiry into how our health and behavior depend on our mental health. It shows that our mental health should be equally important to us. The paper deals with these two characters, Nora and Jimmy from the plays A Doll’s House and Look Back in Anger. In Nora’s case, the paper talks against the patriarchal behavior of her husband towards her and mentions that Torvald is one of the main reasons for Nora’s mental illness and her physical vulnerability. It supports feminism and shows severe condemnation of Torvald’s toxic masculinity (Balaky and Sulaiman 2016). On the other hand, Jimmy’s anger issues and class conflict with his wife led him to his mental disease ( Ardhendu, 2016) . Moreover, the purpose of the paper is to make people careful about mental trauma and its bad impact on health. It’s high time we should take mental illness seriously rather than casually.

Research Objectives

Through this analytic research, the researcher attempts to find out the connection between mind and body. Multifarious methods and trials are used to delve deeper into this matter, in the context of these two plays. Both the protagonists suffer from mental conflicts- they think, therefore they are. The researcher analyses every symptom and trait displayed by these characters, and provides a step by step walk through of how they affect the characters’ physical state.

1. To find out the reasons behind mental trauma and how it affects us physically.
2. To explore mental vulnerability through physical vulnerabilities.
3. To inquire if the plays challenge that it is an individual’s surroundings and relations that affect everyone mentally and physically in the same way.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Scientists have explored lots of angles to explain how trauma affects the body. Some have looked at whether the flood of stress hormones like cortical and nor epinephrine is to blame. Stephen Porges, PhD, of the Kinsey Institute Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at Indiana University has a different theory. His theory, the polyvagal theory (Porges, 2011), suggests that our nervous systems have evolved so that we can feel things like intimacy and safety around others. But if we detect danger, the other, primitive parts of our nervous system kick in — like the sympathetic nervous system, which controls our ‘fight or flight’ response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which causes us to shut down and conserve energy. These systems also control things like digestion and heart rate. So once they spring into action, your body works differently (Porges, 2011). This could explain why trauma is linked to everything from constipation to fainting. Trauma is associated with long-term physical health problems, too. Trauma survivors are about three times more likely to deal with irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Paula Schnurr, PhD, professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth, has studied the relationship between traumatic events and health complaints, especially in people with PTSD. Schnurr, also the executive director of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, has found that trauma can contribute to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis (Schnurr, 2004). Verónica Vitriol, Alfredo Cancino, Kristina Weil, Carolina Salgado, Maria Andrea Asenjo, and Soledad Potthoff wrote an article ‘Depression and Psychological Trauma: An Overview Integrating Current Research and Specific Evidence of Studies in the Treatment of Depression in Public Mental Health Services in Chile’ in a journal named Depression Research and Treatment where they mentioned mental illness and how it makes our body vulnerable which is the focused topic in this paper. From the literature review, the researcher has gained a deeper insight into the link between the states of the psyche and the physical vulnerability ( Vetriol et al , . The mental state, whether depressed or gleeful or anxious, projects onto the physical state like sunlight dappled on a clear azure lake.

METHODOLOGY

This is an analytical research. Data is collected from books, journals, and online resources. Being analytical research most of the characters of the plays especially the characters Nora and Jimmy will be analyzed based on their physical activities due to their mental health and their relationships with their surroundings as well. This research method involves systematically examining vast amounts of written materials such as scholarly works, theories, articles, and journals. The textual data is analyzed guided by key ideas of mental health issues outlined in the Theoretical Framework. The researcher will investigate the link between the psyche and the physical state using the theories mentioned below. Based on formulated problems the study intends to analyze the impact of trauma on the characters Nora and Jimmy from the plays. Their characteristics and the effects of mental trauma on health can be identified from their past life, personal descriptions, reactions, speech, thoughts, and character as seen by others.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Therefore, to cope with the analysis of the character, it is important to present theories related to the character. The description of different mental illnesses will be beneficial in analyzing the impact of trauma on their physical health. Psychological trauma is damage to the mind that occurs as a result of a distressing event. Trauma is often the result of an overwhelming amount of stress that exceeds one’s ability to cope or integrate the emotions involved with that experience. Trauma may result from a single distressing experience or recurring events of being overwhelmed that can be precipitated in weeks, years, or even decades as the person struggles to cope with the immediate circumstances, eventually leading to serious, long-term negative consequences (Gillihan r, 2016). Because trauma differs between individuals, according to their subjective experiences, people will react to similar traumatic events differently. In other words, not all people who experience a potentially traumatic event will become psychologically traumatized.

However, some people can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being exposed to a major traumatic +event. This discrepancy in risk rate can be attributed to protective factors some individuals may have that enable them to cope with trauma; they are related to temperamental and environmental factors among others. Some examples are resilience characteristics and active seeking of help. People who go through these types of extremely traumatic experiences often have certain symptoms and problems afterward (Schnurr, 2004).The severity of these symptoms depends on the person, the type of trauma involved, and the emotional support they receive from others. The range of reactions to and symptoms of trauma can be wide and varied and differ in severity from person to person.

Psychological Disorder is a deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional pattern of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that interferes with the ability to function healthily. Distress is a subjective feeling that something is wrong and dysfunction is when a person’s ability to work and live is clearly, often measurably impaired. Many psychological disorders happens mental trauma or stress, such as PTSD (Post Traumatic Syndrome Disease), OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), Acute Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Schizophrenia, Dependent Personality Disorder, Hyperactivity, Histrionic Disorder etc. Psychological disorders have three types of influences. The first one is psychological influence which includes stress, trauma, learned helplessness, mood-related perceptions, and memories. Another one is biological influence which includes social roles, expectations, definitions of normality, and disorder. The last one is biological influences which include evolution, individual genes, brain structure, and chemistry (Cleveland Clinic, 2013)

Trauma-informed care (TIC) involves a broad understanding of traumatic stress reactions and common responses to trauma. Providers need to understand how trauma can affect treatment presentation, engagement, and the outcome of behavioral health services. The experience of trauma can be devastating and when the normal response to it extends beyond the usual timeframe.

Text Analysis

At the time her father passed away, her husband was also very ill. To help her husband, Nora forged her father’s signature onto a loan to pay for a trip to Italy, which Nora claimed was to save her husband’s life (Ibsen, Act 1). She kept this secret from her husband because she knew it would affect his pride and values in regards to borrowing from others, and instead told him her father gave them the money for the trip (Ibsen, Act 1). After taking part in a lie of this magnitude, she remained secretive towards her family, including her husband, children, and nanny, while also putting up a facade for close friends, like Mrs. Linde, to make her life seem exceptionally good (Ibsen, Act 1). But, once Krogstad, the man who controlled the loan she forged her father’s signature onto, confronted her about getting her husband to replace him in his job position with Mrs. Linde, he threatened to tell Torvald about the loan if Torvald fires him (Ibsen, Act 1). Nora became frightened of the consequences she would have to face if Krogstad were to tell Torvald about the loan. Nora talked to the nanny and questioned if the children would be fine if she left them (Ibsen, Act 2). When the Nanny said yes, this caused Nora to seem even less important to her family. Torvald ended up firing Krogstad, which led him to reveal to Torvald about the secret loan. Torvald shamed Nora, instead of helping her as she expected him to (Ibsen, Act 3). He told his wife to leave the house and that she could never see the children again (Ibsen, Act 3). This act of neglect caused Nora to feel unloved by her husband. Due to this, despite her husband‟s pleas, she ran away leaving Torvald and the children. (Ibsen, Act 3).

John Osborne’s three-act play, Look Back in Anger, established him as the ‘Angry Young Man’of the mid-1950s British theatre. The play features candy peddler Jimmy Porter, himself quite an angry young man. The entire play is set in an attic apartment in which Jimmy and his wife, Alison, lives, along with his business partner, Cliff Lewis (Osborne, Act 1). Jimmy rants and complains about virtually everything–from the French influences in the newspaper to Alison’s complacency to their fading youth. When Jimmy accidentally causes Alison to be burned by an iron, she kicks him out and then reveals to Cliff that she is pregnant, but is afraid to tell Jimmy. Jimmy and Alison make up, but she still does not tell him about their unborn child. An actress friend, Helena, arrives to stay with Jimmy and Alison while she is performing nearby, and she begins an affair with Jimmy (Osborne, Act 2). Helena eventually tells Jimmy that she has always loved him, but Alison suddenly appears, and it is revealed that she has had a miscarriage. Helena has second thoughts and decides to leave. Alison tells Jimmy that she is also leaving, but the two make up and will return to their roles as husband and wife (Osborne, Act 3). As the title implies, anger is one of the main themes of the play. Jimmy is ‘angry and helpless,’ blaming friends and society for what he sees as several failures.

The Consequences of Trauma

A traumatized individual may experience one or several of them. After a traumatic experience, a person may re-experience the trauma mentally and physically, hence trauma reminders, also called triggers, can be uncomfortable and even painful. Re-experiencing of symptoms is a sign that the body and mind are actively struggling to cope with the traumatic experience. Triggers and cues act as reminders of the trauma and can cause anxiety and other associated emotions. Often the person can be completely unaware of what these triggers are Panic attacks are an example of a psychosomatic response to such emotional triggers. It is completely shown in Nora throughout the play A Doll’s House. Emotional detachment, as well as dissociation or ‘numbing out’ can frequently occur. Dissociating from the painful emotion includes numbing all emotion, and the person may seem emotionally flat, preoccupied, distant, or cold which is noticeable in Nora’s character at the end of the play when Torvald comes to make love to her. Consequently, intense feelings of anger may frequently surface, sometimes in inappropriate or unexpected situations, as danger may always seem to be present due to re[1]experiencing past events. Such as, in the play Look Back in Anger the character Jimmy has extreme anger issues. He imposes his frustration on his wife and to be free from his stress Jimmy and his wife play the game of bear and squirrel. Upsetting memories such as images, thoughts, or flashbacks may haunt the person, and nightmares may be frequent. Some traumatized people may feel permanently damaged when trauma symptoms do not go away and they do not believe their situation will improve. This can lead to feelings of despair, transient paranoid ideation, loss of self-esteem, profound emptiness, sociality, and frequently, depression. Traumatic stress is a normal reaction to a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, motor vehicle accident, plane crash, violent crime, or terrorist attack.Such events are extraordinarily stressful—not just for survivors, but also for witnesses and even those repeatedly exposed to the horrific images of the traumatic event circulated on social media and news sources. Viewing these disturbing images over and over can overwhelm our nervous system and create traumatic stress. Our sense of security shatters, leaving us feeling helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world, especially if the event was man made, such as a shooting or an act of terrorism. By this our nervous system has become overwhelmed by stress, triggering a wide range of intense emotions and physical reactions. These reactions to traumatic stress often come and go in waves. There may be times when one feels jumpy and anxious, and other times when one feels disconnected and numb. Other normal emotional responses to traumatic events include shock and disbelief, fear, sadness, helplessness, guilt, anger, shame, and relief. ( Ardhendu, 2016)

Different Mental Disorders and their link with one’s physical state

Nora is a middle-aged woman, mother of 3 children, and wife of Torvald Helmer. She lives in a Norwegian city. Her exact age is undefined, although it can be assumed she is middle-aged because she is married and has children. Since Nora left her family, her exact location of residency remains unknown. She seems to show symptoms of Dependent Personality Disorder. Dependent Personality Disorder is a disorder as a long-standing need for the person to be taken care of and a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life (Bomstein and Natoli, 2021) . Torvald Helmer, Nora’s Husband, is a banker and very protective about his image to the outside world. He disrespects Nora and treats her as his pet ( Fatemh and Baradaran, 2014) . Torvald calls Nora by some nicknames such as ‘my little lark’, ‘my little squirrel’, and ‘songbird’. He thinks Nora wastes money and calls her a spendthrift like her father. He says, ‘You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone.’ (Ibsen Act 1) Nora never complains about his comments and just goes along with them. Nora gets easily manipulated by his behavior and doesn’t understand that Torvald always tries to control her mentally. Whenever she is upset he gives her some money to make up her mind which she saves for paying the loan. Nora never takes a stand in her married life and Torvald seems to maintain her and their relationship always. Torvald even sets the rules of Nora’s life but Nora herself. He taunts Nora about very silly issues like eating macaroons. He always pressurizes her and this makes Nora so traumatised that she becomes fully dependent on Torvald. She says ‘I should not think of going against your wishes.’ (Ibsen Act 1) Nora could be diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Obsessions are thoughts, usually of a distressing nature, that constantly intrude into awareness, over and over again. Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors the person feels to perform over and over again, because not to perform those means experiencing rapidly increasing levels of anxiety (Bomstein and Natoli, 2021). This is proven through Nora’s compulsive lying to Torvald throughout the play. She feels that lying to Torvald is saving him from pain when it’s causing Nora to be in distress and anxious. She has gotten so used to lying to him that she’ll even lie about getting macaroons from the store. Nora herself is a very typical and not-so-progressive lady. She thinks earning money is a man‟s job and it makes her manly if she works to earn money. Nora says to Christine, ‘It was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.’(Ibsen Act 1) According to Nora, everyone including Christine underestimates her and thinks Nora is not capable of doing something great on her own. Other than that, her husband thinks she needs him in every step of her life. In this pressure, to prove herself in her own eyes Nora takes the loan from Krogstad and forges her father’s signature. Saving her husband’s life seems a big achievement to her. Nora is all about throwing parties, attending them, and pleasing her husband. She thinks she is charming enough to impress Torvald and able to make him understand why she has done the crime. Her beauty and wit are the big assets for her to impress anyone. In their relationship, Nora always feels pressure to impress her husband and she is too timid to tell Torvald about the money she has taken from Krogstad. It is proven by her words, ‘How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.’ (Ibsen, Act 1) In the play, ‘A Doll’s House’, Nora might be suffered from hyperactivity disorder.

Nora is a restless lady. Throughout the play the readers see her jumping clapping, and laughing in unnecessary matters. She is so traumatized that she can’t understand where she should react and where she shouldn’t. When Dr. Rank first talks about Krogstad when he’s there to meet Torvald, Nora panics and becomes very nervous. Out of her nervousness, she laughs on a very serious note which shocks Dr. Rank and Christine. Her mental trauma is reflected by her physical gestures. She always acts overwhelmed about Torvald’s success and pride. She is so fascinated by Helmer that she sometimes forgets about her existence. She starts to clap her hands on silly matters. Helping Christine seems like a big achievement for her. She always tries to make her look good or bigger in other’s eyes as Helmer thinks she is good at nothing. She’s ready to do anything for him and to make him pleased. She tries to impress him by performing at a fancy dress ball. She is so dependent that she says ‘Torvald, I can’t get along a bit without your help’. (Ibsen, Act 1) Nora’s physical vulnerability is also shown when Krogstad comes to threaten her. She becomes restless and disagrees to play with her kids. To forget this she tries to involve herself in some household work. She takes up a piece of needlework and sews a few stitches, but soon stops. The sign of her restless attitude is very noticeable when she tries to fix the Christmas tree. Her mental trauma makes her very impulsive whenever she gets into any trouble. She becomes terrified and doesn’t let her children come to her. Even she says to her maid, ‘No, no, no! Don’t let them come into me! You stay with them, Anne’ (Ibsen Act 1) because she thinks she is depriving her children and poisoning her home by sinning forgery. Nora seems always over concerned about who is in the door. Sometimes she hallucinates that someone is at the door but when she checks, there is no one. At a time she starts to pack the boxes then she pushes them away. After the party, she cries anxiously in front of Torvald when someone knocks at the door. Because she thinks it is Krogstad who is there but it is Dr. Rank. Nora is always anxious and about anxiety, she talks to herself. When Helmer says that it’s too late to keep Krogstad in the job Nora becomes bewildered with anxiety, stands as if rooted to the spot, and whispers to herself that tor can’t do it otherwise she will be doomed. After that, she tries to find false hope from Dr. Rank. She flirts with him for getting the loan. She puts her hand on his ears and shoulders and behaves very flirtatious way. She tries to seduce him so that she can get some money from him. She shows him her flesh-colored stockings and hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings. She flirts intensely with rank but when he flirts back Nora gets offended and acts in a very weird way. She behaves very uncomfortably though she was the one to provoke it. But in the end, Nora seems to look the opposite in the novel. She becomes very absent-minded and not in a cheerful mood. Torvald comes to make love with her and shows romantic gestures but she seems so uninterested. She seemed to wait for that to happen and she was preparing herself for that. She keeps continuously looking at her watch- afraid and nervous, silent and undisturbed.

Histrionic personality disorder disrupts someone’s ability to focus on others which is shown by Nora Helmer. This is defined as a long-standing pattern of attention-seeking behavior and extreme emotionality. Someone with histrionic personality disorder wants to be the center of attention in any group of people and feels uncomfortable when they are not (Bomstein and Natoli 2021) . Nora obtained this disorder because while she was talking to Mrs. Linde, Nora constantly needed to be the center of attention.’ No, you first. Today I don’t want to be selfish. Today is all about you. But there is something I must tell you about. Did you hear about the extraordinary good luck we just had?’(Ibsen, Act 1). While Nora was supposed to be listening to how Mrs. Linde was, she instead started talking about how wonderful her life was.

Nora suffers from Dependent Personality Disorder the most. Based on Steve Bressert’s diagnosis it is the long-standing need for the person to be taken care of and a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life (Steve Bressert, 2019). In the book Nora is seen clinging onto people in her life even displaying submissive tendencies to ensure she continues to be in their life. Such as when she is submissive around Torvald and tries to keep secrets to stay in his favor. She needs him as he provides money and a future for her. Overall Nora needs Torvald and clings to him for his money and tries to keep him and that is why she has Dependent Personality Disorder. Nora throughout the book shows tendencies to ‘keep’ Torvald. This explains why Nora describes the things Torvald likes. A few symptoms come with this disorder and one of those fits Nora perfectly, and that is difficulty making everyday decisions. Throughout the play, Nora has trouble figuring out what dress she wants to wear, or whether or not she should eat the macaroons. Regarding her performance, Nora thinks she needs help from Torvald in this too. She says, ‘Yes, help me, Torvald. Promise that you will! I am so nervous about it—all the people—. You must give yourself up to me entirely this evening. Not the tiniest bit of business—you mustn’t even take a pen in your hand. Will you promise, Torvald dear?’ (Ibsen, Act 2)

Despite Torvald’s poor treatment and disrespect for her, she still feels as if she needs him to survive. For all we know, she could be suffering seriously from not having Torvald and her children around her. On page 18 act 1, Torvald says, ‘This year I don’t have to sit in my study alone, boring myself to death. And you don’t have to tire your precious eyes and your beautiful delicate hands. To which Nora replies ‘No. It’s true… It’s true, Torvald….I don’t have to do I? I love to hear you say that.’ (Ibsen, Act 1), which proves her having this disorder. Torvald thinks Nora is bound to fulfill his wishes. Nora is a woman who accepts and believes all of Torvald’s negative Criticisms of her. Nora’s focus on making men around her happy goes on to show how little she thinks of herself, which is one of the reasons  why she can’t stand the fact of not living with men around her to the point of sacrificing her values to save their lives.

Look Back in Anger presents an interesting psychological portrait of the main character, Jimmy. When he was young, Jimmy watched his father die from wounds sustained in the Spanish Civil War. This experience, as well as the way his working-class background has limited his opportunities, causes him to be angry and depressed. Jimmy expresses his anger through politics, and he rallies against the English upper class. Though he has political views and is, as a member of the lower class, afflicted by the rigid English class system, he also uses politics to express his anger and depression. His relationships are also troubled as a result of his psychological makeup. He marries Alison, a member of the elite class, but he tortures her psychologically and forces her to leave him. He takes up with her friend Helena while Alison has a miscarriage—a symbol of the withered and angry relationship she has with Jimmy. While the play is political, it also provides a deep psychological portrait of Jimmy, an angry and depressed man. The relationship between Jimmy and his wife Alison is deeply affected by their different social background and extremely opposite attitudes and demeanor. Coming from an upper-class family, she is the silent part who, avoiding all arguments, bears all mean outrages of her husband. Jimmy sums her (and her family) up as ‘sycophantic, phlegmatic and pusillanimous’ (Osborne, Act 1), a ‘monument to non-attachment’(Osborne, Act 1). Alison realizes that the relationship with Jimmy is self-destructive from the start (Osborne, Act 3), but she returns crushed and remorseful after she has lost their child and says, ‘all I want is to die…but this is what he wanted from me!’ (Osborne, Act 3).In stark contrast to her stands Jimmy, who comes from a lower-middle-class background. On the one hand, he is abusive and aggressive, sadistic and sarcastic, on the other hand, educated but futile, self-pitying and helpless. He is stranded between an almost sentimental nostalgia for an idealistic past and his present-day world without ideals states Helena, and Jimmy knows: ‘If you’ve no world of your own; it’s rather pleasant to regret the passing of someone else’s.’ (Osborne, Act 1). This paradoxical nature of his is based on personal loss (Osborne, Act 2), hatred of his own and his country’s situation, thus turning against nearly everybody and everything in an uncontrolled anger instead of doing something productive with his energy. The psychological trauma of stress is also shown in Jimmy’s character through their bear[1]squirrel game in bed (Ardhendu, 2016) . Some critics feel that the bear and squirrel game is simply a device to escape the harsh and cruel realities of life in the face of mutual conflicts and tensions and the failure of marriage between Alison and Jimmy. This is true as far as it goes, but it does not go very far. This game is not merely a device for the evasion of the complexities of a marriage. It is the statement of the nature of human love to share the pain and pleasure of life. It seems that Jimmy ultimately reconciles himself to an animal relationship with Alison. The stuffed teddy bear and squirrel in Jimmy and Alison’s apartment serve as a metaphor for their relationship. Jimmy is the bear, a large, strong, and dangerous animal, and Alison is the squirrel, a small, nervous, and easily scared animal ( Ardhendu 2016) . They both refer to the stuffed animals at a few points, and they play a little game as the two animals, but only when they are alone and no one can see them. The two animals are ‘full of dumb, uncomplicated affection for each other,’ Alison explains to her friend Helena. The bear and squirrel are a safe place for Jimmy and Alison’s tumultuous relationship. It is the one place where they can both open up to each other and freely express their fears and hopes. Like their apartment, the stuffed animals are solace and escape from an unrelenting and changing world. According to Jimmy, the bear can protect the squirrel, and the squirrel can help the bear keep its claws in order. By including the stuffed animals, Osborne also shows that both Jimmy and Alison are still very young and a bit naive to the complexities of adult society. The bear and squirrel symbolize Jimmy’s and Alison’s immature role-play game to escape from their socially and emotionally violent class differences. Jimmy and Alison are bears and squirrels living in a jungle where steel traps lie all around them, symbolizing the pitfalls and dangers in life. When they act like animals, whose only concerns are food, shelter, cleanliness, and sex, they can forget that conflict and feel a simpler version of love for each other. The fact that they keep stuffed animal versions of the bear and squirrel in the apartment reflects a childlike innocence that these characters find difficult to maintain in their troubled world, but that they still hope for. At the end of the play, Jimmy says to Alison: ‘We’ll be together in our bear’s cave and our squirrel’s drey, and we’ll live on honey and nuts. . .And we’ll sing songs about ourselves–about warm trees and snug caves, and lying in the sun. And you’ll keep those big eyes on my fur, and help me keep my claws in order because I’m a bit of a soppy, scruffy sort of a bear. And I’ll see that you keep that sleek, busy tail glistening as it should, because you’re a very beautiful squirrel, but you’re none too bright either, so we’ve got to be careful.’ (Osborne, Act 1)

In the play, Look Back in Anger, Jimmy is suffering from PTSD which is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This trauma-related disorder receives the most attention than any other mental disorder. This makes a person very aggressive, violating, and frustrated (Schnurr 2004). Jimmy is very frustrated in his past life which has made him very angry and abusive towards women. The driving force of the play is Jimmy’s implacable anger, which illuminates the play’s major themes of alienation, complacency, and class conflict. He is so traumatized that it is shown through her physical vulnerability. He is always very insecure and likes to insult people around them. Without having a deep conversation with his wife and solving his problems, he makes a world full of fantasies where the couple plays some futile and meaningless game. A patient, who is suffering from PTSD, suffers from agitation and anxiety, especially in unfamiliar places (Gillihan, 2016). Jimmy’s constant tendency to run away from reality is one of the big examples of it. Jimmy’s withdrawal from social situations, or even personal relationships, his anger, rage, and mood swings show the traits of a PTSD patient. His feelings of being numb while seeing his wife kissing Cliff and feeling disconnected from those who are around him are the effects of her mental trauma. Despite his intelligence and education, Jimmy cannot escape his feelings of inferiority as the son of working-class parents. Jimmy’s ire at the state of the world pushes him farther and farther away from society, which in turn fuels his anger. Alison, who accepts her world as it is and rarely complains despite her sadness and destitution, is endlessly frustrating to Jimmy. As spouses, they exist on far ends of the emotional spectrum, and it is only when Alison breaks down over her miscarriage that Jimmy’s anger is finally tempered.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The enterprise of the present paper is to analyze how mental trauma affects us physically in our everyday lives. The analysis of different mental diseases and their nature which are mentioned above helps to find that Nora and Jimmy’s physical behaviors towards other characters and their vulnerability happen due to their mental trauma. Later it causes them different mental illnesses. In A Doll’s House, the character Nora Helmer is a mental patient and the reason behind this is her trauma which she has gotten from her father, her Husband, and later from Krogstad. She has always been treated like a doll in her father’s house. After her marriage, her husband has treated her like his pet. At first, her father controls her, then her husband, and after that Krogstad tries to control and blackmail her. In addition to her literal dancing and singing tricks, she has been putting on a show throughout her marriage (Shah Karim, Fathema Fawzia, Hakim Abdul, 2015) . She has pretended to be someone she is not to fulfill the role that Torvald, her father, and society at large have expected of her. Her hyperactive and dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are seen throughout the play which is a reflection of her mental illness and trauma (Daniel, 2014). In the play, Look Back in Anger, Jimmy is another character who is similarly traumatized like Nora but his context and illness are different. Jimmy’s actions and vulnerability are also different from Nora which is mainly his anger and frustration. Jimmy is very abusive towards his wife and he is seen letting out his anger and frustration on Alison. Jimmy’s trauma happens because of his father’s death and the class conflicts between him and Alison. His vulnerability is shown by their silly bear-squirrel game in their bedroom and the sudden outburst of his anger in the play. PTSD can restrict progress in substance abuse recovery, increase the potential for relapse, and complicate a client’s ability to achieve success in various life areas. Each disorder can mask or hide the symptoms of the other, and both need to be assessed and treated carefully.

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