Chapters 13-14

    In Chapter 14, Wen Fu gets in a car crash in the mountains outside of the city that he, Winnie, Helen, and her husband are living in. He is badly injured and the other person who was in the car with him was killed. After a long stint of time in the hospital, Wen Fu finally comes home. However, he isn't the same.  He is more violent,more irritable, and more lustful. Last week in class, Darius brought up an interesting idea that Wen Fu could be suffering from bipolar disorder. If this is true, the the medicines that Wen Fu was given during his time at the hospital could have made his bipolar exponentially worse. Certain kinds of medicine can have this effect on people who have this disease. These medicines can make the person have severe symptoms of the disorder that can resemble what is happening to Wen Fu. People who have their bipolar unmasked or otherwise effected by medicines can become severely manic, depressed, or mainic depressed. This can create the extreme feelings of anger and desire that Wen Fu displays.
     In the time that Wen Fu lives in, there wouldn't be any medical relief for his disorder, which could explain his smoking and drinking. If he is struggling with his bipolar, there isn't anything he can do to help balance out his emotions. Today, there are medicines that people who suffer from this disorder can take to balance their emotions to create an emotionally-stable middle ground between mania and depression. If someone does become depressed or manic, then they can take stronger medicines to help balance things out; and if the medicines do not work and the person cannot balance themselves out, they can be admitted to special hospitals that will assist them with balancing the two extremes. If Wen Fu lived in today's world with today's medicines, I think that Winnie and Wen Fu may have had a slightly better marital relationship that the one that they had.