Optical Allusionist

What is the happiest book you could ever read? Not sure? I'll tell you. Sybil, by Flora Rheta Schreiber, is the happiest book you could ever read. And this is why.

The first point of discussion would be to determine the definition of "the happiest book", and why that pertains to Sybil. So, what is the definition? In my book, no pun intended, the happiest book possible to read, would have the happiest ending to the most horrible story. Why would this be true?

Say you have a happy story. Deer and bunnies prance around the ponies, who are singing a joyful hymn. The main character-- let's call her Maria-- dances into the scene. "Everything's great! Everything's perfect! Life is wonderful!" she proclaims. "No problems here!" The wolf suddenly comes in, stage right. "Grrr. I love you, Maria!" Maria and the wolf hug. Wow, thriller, right? No problems, nothing to solve, nothing to write about, no story-- from a writer's standpoint. Surprise, this happy story of Maria has a happy ending. No surprises, no twists or turns, and most importantly, no relatability to the audience. Raise your hand if Maria's play reminded of your life... No takers, huh? Of course, many of us may have had relatively spectacular lives compared to Shirley Mason's. By the way, for reference's sake, "Sybil Dorsett" is a pseudonym for the woman Shirley Mason. Maria's story isn't relatable. We all have problems. We all have strife. We all want to know it can turn out well in the end. Everyone feels hopeless at one point in their lives, and we all want to know things get better. Or, at least, that they can. Happy endings to happy stories offer no hope to real human beings. A sub point I would make as well is that it makes no sense in a normal human beings' mind for the "happy ending" to occur. Whereas, 'happy' is inevitable at the end of 'happy', it doesn't make it an ending. It's simply a continuation of "happy". Sybil offers hope to anyone going through minute or difficult trials, with the reminder that help is available, that life can get better, and that what may appear to be the impossible is solvable.

My second point of discussion would be to decide why Sybil has the saddest, or most horrible, story/beginning. This is the saddest story because of the abuse, and because of the setting of the abuse. The abuse was extreme, severe, prolonged, often, both regular and irregular, predictable, and unpredictable, and in several forms-- verbal, mental, emotional, physical, and sexual. All of these add up to worse and worse abuses. Shirley Mason, or Sybil, was object raped-- with knives, flash lights, and button hooks-- every night for years. After the object rape, her mother would give her an enema, insisting she hold it in while "Hattie Dorsett" played a long concerto on the piano. Not only was this extreme abuse, but it was done by her mother. Her father was vaguely aware of the abuse that was occurring, and gave accidental signs to Sybil that he "knew". A doctor examined Sybil for a urinary infection, and discovered that her vagina was severely scarred. She lived in a town that proclaimed peace and righteousness. She grew up hearing about a country that protected its citizens. Shirley Mason lived in an era, a community, a family, and a country that was supposedly trustworthy. And yet, she found no one who she could totally trust until she turned twenty-two when she met Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, which too was shattered when her mother cut off contact between Shirley and the doctor. There was no trust in the presence of gruesome abuse.

My third point would be to show how Shirley Mason had the happiest ending. One of the most helpful sites I've seen is written by one of Shirley's friend. This site helped explain that Sybil died happy and complete in 1998, she got over her dissociative identity disorder, or she lived without it for a time, came to understand herself and be more patient with herself, and got to do things she never could have done before, such as go to college, and be a successful human being.

My last area to discuss would be to review why this is the happiest book you could ever read. Referring back to my original definition, Sybil went through the most horrific story, but had the most joyful ending. Parts of the book itself, particularly the beginning-middle part, may not make the reader, per se, happy, but it is not an initially happy story, but, altogether, a happy story. This story brings hope to victims of abuse, people going through difficult times, people who will go through difficult times, psychologists dealing with difficult, or DID patients. As a small point, this book helps clear up some misconceptions about people affected with dissociative identity disorder. It helps explain that DID, formerly known as MPD (multiple personality disorder), is not separate persons within a body, but rather fragments of the core person. And last of the last, it has a happy ending. Joy overcomes pain. Peace overcomes grief. We may feel horribly, gruesomely, gut-wrenchingly angry, sad, or despairing, but in the end, she overcame, which means overcoming is possible in the most or the least meaningful of situations. In the end, pure, ecstatic release is available. It is the happiest ending to the saddest story, and in that way, Sybil is the happiest book, the most relieving story, a reader could read.