Brain on Fire Report

During the novel “Brain on Fire” by Susannah Cahalan, we get to see what Susannah’s

life was like through her eyes, while she slowly descends into insanity until she was diagnosed

with an autoimmune disorder, that set her brain on fire metaphorically. This novel has some

underlying messages about the struggle of mental illness, and how mental illness has affected

many peoples lives. The author uses emotion to communicate an understanding of what it feels

like to be trapped in your body with no self control.

To start, mental illness is a serious issue within our culture. Many people suffer from it,

and have a hard time dealing with it. Mental illness is a scary thing that many people fear, and it

is a very common thing among people. Susannah is one person out of the many who have

suffered from mental illness. She explains throughout the novel her journey, and how she got

through it. The author uses many different emotions to express how Susannah felt in that

moment. For instance on page 33 Susannah went from sadness to extreme happiness in a short

matter of times. The author is letting us know that when someone is mentally ill the effects are

brutal and this issue needs to be taken more seriously in todays culture. In another passage on

page 83, Susannah explains that when one thing goes wrong, other parts of you can go wrong

too. This is exactly what happened to Susannah, She felt trapped in her own mind, and showed a

frustrated feeling throughout the time she was mentally ill. Being trapped in your own mind is an

indescribable feeling. The author also tells us about the emotion of the families of the victims

with mental illness. Most families have a tough time with mental illness too. Being a family

member of a mentally ill person is very frustrating because the unknown of what will happen to

your family member is torturous. One positive moment through the novel was when Susannah

was getting better with her treatment, this is not the case with most families though. Susannah

explains she was one of the lucky ones who had a treatment. Some mentally ill people have to
learn how to adapt with their condition, because sometimes there is no treatment. Overall Mental

illness needs to be a main goal in todays culture, and people have to have an understanding of all

the emotions involved and how painful mental illness can be.

Passage: “Finally, he sat down on the bed near me. He turned to my parents and said,

‘Her brain is on fire.’ He took my small hands into his large ones and leaned down to my eye

level. ‘I’m going to do everything I can for you. I promise I will always be there for you.’ For a

moment, I seemed to come alive, he would later recall to me. I’ll always regret that I remember

nothing of this pivotal scene, one of the most important moments of my life. Dr. Nájera saw tears

gather at the corners of my eyes. I sat up and threw my arms around him, it was another crucial

moment in my case: he could sense that I was still in there, somewhere. But it was just a blip.

After that outpouring, I lay back down and dozed off, exhausted by the brief display of emotion.

But he knew I was there, and he would not give up on me. He motioned for my parents to follow

him outside the room. ‘Her brain is on fire,’ he repeated. They nodded, eyes wide. ‘Her brain is

under attack by her own body.’ Pg. 134