Something that I believe would be a good starting point for a discussion about this is Freud's theory about what causes a phobia. According to Freud, phobias are a defense against anxiety produced by repressed impulses. In order not to deal with the repressed conflict, the person avoids the object or situation. I would argue that Cayce's phobia is largely caused by the self-repression she engages in with regards to her father's disappearance on 9/11. Cayce does not want to deal with the grief and the questions that this situation brings up, which is obvious in her reluctance to open e-mails from her mother, who claims to be able to decipher messages from Cayce's father, Win. Cayce acts similarly regarding these emails as she does to her trademark/label phobia. She repeats her mantra and closes her eyes, bracing herself for the unpleasant situation. This connection may be more obvious as you read further in the book. What does everyone think?
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Some thoughts on Cayce's phobia
In class we've mentioned Cayce's phobia, the fear and anxiety that is caused by her exposure to labels and trademarks. While there has been some debate about whether Cayce actually has a phobia, as we move along in the reading there can be no doubt that it is in fact a phobia. I did some looking into what makes fear a phobia and what the causes may be. Web4health.info describes a phobia as "extreme fear, a disrupting, fear-mediated avoidance that is disproportionate to the danger of the feared object or situation." It is pretty obvious that Cayce experiences a disproportionate adverse reaction to the "danger" of labels and logos. Her fear is also disrupting: it causes her to avoid certain stores and streets, and even causes her physical sickness; for example, when Dorotea "accidentally" shows Cayce the wrong logo, she becomes "unsteady" and has to repeat a mantra that usually helps her to calm down.
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I agree that, within the specific context of plot, the essence of Cayce's anxiety is most ostensibly the disappearance of her father. SPOILER ALERT: This idea is lent credence when considering that, after Cayce receives more evidence pointing to the conclusion that her father has died, her phobia evaporates.
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Thematically, I think the phobia touches at something besides the anxiety of a missing person. At this level, I think Cayce's "repressed impulses" may be to consume, to purchase clothes and shoes and designer bags. Noting the amount of brands and luxury goods in "Pattern Recognition," I cannot help but think that Gibson is making a point about consumerism. The media, the government, friends and family all encourage the individual to purchase frivolous products, which often leads them into the hands of the brands and corporations who produce and profit from these goods. Cayce's phobia may stem from this conditioned lust for the material, which she tries to repress, and the consequent anxiety that unwillingness to consume creates. She doesn't want these shoes, but has been conditioned to buy them; she tries to repress that conditioning, but fails; ends up buying them, but scrapes off the logo. The anxiety is a byproduct of not wanting to give in to consumerism, but failing.
I haven't read far enough into the book to see the connection between the death of Cayce's father and her phobia of labels and trademarks. I am, however, beginning to notice her escalating and unhealthy fear of something that doesn't merit it. Perhaps the character Cayce can be used as a metaphor for rejecting globalization, how all our material possessions can be linked to the various parts of the world that manufacture them. Maybe this is the author’s way of showing his readers how he worries about the growing connectivity between continents, and the blurring of country lines in terms of culture. While Cayce's phobia is obviously exaggerated and at times comical, the reader can at least take away from it the concept of globalization and how it has affected our way of living and mindset. - Christopher Stoddard
ReplyDeleteIn looking at Cayce's phobia I have observed that after the disappearance of her father on 9/11 his life's work took on greater meaning for as a reflection of a person who had been making a worthwhile contribution to the safety of America on a global scale as "an evaluator and improver of physical security for American embassies worldwide".
ReplyDeleteHer reference to him working on a pattern for the safety of crowd control at concerts is very reveling in that aspect. I came to the conclusion that Cayce's career as a "cool hunter" although successful in many aspects was in mental let down to her as being trivial and in my opinion manifested itself in a phobic reaction to logos and trademarks as a symbol of her discomfort.
As she became involved in finding the originator of the footage, we discovers that she is less and less phobic.
To examine cayce's phobia is to look closely at our own perception on what is valuable and what's not.
What does Tommy Hilfiger,Ralph Lauren,Prade or even Luis Vuitton mean in globalization? These products that carry high fashion logos can be found in most countries across the globe and the medium of advertising bring them into our homes with the click of a button.
William Gibson's Pattern Recognition is highly thought provoking.
Pattern Recognition is a very interesting book, there is so much going on, that that you need to carefully read line by line or you can miss pieces here and there. Gibson brings to one attention, how much our lives evolve around labels, trademarks, logos, etc. Each time we see one of these, for example whether it is a store and it is a brand that we can afford or wish that we can afford, it is a logo representing a well known company "Bloomberg" and we wish we had a great job there, or perhaps a trademark "check sign on a nike sneaker". We take for granted that these things are normal, but going back 25 years ago, I remember my mom use to buy fabric to have dresses sewn for my sister and I. The only thing that concern us, is whether the seamtress was an excellent one. When we get a pair of new shoe, we think nothing else but if we like it, actually we spent most of our time running around barefeet or rubber slippers so there was barely any thoughts giving to footwear. I never experienced wearing a brand name or another classmate that would influence us desire to have the same material item. But having my sons was a total different experience, sometimes I have no choice but to get them a brand sneakers just because I did not want them to be tease, etc. So I can understand Cayce fears/phobia. It is difficult to have someone size one up that you have class because you are wearing the latest season prada, or being let into a night club because you are wearing one hell of an expensive shoe. I too, have several sweaters, t-shirts that I cannot find myself wearing, for I said to many people before, why wear someone else name when I can wear my own name? Now I feel that I would like to have others read this book which will open their mind about how our lives are today, full of logos, symbols, trademarks, labels, etc.....
ReplyDeletePhobias umm.. well I guess Cayce is unique just for the simple reason she has develop it to labels where she can wear a logo etc… I am trying to understand her but and fit the puzzle out to condition but in the back of my mind I just wonder is real or is not ! when did start did she do it because she wants things her way as a child and then eventually develops into the real “phobia”. She sure does has something to say about everything and anything. I think the reason of her phobia might be that she misses something else within her I don’t know. I have question in my head about her for ex: it because of your phobia people respect you? Or look for your critic or determines what’s the next cool thing..
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