Mental Health In The Book 'A Complicated Kindness'

Around 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24 (NAMI), this statistic is explored in the novel “A Complicated Kindness”, by Miriam Toews, the novel shows throughout the story how mental health has substantial physical and mental effects physically and mentally not only on you but also on the people around you.
One of the ways mental health has negative effects on Nomi, the protagonist, and the people around her within the novel is through Nomi’s massive mental breakdown. During Nomi’s mental breakdown, the novel goes over the many things Nomi does during it which includes setting a truck on fire, “But before that, before the hospital and the field, sometime, I set a truck on fire in the parking lot of the Kyro

What has? asked my dad. Nomi’s excommunication, said The Mouth.” (Toews). Both of these quotes explore how Nomi’s mental health caused significant problems such as her mental breakdown, which caused Nomi to make bad decisions such as setting a car on fire. Nomi’s mental breakdown illustrates how mental health can affect people physically due to later being shown she is shunned from the church, which has other physical and mental effects on the people around her such as her dad. Toews reveals the mental and physical effects Nomi causes her dad by being shunned on pages 235 and 239, “Based on what criteria? asked my dad. Lack of attendance said The Mouth. And other various…we can’t have church members setting fires… and…He glanced at me briefly,” and also shown by, “All my dad left with was his new suit, his dipping bird, and the bible he’d had since he was a kid.” Very soon after this occurrence of Nomi and her breakdown in the novel, the negative effects of her mental

The first time Nomi has the hallucinations are after her tiny mental break and shaving her head on page 168, “...and I heard my name being called. Nomi, said Tash. I like what you’ve done to your hair. But who said you could wear my jacket? This piece of shit? I asked. You left it behind. It’s mine now.” (Toews). This quote proves how mental health can cause huge problems such as schizophrenia. We learn that Nomi has schizophrenia in this quote when she starts to imagine her sister there by her side talking to her, and having a real conversation. Toews presents that there are so many different ways people have mental health issues and people need to understand what others are going through. Another time Nomi experiences these hallucinations is when she has her other mental break on page 225, “I heard Tash say: Nomi, you’re sad, man. Get a grip. Walk away. What have I taught you?” (Toews). Nomi’s schizophrenia is again shown by this quote and later leads to Nomi setting a random car on fire. Toews reveals that one thing can quickly lead to another in mind, especially in people with mental health issues such as Nomi. Toews explains many ways in which mental health can be a very important thing to the sanity of the person and the people around