Outside Reading Q3

            As we pick up where we left off in Atmospheric Disturbances I come to realize a new aspect of Dr. Leo Liebenstein character. Since the start of the novel Leo Liebenstein’s wife seems to have been replaced, one of his patients, Harvey, has gone missing, and he gets a call from "The Royal Academy of Meteorology” which supposedly does not exist. All of these things obviously, place much stress on Leo. It becomes evident that Liebenstein is one who makes up what he does not understand in order to feel better about the situation. When his wife Rema seems to have been replaced Liebenstein thinks: “Walking, finally, home, I comforted myself with the likelihood that I would very soon seen Rema, that she-the selfsame girl I’d picked up at the coffee shop years before-would be right there at home…” (35). Through Dr. Liebenstein’s thoughts we see how things he does not grasp, he makes up solutions to. In this case, his solution to his problem that the real Rema is missing, is to continue thinking she will come home.

            Also, we see a continuation in the theme that in ones efforts to help another, one can become pained and troubled themselves. To expand on this, we can see how when one is surrounded by chaos, they can begin to go mad themselves. Dr. Liebenstein thinks to himself: “But I couldn’t find my way out of the crisscrossing thought: either I tell her she’s not really Rema and she thinks I’m crazy, or I tell her she’s not really Rema and she doesn’t think im crazy, because she already knows she’s not Rema, in which case why should I let on that I know? (64). Liebenstein’s thoughts become more irrational and twisted as he strains himself thinking about his wife, Rema, and his missing patient, Harvey. As the character of Liebenstein begins to change after he is surrounded my more confusion, we see how when once is surrounded my chaos, they can begin to lose their rational thinking.