Prewriting Toast Story

There is only one part of Toast Story that really relates to identity and that is the story of Giulietta Carrelli and her struggle with schizoaffective disorder. The condition is a combination of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It takes the worst of both conditions fusing it into a debilitating disorder that at times can prevent people from recognizing themselves. Leading to her keeping track of herself through writing. The condition was made worse as she went most of her life undiagnosed. She did not have a lot of time to build reliable social connections and secure employment before she would be sent spiraling into psychotic episodes. She’s able to find stability after the end of one of her episodes at a place in San Francisco call China beach where she saw an old man who lives the same routine every single day. 5 years later she would return to the beach to find the old man still there where for the next 3 years she’d rebuild her life on the structure of going to China beach every day and talking to him.

Now in my own opinion, this sounds like the most horrendous form of torture ever randomly devise by evolution and genetics. The fact that your mind is turned into a literal ticking time bomb that can level anything you built up in your life and utterly erode your sense of identity to the point where you were forced to record it just to barely cling on a bit of it. I really can’t imagine what that is like, and the willpower needed to continue onward. But then again being completely disassociated with your past self may help in moving forward with the whole life thing. I find her idea about how she wears very distinct clothing and owning a popular coffee shop as a safety net. It’s completely ingenious and speaks to how despite this condition she is a perfectly normal and maybe even above intelligence person. One thing that is really reinforced in me is that any problem in our world can be solved with determination, rationalism, and, deep thought. How she workshops a lot of ideas to give her stability and strength despite many things that could go wrong in her life at moment’s notice.