The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat Sparknotes

The novel, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks, is a neurological and psychological journal of Dr. Oliver Sacks’s patients. He describes each one of his patients illnesses into twenty-four short stories. These short stories are split into 4 parts: Losses, Excesses, Transports, and The World of the Simple.

The beginning section of this novel is called Losses. Losses is about people who have lost of lack some function of their brain. Some diseases involving the lack of a brain function are Amnesia, Agonisa, and Aphasia.

The first short story is called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Dr. P is a musician who had problems with his visual images. He could not recognize common objects like his wife or his shoes,

he could not even recognize his own face or his own feet. This lead to him grabbing his wife’s head to put on his head, because he believed it was his hat. But, Dr. P was an incredible musical talent, who would only be able to perform tasks if he was singing. Once his singing was interrupted he would forget everything he was doing.
The Lost Mariner was about a handsome, youthful, ninteen-year-old man named Jimmie G. Jimmie G had a job as a radio operator in a submarine. He has an outstanding ability in math and science. His skills include; comparing chemical elements and excelling in algebraic calculations. The only problem was that Jimmie could not remember anything, except his life experiences before the mid 1940’s, so he always thinks that he is a ninteen year old young man.
The Disembodied Lady is the story of a young woman of the age twenty-seven. She had a normal life with a job and kids, until a sudden attack of abdominal pain. She can not feel her body or control her body, so she has great difficulty walking, moving, and performing other functions.
The Man Who Fell out of Bed is about a man who can not feel his legs. He wanted to throw his legs out of bed, thinking that his leg is a fake leg, but it was his own.
The Hands is a tale of an elderly woman about the age of 60, who has the name of Madeleine. She is a blind woman who believes she has no use for her hands. She compares her hands to “lumps of dough.”
Phantoms is about the feeling of having a limb that is nonexistent. This limb was most likely amputated because for injury, disease, or illness.
On the Level talks about a 93 year old man with Parkinson disease, who walks leaning at a 20 degree angle to the left. He must do this to keep his balance.
Eyes Right! is about a stroke victim, who goes by the name of Mrs. S. The massive stroke destroyed her right cerebral hemisphere, so she can not feel her left side of her body.
To conclude the section of Losses is the story The President Speech. This story talks of the patients who have been diagnosed with Aphasia. The patients are incapable of understanding words, so they laugh and have mixed emotions when they hear the President’s speech.
The second section of the novel is called Excesses, Excesses recalls the unusual disorders of neurology. These patients certainly do not lack anything, but this could cause other issues in the long run.
Witty Ticcy Ray is the story of Ray, a 24 year old with Tourette’s syndrome. Tourette’s syndrome is associated with excess of energy and motions. With all of the energy to burn, Ray was excellent at ping-pong and outstanding on the drums because with all of this energy he had abnormal quickness of his reflexes. To help Ray’s disorder, Dr. Sacks gave him a drug called Haldol. Soon Ray became slow and lost his personality, so Ray decided not to take the medicine and accept his Tourette’s syndrome.
The Cupid’s Disease is the story of 90 year old Natasha K. Seventy years ago, she was had syphilis, which was commonly known as cupid’s disease. She became energetic, alive, and youthful at her old age, but would rather stay his way then be treated. Another patient, Miguel O., had neurosyphilis. His imagination was excited and energetic. Dr. Sacks gave him the medication Haldol, which caused him to lose his excited imagination and energy.
A Matter of Identity is about Mr. Thompson who can not recognize real people, but can create fictional characters.
Yes, Father-Sister is about a former research chemist, Mrs. B, who becomes funny, silly, and impulsive. She calls Dr. Sacks “father, sister, and sometimes doctor.” She knows what is her right and what her left is, but she can not distinguish between the two.
The Possessed is the story of Dr. Sacks’s experiences when observing the cases of Tourettes in the streets of New York City.
The third section is the called Transports. Transports consists of the stories of Sacks’s patients who have dreams, feelings, or imaginations. These types of activities are called “transports or portals.”
Reminiscence is the story of Mrs.

O’C, who had a dream of her childhood in Ireland where she is dancing and singing. This dream suddenly becomes a reality because she feels that she is living in her childhood memories. Mrs. O’M has similar symptoms, but wants treatment unlike Mrs. O’C.

In Incontinent Nostalgia, a 63 year old woman is living with Parkinson disease since she was 18 years old. She is using L-Dopa to treat her disease, which causes the nostalgia and joyful memories of the youthful past.

A Passage to India involves a girl named Bhagawahndi P., who is a 19 year old Indian girl. She suffers from a fatal brain tumor. Day to day, she has dreams and visions of her returning to India and enjoying a normal teenage life.

The Dog Beneath the Skin is about a young medical student who had a dream he was a dog. Since her had that dream, he has incredible sense of smell and he can recognize every street, shop, and food by his smell.

In Murder, a man killed his girl under the influence of PCP, but he has to memory of committing this deed. When he is conscious of what he has done, he is upset and angry about it, but he can do nothing about it because she is dead.

Visions of Hildegard is the story of a woman who has visions of her early childhood and spiritualism. She can imagine and create the picture of the city of

God.
The last section of this book is called The World of The Simple. The World of the Simple is about the simple and innocent minds of Oliver Sacks’s patients.
Rebecca is the story of young Rebecca who loves poetry and types of arts. She acts like a child in ways that she can not put on her clothes or would put a glove on her foot. Her grandma was taking care of her, but she soon died and Rebecca became unmotivated and lost her drive. Until she joined a theater group, where she could show off her talents of the arts.
A Walking Grove is a story of Martin A. living with Parkinson and Meningitis. He acts like a child, always as uses language of a child, but has an amazing musical memory. His love for music is what keeps him alive from day to day.
The Twins is a story about a set of twins, John and Michael, who can not calculate the simplest of math problems. Even Though the twins can not perform a simple math problem, they have a fascinating memory of documentary, algorithm, and time. They live their life remembering things without really understanding what they remember.
The Autist Artist talks of a young man with autism. Most people think he is uneducated and can not have a conversion like a normal person because he has autism. But when Dr. Sacks asks him to draw a picture, he performs it with great precision.
I believe that Dr. Oliver Sacks was ethnical with his treatments and studies that he performed on his patients. He used drugs that he thought would help on some patients, like Natasha K. and Miguel O., but some did not want treatment, like Ray. Sacks never forced any of his patients to take the medicine, and he never was forceful with punishments or experiments. Oliver made sure that his case studies were comfortable and felt safe. For example, when the young Indian girl would daydream about a normal life that she once had. Dr. Oliver Sacks used his knowledge in a useful and productive way to help all of his ill patients.
The psychological perspective of this novel is neurobiological. A neurobiological approach is focused on what is going on in the body and seeks to understand the the nervous system. Each person that Dr. Sacks works with has an illness or disease that affects their body, and they do not have control of their mental and physical behaviors. For example, how the elderly man has to walk on a slant because he can not hold his balance or when Ray has an excessive amount of energy that is hard to cure without destroying his care-free personality. Another psychological perspective that could be applied to this book is the Behavioral approach. The Behavioral approach is one that focuses on all behaviors that are observable and measurable. When Dr. Oliver makes a young autism patient draw a picture, Dr. Sacks is analyzing his behavior, while he is drawing the picture and how he will react to it. Many psychological perspectives could be picked out of his book, but these two are what i found to stand out the most.