{"id":15175,"date":"2020-09-23T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T03:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15175"},"modified":"2020-10-01T12:47:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T16:47:28","slug":"brain-on-fire-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Important Brain on Fire Themes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the <em>Brain on Fire <\/em>themes that you need to know? How do these themes reflect Susannah Cahalan&#8217;s journey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> themes are positivity, loyalty, fear, and memory. Each reflects an important component of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the key <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> themes that are essential to understanding the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Brain on Fire <\/em>Themes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The book is about Susannah Cahalan and her mysterious illness. But her story also included the way her family and boyfriend supported her and the way she fought during and after. Here are 4 <em>Brain on Fire <\/em>themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Positivity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another one of the key <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> themes is the mindset, which was to remain positive. Susannah has been moved to a new room in the epilepsy ward. It\u2019s peaceful and quiet. Her dad is happy with the change, as well as a newfound warmth in Susannah\u2019s attitude toward him. Heartened, he asks if she\u2019d like to take a walk around the floor. His happiness vanishes when he sees that Susannah can only walk with difficulty. <strong>In order to appear positive, he suggests a family motto.<\/strong> \u201cWhat\u2019s the slope of the line?\u201d he says, indicating an upward angle with his arm. \u201cIt\u2019s positive,\u201d he says when Susannah doesn\u2019t answer. \u201cWhat does that mean? It means we make progress every day.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Brain on Fire <\/em>Themes for People Around Susannah: Loyalty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susannah\u2019s dad has noticed that she receives better care from the exasperated nurses when she has company, <\/strong>so he starts visiting every day, arriving first thing in the morning<strong>.<\/strong> Susannah continues to believe her hallucination that her dad murdered his wife, so she won\u2019t let him in the room. Instead, he takes up vigil in the hallway just outside her door.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susannah\u2019s mother starts to visit at least three times a day. She keeps detailed notes and a running list of questions for Susannah\u2019s team of doctors. She and Susannah\u2019s father develop a journal system to communicate with each other, as their nasty divorce still makes it difficult for them to speak face-to-face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fear<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>She has to live with the possibility of relapsing (20 percent of patients who have recovered from her illness experience a relapse; patients who did not have teratomas, like Susannah, experience a higher relapse rate). When colors seem too bright, she wonders whether she\u2019s going crazy again. Some of these changes scare her.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even fully recovered, Susannah can remember only the hallucinations she experienced during her illness; she can\u2019t recall its day-to-day reality. <strong>This strange discrepancy makes her wonder whether she can rely on her own mind.<\/strong> Living with fear is one of the <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Memory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another key theme from <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> is memory and how important it is. Two years after her release from the hospital, Susannah returns to NYU for a visit. Much to her disappointment, nothing looks familiar. Until she\u2019s hit by a smell. And she sees the purple lady. They hug, and images flood Susannah\u2019s mind: Stephen arriving with his nature DVDs. Her father feeding her. Her mother staring out the window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Memories rush back to Susannah, knocking her off balance. With each memory recovered, she wonders what others remain, knowing there are thousands she\u2019ll never retrieve. <strong>The other Susannah, the mad Susannah, calls out to her, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t forget me. Please.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the Brain on Fire themes that you need to know? How do these themes reflect Susannah Cahalan&#8217;s journey? The Brain on Fire themes are positivity, loyalty, fear, and memory. Each reflects an important component of the story. Read more about the key Brain on Fire themes that are essential to understanding the book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,34,16],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-15175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-communication","category-health","tag-brain-on-fire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4 Important Brain on Fire Themes - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brain on Fire is a book about a mysterious illness, but to truly understand, you need to know the Brain on Fire themes. 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