E03: Critical Reading-Princess272

“IS PTSD CONTAGIOUS”

“Sometimes I can’t do the laundry,” Brannan explains, reclining on her couch.

• Brannan is unable to do laundry for some reason.
• She may not be physically able to do so, or she may not want to do so.
• She reclined in her chair indicating she is comfortable and at ease.

“And it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m too tired to do the laundry,’ it’s like, ‘Um, I don’t understand how to turn the washing machine on.’ I am looking at a washing machine and a pile of laundry and my brain is literally overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to reconcile them.”

• Brannan’s brain is overwhelmed by attempting to do normal day to day tasks such as doing her laundry.
• Normal efforts that are normally routine are difficult for her.
• She could be suffering from a number of neurological diseases ( Alzheimer’s disease, PTSD, etc.), or she has a physical handy-cap that prevents her from doing such things.
• Brannan isn’t too lazy or physically incapable of doing her laundry.
• Her mind isn’t blank when she attempts to use the laundry machine indicating it is not some sort of  Alzheimer’s Disease she is dealing with.

She sounds like she might start crying, not because she is, but because that’s how she always sounds, like she’s talking from the top of a clenched throat, tonally shaky and thin.

• Brannan’s voice may be shaky and unsure. The author didn’t mention her eyes watering, so she may not appear to be crying just the tone of her voice seems to resemble that of a person crying.
• The fact that shes ready to cry may indicate that she is unsure of herself or is upset about the incident.
• The author continues and states that’s how she always sounds.
• Which plants the idea that she may always feel uneasy about her surroundings.
• Since her voice is shaky and thin, she may feel frightened, much like that of a person who has PTSD.

She looks relaxed for the moment, though, the sun shining through the windows onto her face in this lovely leafy suburb.

• There are moments when she is not tense and frightened.
• She enjoys the sun and it sets her at ease, much like a place of escape.
• Her symptoms seem to be that of an individual who has gone through something traumatic, or that of someone that is new to living in a bad part of town.
• Since her home and neighborhood was mentioned as a “lovely leafy suburb” it has been established that she does not live in a dangerous city, much like Camden or Trenton, but rather a safe suburb much like Cherry Hill or Glassboro.

We raise the blinds in the afternoons, but only if we are alone. When we hear Caleb pulling back in the driveway, we jump up and grab their strings, plunging the living room back into its usual necessary darkness.

• Brannan starts the statement off as we indicating besides her and the man mentioned later in the sentence (caleb) someone else lives there. This person may be a child or a family member.
• Brannan enjoys the sunlight shining on her face, but she can only do so when she is not accompanied by Caleb.
• Caleb is most likely her significant other.
• Caleb likes it dark in the house, this a warning sign of an individual with PTSD.
• This type of darkness is usual inside of Caleb and Brannan’s house.
• By Brannan making sure that the blinds are closed when Caleb gets home, something bad must have happened when he is home and they’re not closed.
• He may have had a mental breakdown, got physical with his family and caused some form of domestic violence, or he could have had a flash back of some traumatic situation from a previous date.