{"id":73,"date":"2018-03-09T15:36:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T15:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/?page_id=73"},"modified":"2018-12-07T03:49:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T03:49:51","slug":"hospital-facilities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/mental-health\/hospital-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Edward P. Jones\u2019\u00a0Lost in the City<\/em>\u00a0hospitals and\u00a0facilities are a recurring motif. The first appearance of any hospital is in \u201cThe Girl Who Raised Pigeons.\u201d Betsy Ann\u2019s mother, Clara, spends the last month of her life living in Gallinger Municipal Hospital: \u201cClara spent most of the first months of her prengnancy in bed,\u2026The last month or so she spent in the bed on the third floor at Gallinger Hospital.\u201d (6) It is unclear whether or not Clara was admitted to Gallinger for mental illness, as Gallinger was not solely a mental institution.\u00a0 Even though the details are unclear, however,\u00a0the reference to Gallinger is suggestive: Gallinger\u2019s psychiatric ward was revolutionary in the normalization of mental health institutions.<\/p>\n

Gallinger Municipal Hospital Pyschopathic Ward opened in 1923 and consisted of three\u00a0buildings\u00a0(Asylum Projects). The hospital was built\u00a0in response\u00a0to the Washington Asylum Hospital\u2013a consolidation of a workhouse and an asylum. The treatment of patients was not significantly better at Gallinger, which deployed cruel and unusual punishments. Two investigations in 1929 and 1942 revealed the disturbing\u00a0and physically harmful ways clinicians beat patients\u00a0into subordination\u00a0(Gifford).<\/p>\n

Clara\u2019s admission\u00a0into\u00a0Gallinger\u00a0contributes to the ambiguity of her character. The lack of specification makes her seem more enigmatic both to the reader and to her daughter.\u00a0Given the controversy surrounding the hospital, it is fair to speculate that Clara experienced a turbulent time within Gallinger that resulted in her death. Like Clara, Gallinger has died by the time the story takes place. In 1953, Gallinger Municipal Hospital was renamed to D.C. General Hospital (National Library of Medicine).\u00a0 Since its renaming, D.C. General closed as a hospital in 2001, and the space has been converted into a homeless shelter, fated to close in the fall of 2018 (Seagreaves and Swalec).<\/p>\n

The naming clarifies a shift in generations among the characters of Lost in the City<\/em>. For example, in \u201cThe Girl Who Raised Pigeons,\u201d Clara spends the end of her life at Gallinger Hospital, while in \u201cGospel\u201d Vivian and Ralph visit D.C. General weekly for Ralph\u2019s cancer treatment.\u00a0The relationship between appearance and reality is highlighted by Ralph\u2019s treatment at D.C. General. The history of malpractice and abuse within the institution haunts D.C. General, a supposed place of healing, parallels Ralph\u2019s own condition. Though he is handsome and seems completely healthy, his body is riddled with cancer.<\/p>\n

Another institution, the hospital at Howard University<\/a>, appears in \u201cGospel\u201d and \u201cYoung Lions.\u201d In the latter story, Caesar makes this remark: \u201cCaesar told him no, that he had last seen Sherman in Howard Hospital\u201d (56). Howard University Hospital originally opened in 1862 and was called Freedmen\u2019s Hospital (Howard University Hospital). It initially offered services to freed slaves who\u00a0were\u00a0denied services elsewhere. Within the same decade, Freedmen\u2019s Hospital merged with Howard University and became a part of the medical school facilities. The first African American doctor in the United States, Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta, taught at this institution (Lloyd). Howard University Hospital remains the only teaching hospital on the campus of a historically African American institution (Howard University Hospital).<\/p>\n

The mention of Howard Hospital in \u201cGospel,\u201d reinforces the ways in which Jones shows institutional medicine obscuring the true situations of the characters; when one enters the bounds of the hospital, other characters are unaware of who is actually sick (Jones 183). The boundary between individuals and institutions fosters confusion and mystery.<\/p>\n

A similar kind of mystery initially envelopes Lydia in \u201cLost in the City\u201d when she is awakened by phone call. When Lydia answers, the woman on the phone explains how she is from George Washington University Hospital, and Lydia\u2019s mother has passed: \u201c\u2018Very well. We, the entire staff here at George Washington, are very sorry. Your mother was an exemplary patient,\u2019 the woman said. \u2018We will expect you very soon’\u201d (141). Like Howard University Hospital, George Washington University Hospital is a teaching hospital. Initially constructed in 1948, the hospital housed the schools of nursing and medicine. In 1972, George\u00a0Washington University\u00a0Hospital began to offer a health sciences program. The original GWU hospital was demolished in the wake of a new hospital opening in 2002 (The George Washington University).<\/p>\n

The George Washington employee\u2019s news of the mother\u2019s death offers the opposite of uncertainty. However, Lydia responding by telling her not to cover her mother\u2019s face with a sheet reveals her unwillingness to accept that certainty, and her aimless ride around the city continues to defer confrontation with the truth of her mother\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n

Though typically seen as places of answers and definitive diagnoses,\u00a0Jones\u2019s use of hospitals defy the expected. In Lost in the City<\/em>, hospitals are places of lost control, breakdowns of communication and care, and troubled histories. Like the dead, the hospitals of Jones\u2019s fictions lie outside the community but influence and haunt its members.<\/p>\n

SOURCES:<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout Howard University Hospital.\u201d\u00a0Howard University Health Care<\/i>, Howard University Health Care, huhealthcare.com\/healthcare\/hospital\/about-huh.<\/p>\n

\u201cGallinger Municipal Hospital Psychopathic Ward.\u201d\u00a0Wikipedia<\/i>, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gallinger_Municipal_Hospital_Psychopathic_Ward.<\/p>\n

Gifford, Bill. \u201cThe Curse of D.C. General.\u201d\u00a0Washington City Paper<\/i>, Washington City Paper, 9 Dec. 1994, 12:00, www.washingtoncitypaper.com\/news\/article\/13009811\/the-curse-of-dc-general.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistoric Medical Sites in the Washington, DC Area – District of Columbia General Hospital.\u201dU.S. National Library of Medicine<\/i>, National Institutes of Health, 8 Dec. 2014, www.nlm.nih.gov\/hmd\/medtour\/dcgeneral.html.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory.\u201d\u00a0Gallinger Municipal Hospital Psychopathic Ward<\/i>, Asylum Projects, www.asylumprojects.org\/index.php\/Gallinger_Municipal_Hospital_Psychopathic_Ward#cite_ref-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory.\u201d\u00a0The School of Medicine & Health Sciences<\/i>, The George Washington University, smhs.gwu.edu\/about\/history#16.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory of the George Washington University.\u201d\u00a0The George Washington University<\/i>, The George Washington University, 21 Oct. 2015, healthsciencesprograms.online.gwu.edu\/about-us\/history.<\/p>\n

Lloyd, Sterling M. \u201cA Short History.\u201d\u00a0Howard University College of Medicine<\/i>, Howard University, June 2006, medicine.howard.edu\/about-us\/mission-vision-and-core-values\/short-history.<\/p>\n

Segraves, Mark, and Andrea Swalec. \u201cDC General Homeless Shelter to Close This Year, Mayor Says.\u201d\u00a0NBC4 Washington<\/i>, NBC4 Washington, 23 Jan. 2018, www.nbcwashington.com\/blogs\/first-read-dmv\/DC-General-Homeless-Shelter-to-Close-This-Year-Mayor-Says-470595733.html.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Edward P. Jones\u2019\u00a0Lost in the City\u00a0hospitals and\u00a0facilities are a recurring motif. The first appearance of any hospital is in \u201cThe Girl Who Raised Pigeons.\u201d Betsy Ann\u2019s mother, Clara, spends the last month of her… <\/p>\n

Continue Reading Hospital Facilities<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":52,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-73","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":798,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/73\/revisions\/798"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/lightingthepage18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}