Creative Writing

John Clayton - Voices

This week I am leading a discussion on Clayton's writing called, Voices. There are two main characters in this story. Sam, a psychiatrist and one of his patients. The patient is a short fat women who comes to the office in distress. Reading the title when I first picked it out I thought is would be an interesting one. Voices-- meaning the things we hear, but don't really hear. Pieces and fragments, as what happens in the case of this story. A psychiatrist that hears voices; isn't that what the patients normally do?

The story is character driven because it takes places mostly inside Sam's head. His behavior becomes almost obsessive on the verge of a stalker when he starts falling for his patient. She stops seeing him which ends up driving the urning more. Sam then hears voices which brings him to the patients home. She tries to commit suicide. He helps her because the voices he hears. Seeing this is not a current patient of his, the husband comes after Sam because he's interfering, which as you read seems very plausible. If it was strictly a patient/therapist relationship it would be legit, but because of the emotional tension it creates a conflict.

At the end the patients comes back and plops herself in the chair, she needs therapy once again. This roller coaster seems to make Sam happy. He got what he wanted. The co-dependency relationship seems to work out, although, Sam hears the tidbits that support his need for the patient. Both characters change, but Sam seems to change differently. Outside influences change his patients development as she battles living in poverty with kids and a husband. Sam's development is internal. He talks but the noise is too much it seems. His mouth and brain are talking at the same time, which clouds his judgment as he hears both in fragmented messages.