A major plot point is Hattie’s battle with melancholy. Nowadays, we call it depression. Hattie faces a number of challenges in the story, but this may be the most difficult one of all. Depression is a severe and debilitating condition that should never be taken lightly or ignored.
If you think you may be suffering from depression, skip to this section below to find out more about what you can do.
melancholy (n.)
c. 1300, melancolie, malencolie, “mental disorder characterized by sullenness, gloom, irritability, and propensity to causeless and violent anger,” from Old French melancolie “black bile; ill disposition, anger, annoyance” (13c.), from Late Latin melancholia, from Greek melankholia “sadness,” literally (excess of) “black bile,” from melas (genitive melanos) “black” + khole “bile”.
Old medicine attributed mental depression to unnatural or excess “black bile,” a secretion of the spleen and one of the body’s four “humors,” which help form and nourish the body unless altered or present in excessive amounts. The word also was used in Middle English for “sorrow, gloom” (brought on by love, disappointment, etc.), by mid-14c. As belief in the old physiology of humors faded out in the 18c. the word remained with a sense of “a gloomy state of mind,” particularly when habitual or prolonged.
Source: etymonline.com
Why Give Hattie This Struggle?
There are a couple of reasons to bring mental health into the story. I wanted to give Hattie a challenge to overcome that a young reader might identify with, particularly a young reader who might be going through a similar experience. Hattie would probably be diagnosed today as bipolar since she has big swings in her mood and behavior at times. Fortunately, we have a better understanding of depression in 2023. In Hattie’s day, however, there were few options for treatment, none very good. The possibility that she might be sent to Willard Insane Asylum is not an exaggeration. Many women were institutionalized simply for being female in that era. One interesting note: Madame Duvay (the fortune teller) suggests that Hattie drink a tea made from St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) twice a day. Turns out there is some evidence that St John’s wort does indeed work
I speak from experience about depression. In my 30s and 40s, I struggled with depression. I sought help, and finally discovered ways to get myself back on track. So, it wasn’t hard to find words to give Hattie when she described her depression. That was my experience.
Chapter #3 – Madame Will See You Now
Every day was a struggle. I was still tired, tired deep inside—my body heavy, like I was carrying a saddle on my back. Even walking was a chore, like stepping in molasses. Words stuck in my throat, and those that got out took a part of me along with them. What a terrible way to live. Would I be like this if Daddy were alive? I wished I knew that answer.
Chapter #2 – There Was Nothing Good About Dying
[Hattie telling us what her mother said] “Hattie, you need to stop fretting about your father. You’ll make yourself sick in the head.” She even talked with Dr. Barnes about it. He told her, “It will pass.”
Pass? I couldn’t let it pass.
We called it melancholy. That sounded pretty, like a flower. “Thank you for the lovely melancholy. They smell divine.” Melancholy was not pretty; it was a dark hole. It was my black dress.
I felt hollow. Empty. My thoughts were frightening. I couldn’t get out of bed. Not even school interested me. I had to give it a name to match the darkness in me: Raven. I took it from the frightful poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. Marion and I sneaked it out of her father’s library and read it in her bedroom one night. It scared the living daylights out of us.
Another reason…
Hattie’s son, Earl Phelps (my great-grandfather), suffered from depression and dementia toward the end of his life (he died in 1957 when I was 3). Earl spent his final days at Willard State Hospital (the former Willard Insane Asylum). I found a heartbreaking entry in his wife’s diary (Maude Phelps) telling of how Earl was assaulted by another patient and beaten at the hospital, sustaining serious injuries.
If You or Someone You Know Is Depressed
You’re not alone, and help is available. You can feel better. To get help, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org .
