Rule #23: It’s Never Just Heart Disease…And Rarely Just Illness

In my chapter, Foster is discussing how diseases are used in works of literature. He argues that when a character has a heart condition or disease, it is not only because they don’t take care of themselves. A character that is suffering from heart disease is also suffering from a broken heart, “loneliness, bad love, cruelty, pederasty, disloyalty, cowardice, or lack of determination”(217). Whereas these characteristics are all negative, a character that has a “true” heart-“in loyalty and trust, in courage and fidelity”(pg 219)-could only die by a blow to the heart. No author chooses to have their character killed off by heart disease though. Some choose other diseases and Foster leaves a list of rules in which to follow when chooses a disease.

Rules:

1. Not all diseases are created equal.
2. It should be picturesque.
3. It should be mysterious in origin.
4. It should have strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities.

An example of this literary device is used in modern film is when Marshall’s dad from How I Met Your Mother died from a heart attack. This works with what Foster was explaining because when Marshall was a child, his dad was always hard on him. He had a “hard heart.” Although this sounds kind of negative, they didn’t have a bad relationship but, for example, his dad once wouldn’t let him go to sleep until he scored in basketball. At the time, I’m sure Marshall thought his dad was the most cold-hearted person in the world. This proved to be helpful though as he became the “Slam Dunk Champion” of his home town.

Marshall’s dad’s death followed the rules set up in my chapter because his death was easy to cover all of the bases-like mentioned in rule one. A heart attack isn’t an “ugly” way to die-like mentioned in rule two. He didn’t die of a disease with a rash all over his body and skin as pale as can be. Also, it was never mentioned before that he had heart problems, giving his heart attack a mysterious origin-rule three. Lastly, the metaphorical meaning behind it was discussed in the paragraph about.

Marshall’s dad was hard on him, but it didn’t mean he had a bad heart.  He actually had a good heart as he was just trying to do what he thought was best for his son. I think the writer looked at this situation and thought that it would have been appropriate to kill this character by giving him a heart attack because he had a “true-heart.”

Photo credit: Lhopfan via Foter.com / CC BY