All's Well

Miranda Fitch is the novel’s protagonist and unreliable narrator. She is a dynamic and round character whose identity is defined by her chronic pain. The novel is filtered through her perspective, which is often distorted by her physical agony, prescription drug use, and a desperate longing for her former life as a successful stage actor. Her intense pain isolates her from a world that consistently refuses to validate her suffering; this is a central idea in the theme of The Gendering and Invisibility of Chronic Pain. Early in the novel, Miranda sees a reflection of her own fear of being disbelieved in a commercial featuring a “bad actress” pleading for others to accept her invisible pain. This external skepticism drives her inward, leading to a profound alienation from her colleagues, her students, and the medical establishment, which she perceives as a series of indifferent or hostile men. Her physical pain manifests as a constant, oppressive presence, which she imagines as a “fat man [who] is a sadist” sitting on a chair that crushes her foot (4), externalizing her internal torment.

Miranda’s primary