Shutter Island-Teddy Daniels Character Change
In my semester reading book, Shutter Island, we meet a U.S. marshal named Teddy Daniels. He is described to be tall, good looking, and very aggressive in his manner when he is aggravated. A distinct detail about him is that he frequently gets head-splitting migraines that pretty much immobilize him until he either passes out from the pain, or takes a large amount of pills to help ease the pain. The cause of these migraines seem to be from the constant pressure he and others around him put onto himself, but mostly from the tragic death of his wife that occurred three years prior.
In the beginning of the story, Teddy constantly relates every movement of the day to something Dolores used to do. He blames himself for her death because while he was at work, their apartment complex caught on fire from a pyromaniac's flame, and killed her. Later in the book, we find out the name of the man, which leads to Teddy traveling to Shutter Island, where the criminal is locked up to be experimented on.
As time progresses, Teddy begins to have dreams about Dolores, that turn into nightmares. She is always being embraced by her husband when she says that it's time to let her go and for him to wake up. He is deeply in love with Dolores and refuses to let go of her. This is a metaphor because he cannot actually feel her in the flesh, but rather mentally, he doesn't want to let go. For him, this would mean he has given up on her and doesn't love her anymore. Teddy is terrified of losing their connection as he comments on forgetting small things about her, such as her scent, how she said certain words, and so on.
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