Mentally Handicapped in SF/F?

[abracanabra]

So, there was some discussion in MinnSpec's last critique session of creating sympathetic characters and techniques to do so. Although I'm not going to remove my main character detective's mentally handicapped daughter from the story line, despite an arguable case* for it being a cheap trick to gain sympathy, it did make me realize something interesting. It's not a cliche. It's not at all common. I can't actually think of any mentally handicapped** supporting characters in SF/F (setting aside evil malformed minions that may or may not be mentally handicapped). And that I find pretty interesting. It's an underrepresented minority that I just hadn't seen before.

Wait. I thought of one. Fezzik. Who is made of awesome, but is still the only one I can think of.

Of course, now that I've said that, I'm sure y'all will come up with excellent counter-examples!

Edited to note: And so you did! Not tons and tons, but they are out there.


* More than one person has argued for it, but without her, he would be an entirely different character and I'm not sure what his motivation would be. Extensive rewrite would be required for a not necessarily better book.

** Mentally ill is entirely different. There's a whole lot of mentally ill characters.

Comments

[scott-lynch.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, there's Hodor, the supporting character in the Song of Ice and Fire sequence who forms a double act with the physically impaired Bran Stark. And there's the narrator / protagonist of Elizabeth Moon's Speed of Dark, which is really excellent even though I dislike its abrupt ending.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Haven't read the Song of Ice and Fire, but Speed of Dark is a great example!

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

I think the cliche with detectives (if it qualifies as a cliche) is the 'something about their lives that makes them more of a tortured soul than you first think' sub-plot/minor character.

Whether it's a physically handicapped wife 'Taggart', addiction to opiates 'Holmes', ADD 'Monk', alcaholic relative and/or alcoholism (plenty of those) etc.

Personally, I don't think it helps me appreciate a character unless the 'something about their lives' provides a noticable problem throughout the story. That is, the problem affects how they work as well as how they think eg: if someone has a mentally handicapped daughter (disclaimer here, I have two), it has a physical impact as well as a mental one, so making the MC a little sad, or over-sensitive about 'retard' jokes isn't enough.

Just my opinion :)

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Now I'm thinking about happy detectives. Maybe that's one of the main differences in the cozy novel genre, that the detective is usually happy? Because that's really not standard in most mysteries.

I don't know if Fezzik is mentally handicapped

[ladylaurel.livejournal.com]

Is being slow the same as handicapped? How slow does one have to be to be handicapped? Just noodlin'.

Re: I don't know if Fezzik is mentally handicapped

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

He's definitely slow...and I think the sliding scale for where one is handicapped vs. slow shifts around from decade to decade?

[malcubed.livejournal.com]

"You know him, you love him! It's... Master Blaster!"

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

How could I forget Master Blaster!?

[jasondwittman.livejournal.com]

I know I've heard the name Fezzik before, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Care to fill me in?

And what about Charlie in _Flowers for Algernon_? That would count as SF, right?

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Fezzik's the slow-witted giant in The Princess Bride :)

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Princess Bride. And yes, that's totally SF--shouldn't let the mainstream steal away our classics.

[gunn.livejournal.com]

Flowers for Algernon- a perfect, beautiful, poignant example.

[gnfnrf.livejournal.com]

First of all, I am assuming that you are excluding stories in which the character's mental disability is a focus of the scifi aspect of the plot, like Flowers for Algernon, since they operate very differently.

Offhand, I can think of a few in novel length works, more in short fiction (but I can't remember details of the short fiction well enough to reference them).

Ensign DuBauer in Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor may qualify, though his condition is the result of sudden injury.

There is a key supporting autistic character in Mary Doria Russell's _Children of God_ (the inferior sequel to The Sparrow), though by the end of the book it turns out he might not be autistic after all.

In Alan Moore's Top 10 (a comic series), Toybox cares for her senile father.

There is an episode of Highlander: The Series which features a developmentally disabled immortal.

Does the inbred simpleton Messiah from Preacher count?

As I said, I'm convinced that there are a number of pieces of short fiction, probably something by James Patrick Kelly or Nancy Kress, but I can't think of enough details to place them or describe them usefully.

Anyway, I'm not actually sure what this proves or doesn't prove. I've never been one to worry about authors meeting or subverting cliches. If it works, it works, no matter how many times it has been done. If it doesn't work, it still won't work even if it is unique.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Good examples, and thanks for the reminder that what matters is what works!

[frankvanrad.livejournal.com]

M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen!

It's not exactly the same genre, but the The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is an interesting look from an autistic child's eyes.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I'd classify The Stand as horror, and I think there are more instances of it there--but now I have the impulse to go and rewatch the first 3 hours. You know--the good part. Where everyone dies.

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

Plenty of writers in both genres seem to fall into this category. Zing! Heyo!

There have been a couple interesting-ish stories where a character was what would be considered normal intelligence or better today but which, in the context of the story, could be considered massively mentally impaired (usually due to a lack of Super-Brain-Implants).

Otherwise, it seems like they tend to be A) "primitive species", B) a pity-inducement device, or C) children which stay "children" so as to provide a long-term narrative without major change in narrative style OR to show how a society handles the less-able.

I ... never saw Fezzig as mentally handicapped. I thought he was just, you know, easy-going and loved rhymes. Just not AS smart as everyone around him (I mean, that story IS chock-full of characters of obviously much above average intelligence/cleverness).

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I'm disqualifying the "normal intelligence is now seen as retarded in teh FUTURE." It irks me when done poorly. It can be a good way to provide a POV into a massively different and incomprehensible society. It can also sometimes seem like an annoying "nobody values or appreciates me, SO THERE!" proxy.

Oooh, yes, C rings true as something I've seen, though I cannot recall instances.