Alzheimer’s - A Progressive, Degenerative Disorder
Alzheimers- A Progressive, Degenerative Disorder Imagine a wife and husband being married for 44 years and having one of them not remember who the other is, or their past life together. The film Away From Her (Egoyan, et al., 2006) shows viewers how the disease can greatly impact your life, and how quickly it can form. The film was based off of a short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain” by Alice Munro (Munro, 2013). In both works, the author and the director portray a significant struggle between a husband and wife dealing with Alzheimer’s.
Summary of Story
In the short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain” (Munro, 2013) and the film Away From Her (Egoyan, et al., 2006),
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But I can look again” (Egoyan, et al., 2006). This quotation is meant to portray Fiona in a light manner and show how much her brain is starting to deteriorate, and that she is aware of it. The setting is the same in both works; Fiona’s parents cottage in the hills of Canada, snow on the ground, and a very serene view. The film (Egoyan, et al., 2006) goes through several states of emotional stress between the couple. First being denial. Grant is in denial for most of the film. He does not want to believe that his wife is slowly leaving him emotionally. It also hurts him that she cannot remember much about their marriage but can remember the infidelity. He then begins to feel some guilt because he finally realizes how much he had hurt Fiona during his time of infidelity. In the short story (Munro, 2013) it tells you about Grants infidelity, however in the film (Egoyan, et al., 2006) the director just eludes to the fact that there was infidelity in the marriage. Fiona, however, does not seem to go through much denial saying, “Don’t worry darling, I expect I’m just losing my mind” (Egoyan, et al., 2006)
Climax
The climax in the both the story(Munro, 2013) and the film (Egoyan, et al., 2006) is when Grant comes back to Meadowlake after the thirty days and finds Fiona has forgotten all about him and has taken up with Aubrey. Fiona cares for Aubrey as a child but
Alzheimer’s Disease is an irreversible, genetically linked illness. This disease was chosen for the topic of this essay under the consideration that in many families the illness can be incredibly tragic, passing down for generations without mercy. It is not rare to encounter families in which each member is afflicted with a form, mild or severe, of Alzheimer’s. The disease is a progressive brain disease which comes in two separate types: Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. These will be discussed in full later on in the paper.
1) This video was an educational and eye-opening documentary about the infamous Alzheimer’s Disease and its effects on the victim and their family. The film follows several different families, each directly affected by the disease, and how they cope with the loss of their, or a loved one’s, memories and mind. One such family, the Noonans, had a rare form of the disease, where its destruction of the mind began much earlier in life, around age fifty. Three of the Noonan siblings out of ten caught Alzheimer’s and none of the other seven knew whether they had the gene for it or not, passed on by their mother, who also died of this. Watching this unfold in the movie “The Forgetting” was rather eye-opening,
‘A retired teacher, Betty (65 years old), was diagnosed with Dementia. She lived at home with her husband Arthur (70 years old) who had been caring for her for several years. When she was diagnosed, No information was given to the couple. They had no relatives that they could rely on around them for support.
On of the first things I would like to elaborate on the book Asher was a going to be assigned the Director or Recreations. Fiona was suppose to be the one who took care of the old. whereas in the movie they both don't get those roles. Fiona is taking care of babies. Asher is a Pilot . The movie is completely wrong in this part. Not only do I think the book fit their roles a little bit better
The woman in this story is in the woods and alone. The woods illustrate her fears and insecurities. She is very isolated. Even her faithful dog has died and left her, which is another past experience that shows her abandonment. She is shown to be very afraid of the bear in the woods. She still has not come to terms with her own fears and the loss of her safety and comfort. The bear represents many things to her, some bad and some good. She is aware that the bear seems dangerous and can hurt her, but she seems unaware of how she pictures the bear. In her mind, bears are supposed to be protection, like her teddy bear was. She relates the real bear in the woods and the danger that he poses to her with her lost teddy bear and the feeling of isolation that his loss gave her. The images given by the author of bears are very contradictory. Some of the images are ones of almost human creatures that are far from harming people, but others are pictures of vicious, cold-blooded killers. In the woman's mind, these concepts of bears are all jumbled up. She doesn't know exactly what she thinks of
Just Love me: My life turned upside down by Alzheimer’s (Lee, 2003), has allowed Lee (2003) to put on paper what an individual going though Alzheimer’s disease thinks and feels. This book has been written in order to better inform individuals that have Alzheimer’s, as well as the non-suffers who have been touched by Alzheimer’s in friends and family. It follows Lee (2003) though her struggles with early onset Alzheimer’s, describing her experiences before being diagnosed as well as how her disease progresses. It also examined the difficulties in diagnosing a disease that is not yet well understood. Lee (2003) talks about her everyday struggles as the disease worsens and she begins to lose her occupations and the person she use to be.
Think about the behaviors of the individuals living with Alzheimer’s portrayed in the film. What similarities and differences
“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book
In the short story short story, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, Fiona’ s memory declined quickly. She has been writing sticky notes, reminding herself of what she needs to do and how to do it. She asks Grant when did we move into the house. “Was it last year or the year before?” It was twelve years ago,” he said. (Munro, 2013) Grant knew that is wife has always been forgetful, he was worried for her safety. The decision to place her into a nursing home must have been devastating for him. Grant explains her behavior to the doctor. The author gives a detailed explanation of how serious Fiona decline has become. The story is from Grants point of view focusing on how he is feeling, although concerned with Fiona feelings. The author writes about is infidelities throughout the relationship. Grant appears to
The memoir went exactly how I thought it would be. Bette Ann Markowitz’s situation of taking care of a parent who has Alzheimer is very common; having an aging parent who can no longer fend for themselves. Markowitz is not an only child so she had to constantly consult her sibling on “what is the best option” (Moskowitz41),
Alzheimer’s disease slowly steals a person’s dignity and erases precious memories. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Guide”, found on WebMD explains that tasks become more difficult to do often leading to confusion and behavior changes. The article further explains the progression of the disease also brings hardship to family and friends (1). To best cope with Alzheimer’s we must better understand the disease.
Seeing this film has helped me to learn to be more alert regarding what early cognitive decline might look like in someone, and therefore, enable me to come alongside them and get some help for them and their family. It also showed the stress involved in early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, especially in regards to job loss, loss of social life, and the fear that comes with living with someone with cognitive loss. However, it also showed the opportunities to show deep compassion and love. The compassion that was shown by the nursing home “tour guide” was amazing. I was impressed by her concern for social engagement in the residents.
He threw Jonas with Gabe in a lake which is bad, and how it was good is because they were in a desert and there was no water so Asher threw them in the lake which has water for them to drink. Fiona’s job is a nurturer in the movie, which is a nurse and takes care of the babies in the nurturing center. But in the book, she gets a job in the House of Old which does not exist in the movie. She is Assigned Caretaker of the Old. “...Fiona was given the important Assignment of Caretaker of the Old” (pg. 71). The House of Old is a house with old people and someone takes care of them. Fiona’s job didn’t help Jonas in the book, but her job in the movie did because he went to the nurturing center and told Fiona to let me take Gabe and she showed Jonas where Gabe was. Then there were these guys that came to the nurturing center to take Jonas. But Fiona took an empty box that was supposed to have a baby and the 3 guys chased Fiona and Jonas left.
The theme of the book is related to the early onset Alzheimer’s disease and how the main character, Alice Howland’s quality of life or in other words her lifestyle is affected due to the disease she is diagnosed with (Genova, 2009). The novel sheds light on the lives of those
She had walked quite a long distance from the lake towards the huckleberry shrubs when she suddenly found herself facing a grizzly bear just twenty paces ahead of her. She wanted to run away that instant but her instincts stopped her and she slowly tried moving one step backward. When she did that the bear came one or two steps forward. She stopped and the bear stopped too. She saw Liam behind the