Wade, Georgina’s boyfriend, embodies the recurrent motif
of people discounting the words of the “crazy.” Wade’s stories about his
father’s shadowy friends appear to be the conspiracy ravings of
a troubled and angry boy. The nurses note that Wade “continues [to maintain
the] fantasy” that his father is a CIA operative whose friends are
involved in elaborate plots. The benefit of hindsight allows us
to draw some very different conclusions when we learn that two of
Wade Sr.’s friends are named Hunt and Liddy. In 1972, only
a few years after Kaysen’s time at the hospital, these two men were
at the heart of the Watergate burglary, in which Nixon operatives
broke into Democratic election headquarters and stole documents.
Revelations about the burglary brought down the Nixon presidency
and would seem to support Wade’s contention that “[Hunt and Liddy]
will do anything.” Kaysen includes the story to point out the danger
of hastily discounting what “insane” people say. The anecdote underscores
Kaysen’s belief that to approach mental illness with cookie-cutter
solutions is shortsighted.
Daisy’s story highlights the wide range of illness grouped together
on Kaysen’s hospital ward. Daisy is among the most severely ill
of Kaysen’s fellow patients. When Lisa discovers the full extent
of Daisy’s sickness, it is clear that Daisy and Kaysen occupy very
different places on the spectrum of psychiatric disorders. This stark
contrast leads us to question the nature of the approach to treatment
pursued by McLean. Daisy would appear an appropriate candidate for
hospitalization, yet she arrives at Thanksgiving each year and stays
only until Christmas; Kaysen is a resident on the ward for two full
years. The disparity here in both illness and treatment among a
number of different patients instills doubts about Kaysen’s treatment.
