One of the things Elaine Scarry speaks to at some length in The Body in Pain is the way in which ordinary objects became symbols of pain through the act of torture. An example she gives is the refrigerator, which can become a bludgeon, the floor, walls, hot water, etc. She speaks of Germany in the 1940s, and the associations attached by death camp survivors to things such as showers, ovens, lampshades, and soap (41).
While reading this chapter, I kept thinking about how ordinary experiences, not so much things, become symbols of pain for one with chronic pain.
Last night, I went to see a film at a movie theatre, something I had come to dread during the day. Every time I go to the movies, I end up in such terrible pain, for sitting for long periods of time is one of the hardest things for me. The film was Eat, Pray, Love, a movie divided into three parts, and by the end of the first third I was considering leaving to go care for myself. I had to shift constantly and even so could not eliminate the pain to any degree.
Similarly, the long car trip has become an image of agony for me. I went on vacation a few weeks ago, from Seattle to Bend, Oregon. The drive should be around seven hours, but knowing that I could not manage to be in the car for so long, we planned to stop overnight in Portland. Thus the trip was divided into a three hour drive one day, a five hour drive the next.
It did not help much at all. I actually threw up from the pain and have had a much worse back since returning. A long car ride is something from which I must recover. Conversely, long, hard exercise is a temporary cure to pain, something I am treated to after a difficult day of sitting.
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