Narratives of Illness: Dementia, Care Relations and Institutional Spaces in Alice Munro's “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”

Abstract

Drawing from theories of caretaking/caregiving (DeFalco 2010, 2012) and institutional spaces (Goffman 1961; Jamieson 2014), this essay aims at shedding light on the experience of dementia and memory loss as it is transferred to a narrative mode. Alice Munro, a Canadian author, aptly revolves around depictions of illness and care relations driven by her own experience with mental and physical deterioration. In her book Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Marriage (2001), the author unravels the many experiences of illness and their impact on identity and subjectivity. However, this essay will focus on one of these short stories, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” and its take on dementia, institutional spaces and care relations. The narrative of illness presented in Munro’s story pivots around the nature of care relations and its aim is twofold: a portrayal of the afflicted—age, loss of memory and defamiliarization—and as a report of the witness who cannot place himself completely in nor completely out of the deterioration process. Drawing from a correspondence between memory and identity, caretakers/caregivers and institutional authority, visitors and patients, this essay ultimately analyzes how characters reveal instances of vulnerability, resistance and resilience through the interaction and collaboration between themselves and their roles as well as the mediation of institutional space in such care relations.