Blog Assignment #5- Reading William Styron's Darkness Visible

"The storm which swept me into a hospital in December began as a cloud no bigger than a wine goblet the previous June." William Styron doesn't feel sorry himself. While depression has an intrinsically self-indulgent connotation, "Darkness Visible" lacks any masturbatory self-pity. Instead of focusing on what he was feeling, the author clinically describes the symptoms of his depression, much like a journalistic account of Hurricane Katrina, or 9/11. While it would be impossible to write on any of these topics without the inherent emotions bubbling up, this passage is sober and articulate enough to see it's way through that cloudiness and paint an accurate picture.

"Doubtless depression had hovered near me for years, waiting to swoop down." I think lines like this one were key to this work's popularity with readers. Most people can identify with walking the thin line between being consumed by depression and actively ignoring it's looming presence in our minds. It moved me to read that Styron lived most of his life knowing that this "storm" was inevitable, and yet he wasn't able to defend himself against it when it was upon him. He is the ultimate sympathetic character in that he not only shares the everyman's struggles, but has succumbed to and conquered them.

"The madness of depression is, generally speaking, the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk." This is an excellent example of Styron's clarity in this piece. "Madness" and "murk" are not only the best word choices, but ultimately the only way to effectively describe the illness that took over his mind at the time. His character becomes clearer through these words. We know that while his mind was waging a war onto itself, his personality barely showed enough passion to discuss a battle, much less engage in one.

"Darkness Visible" became a best seller because William Styron shed light on an illness that had been previously shrouded in darkness. He boldly articulated what had only been whispered about. He gave depression an unlikely face for struggling readers to recognize as their own.