MovieChat Forums > A Scanner Darkly (2006) Discussion > Bumping His Head

Bumping His Head

posted 3 years ago by Tricklebrook (308)
6 replies | jump to latest

I periodically reread this book as it is one of my favorites. This time around I decided to ask a question I've always wondered about.

Both the book and the movie recount the incident where Bob Arctor painfully bumps his head on the corner of a kitchen cabinet and decides he hates his wife, his kids, his life, and subsequently divorces and starts a new life.

My question is -- have you (or someone you know) ever experienced anything like that, where something physically painful causes you to reorder your whole life?

Another question might be -- does it seem plausible? I once bumped my head exactly like he did and the pain was excruciating. And these many, many years later, I still remember that every time I lean over in the kitchen and am abundantly cautious. Still....... I didn't make any radical life changes as a result.

Your thoughts?

[–] GretchenRoss (70) 3 years ago

Head trauma can change people's personalities for sure. But it's usually something more extreme like a car crash, I kind of doubt anyone could change that much from bumping their head on a counter and drawing blood.

[–] Tricklebrook (308) 3 years ago

That's what I was thinking. I knew someone whose personality completely changed when she got a brain tumor but that's something more serious than a bonk on the noggin.

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 3 years ago

I had a close friend in college who was politically very progressive and was openly against Republicans. When we graduated he ended up getting work in the mayor's office for a few years and then suddenly decided to join law enforcement with the local sheriff department. His initial years there had him working in a county jail and then the Iraq War started after 911. He quit his L.E. job and got work with Blackwater Security where he worked in and around the Green Zone in Baghdad. I hadn't seen him since then but I have learned that he's a hardcore Rightwinger and was actually at the Capitol riots but wasn't amongst those who broke into the capitol. I don't know if he had a head bumping moment but it was strange to learn of his switch.

[–] Tricklebrook (308) 3 years ago

That's interesting! Could his experience in Baghdad have had something to do with it?

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 3 years ago

... or even access to information perhaps? People change their minds, political parties, views, tastes etc. Personalities? Not so much.

I have a friend who had life saving brain surgery. He was different afterward. A little. We wondered if the near death experience changed him or if the poking around did it.

[–] Tricklebrook (308) 3 years ago

That's interesting! Thanks for sharing.