● Indeed as the name suggests, it is an account of the thoughts & days of a person suffering from the persecution complex who refers to himself as a madman.
● The language is simple & straightforward.
● The piece portrays what goes inside the mind of a person suffering from the persecution complex. ● Throughout the story, the diarist has exaggerated the thoughts, words & actions of people. Also evident from the doctor's (Mr. Ho) advice - "Don't let your imagination run away with you. Rest quietly for a few days, and you will be all right."
● It is interesting to note how the diarist extracts meaning from people's words that suits his weird imagination. For example: "To be eaten at once!", "People exchange their sons to eat.", "have his flesh eaten and his hide slept on. . . ." (This speaks that how general phrases may be misleading.)
● Phrases that stood greater than the context: 1. "Is it that when one is used to it he no longer thinks it a crime?" 2. "Or is it that he has hardened his heart to do something he knows is wrong?" 3. "Is it right because it has always been like that?" 4. "I refuse to discuss these things with you. Anyway, you shouldn't talk about it. Whoever talks about it is in the wrong!" 5. "Although this has been going on since time immemorial, today we could make a special ef ort to be good, and say this is not to be done!"
● The writing is intense. The author explained the diarist's stand & his thought process fair & square. (Felt as if a real diary of a madman!)
● The piece is an engaging superficial read & also profound between the lines.
Q) Are humans man-eaters?
A) Maybe we all are one way or the other, not necessarily in a literal sense. We eat the inside of people. Answering for the piece, maybe the diarist misinterpreted people's reactions, but their reactions aren't justified either. To mock people, to gossip about the disability of others is how we feed on people. (Fun fact: We are all disabled in certain aspects.) Not just that, we feed on people through war, greed, etc.
“Wanting to eat men, at the same time afraid of being eaten themselves, they all look at each other with the deepest suspicion. . . .
How comfortable life would be for them if they could rid
themselves of such obsessions and go to work, walk, eat and
sleep at ease. They have only this one step to take. Yet fathers
and sons, husbands and wives, brothers, friends, teachers and
students, sworn enemies and even strangers, have all joined in
this conspiracy, discouraging and preventing each other from taking this step.” - Shows mirror to the society.
Through the phrases that stood beyond the context, the author questions the readers in particular & society in general. The dog symbolizes how man-eaters have corrupted nature as well. The diarist notices the same stare on children; that speaks about how we pass the uncultured traditions to the next generations. The author ends with a hopeful sentence, "Perhaps there are still children who have not eaten men? Save the children...." to protect & nurture children towards becoming real men.
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