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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Lasting Effects of Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma marks the early lives of the two primary characters of The Silent Patient, Theo Faber and Alicia Berenson. Through their stories, the novel emphasizes the deep wounds left by these traumatic experiences, which continue to impact their adult lives. Theo was raised in a household dominated by his physically and emotionally abusive father. Theo studies hard to gain entrance to college and to escape his father’s violence, but once there, his anxiety and feelings of worthlessness prevent him from making a new life for himself. The novel suggests that individuals carry their trauma with them through life, holding onto it long after the traumatic incident itself has passed. Likewise, Alicia’s childhood is marred by her mother’s suicide and her subsequent upbringing by an unkind aunt and emotionally abusive father. Like Theo, Alicia flees her family home but finds that she cannot outrun her trauma, which continues to impact her emotionally. While Theo puts his faith in therapy, Alicia instead represses her traumatic memories, processing them symbolically through her complex and provocative paintings. In different ways, and through different methods, both try to break from the trauma of their pasts.
Ultimately, both fail to escape the cycle of violence that is throughout the novel closely bound to childhood trauma. Alicia murders Gabriel after his apparent betrayal triggers her long-buried traumatic memory of her father wishing that she had died in place of her mother. The seeds of this shocking act of violence were planted, as Theo notes, in a childhood event that she does not even consciously remember. Theo, in turn, continues to relive his childhood trauma by repeatedly seeking love from those who, like his father and Kathy, are unable to provide it. Though Ruth tells him to break with the pain of his past, he perpetuates the cycle of trauma, ruining the lives of multiple people and symbolically stepping into his father’s footsteps by moving back to his childhood home with a miserable wife.
The Limitations of Mental Health Care in 21st Century Britain
Set against the backdrop of controversial cost-cutting initiatives in British social services and healthcare, the novel engages extensively with this historical context, highlighting the budgetary constraints imposed on both hospitals and facilities offering mental health services in 21st century Britain. When Theo begins to work at The Grove, he finds a psychiatric ward that has already been stretched well past its capacity and is buckling under insurmountable financial pressures. At the first Community meeting, a patient named Elif demands a replacement for a broken pool cue. Weeks later, Theo observes that it has still not been replaced. Ultimately, the under-funded and under-staffed psychiatric ward provides the perfect environment for Theo to abuse his power with little meaningful oversight from others.
Professor Diomedes, head of psychiatry at The Grove, confides in Theo that the facility’s future is uncertain, as the Trust that funds their operations would be happy to find any excuse to shut them down. He even suggests that Stephanie, manager of The Grove, has been brought onboard for the specific purpose of dismantling it from within on behalf of the Trust’s cost-cutting measures. Though Diomedes seems to care for his patients and staff, his preoccupation with saving The Grove from closure in the name of cost-cutting often prevents him from operating within their best interests. After Alicia’s overdose, for example, Diomedes shows shockingly little concern for her health, instead thinking only about the threat that the scandal might pose to future funding. In a poignant scene, her few personal possessions are quickly cleared away to make room for a new patient. Highlighting this quick turnover, the novel suggests that financial strains negatively impact the availability of care offered by mental health facilities in 21st century Britain.
Misogyny and the Control of Women
Through their behavior and attitudes towards female characters, many of the male characters exhibit one of the novel’s key themes: the misogynistic exploitation, control, and manipulation of women by men. Throughout The Silent Patient, Alicia is let down by the men in her life, who take advantage of her talent and compassion. Jean-Felix, for example, uses Alicia’s talents to promote his gallery, weaponizes their shared history to prevent her from exiting their business relationship, and after the murder, capitalizes on the notoriety of her murder trial by displaying her paintings to a greedy public without her approval. Her cousin, Paul Rose, borrows a large sum of money from her, and Max, her brother-in-law, repeatedly kisses and fondles her non-consensually as part of his rivalry with his brother. Alicia realizes that Max is not interested in her, but rather, desires to possess anything or anyone his brother “owns.” Her husband, Gabriel, does not notice this inappropriate behavior and pressures Alicia to spend more time with the predatory Max.
Further, Gabriel uses Alicia’s history of mental illness to dismiss her claims that she is being stalked and to justify his increasing control over her. He not only hounds her into seeing seeking therapy against her own wishes, but also selects his close friend, Christian, as her therapist. Together, the two men undermine Alicia’s faith in her own senses. When interviewed by Theo, both Max and Christian characterize her misogynistically as an untrustworthy “madwoman” and even the sympathetic Diomedes urges Theo to dismiss her tale of being stalked as a paranoid delusion. Though Alicia’s concerns and experiences are legitimate, the men in her life do not take her seriously and fail to protect her from male violence. Years later, Theo vows to help Alicia, but his increasingly possessive and controlling attitude towards her belies his claims of altruism. The shocking revelation of his past stalking of Kathy and Alicia indicate that Theo presents a persistent danger to the women around him. After inducing an overdose in Alicia in order to silence her, Theo notes that he is happy that the comatose Alicia is still alive, as he can visit her daily, sitting by her bed and holding her hand. Theo, then, finally has what he has wanted throughout the novel: complete control over a woman who cannot leave him.
The Complicated Relationship Between Patient and Therapist
The relationship between psychotherapist Theo Faber and his patient, Alicia Berenson, is central to The Silent Patient. In the novel, therapy is not depicted as a process in which a therapist maintains a cold, critical distance and neutral attitude towards a patient, but rather, as a deeply mutual process in which two individuals open themselves up to each other emotionally. Accordingly, the line between patient and therapist becomes increasingly blurry throughout the course of the novel. Theo is, notably, both patient and therapist. His own past struggles with mental health and personal experiences as a patient motivate his desire to work as a therapist and inform his methods. He feels that most people who work in mental health are drawn to the field because they themselves are damaged and can better help themselves by studying the subject. Just as Ruth once helped him to process his own repressed feelings by feeling them herself, crying in his place during their sessions, Theo feels that he can interpret Alicia’s feelings despite her silence through the psychological phenomenon of countertransference, in which a therapist allows their own emotional state to be influenced by that of the patient. In one of their final sessions together, Alicia sits in the therapist’s chair, symbolically reversing the roles of their relationship and suggesting a shift in the balance of power between them.
