wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

~r~""T''''''''_-______~~_~194THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS195soon as the patient went to bed at night the room was "inbywomen," all the same. It was the same woman duplioverand over again. all had a hole in theirwere bloodless, pale, and terribly thin. Theman and demanded their bloodmomentwater filled the roomgrew so loud itlUllucrmg waterfall, and theyoung patient sawblood,while the womenwoundsbegan to close. Soakedtient would wake up and remain agitatedThe young patient has treated now forthe oneiroid (nightmare) symptoms haveHis personality, however, remains seriously flawed. As soon ashe thinks of his mother, this disemboweled woman loomsdisconcertingly in her place. As unscientific as it may seem, webelieve only time may heal the dislocated personality of thisyoung man.Case No. European police officer suffering from depressionwhile at the hospital meets one ofhis victims, an Algerian patriotsuffering from stuportwenty-eight years old, married without children. Wehave learned that he and his wife have been undergoing treatmentfor several years to try and have children. He is referred tous by his superiors because of behavioral problems.The immediate rapport proved to be fairly good. The patientspoke to us spontaneously about his problems. On good termswith his and parents-in-law. Good relations with his colleaguesat work and well thought of by his superiors. Whattroubled him was having difficulty sleeping at night because hehearing screams. In fact, he told us that for the last few weeksto bed he closes all the shutters and stops up theis summer) to the utter despair of his wife who issuffocating from the heat. He also stuffs cottonto muffle the screams. Sometimes in the middle of ~switches on the radio or puts on some music so as not to hearthe nightly din. He consequently to us his tribulationsin great detail:A few months ago he was transferred to an anti-FLN brigade.To begin with he was assigned to watching a few buildings andcafes. But after a few weeks he was working almost full time atthe police headquarters. That was where he came to be involvedinterrogations which always implied some form of "roughingup." "The thing is they never wanted to confess anything.""Sometimes," he went on to explain, "you feel like telling themif they had any consideration for us, they'd cough up andnot force us to spend hours on end squeezing the informationout of them word by word. But you might as well talk to the wall.question gets the answer: 'I don't know.' Even when weask for their names. If we ask them they live, they answer,'I don't know.' So of course we had to give them the works. Butscream too much. At first it made me laugh. But then itbegan to unnerve me. Today I can tell just which stage the interrogationhas reached by the sound of the screams. Thewho has been punched and a blow behind the earhas a