Phantom Limb

How does the shifting motif of enclosed spaces in Phantom Limb, from the self-imposed confinement of the apartment to the institutional observation of the psychiatric ward, ultimately challenge and dismantle Emily’s delusion?

While Rose’s friendship is a catalyst for Emily’s self-discovery, the Epilogue suggests their bond settles into a tacit enabling of each other’s mental health crises and self-harm. Explore the complex nature of their relationship. In what ways does it represent both the potential for and the limitations of healing through shared experience?

Phantom Limb integrates clinical psychological terminology, such as “dissociative fugue” and “attachment theory,” directly into the narrative. How does the novel use this language to both legitimize Emily’s experience and, later, to show how she learns to perform a version of recovery that satisfies the medical system?

Examine Thomas as an unwitting participant in Emily’s two-year delusion. How does his steadfast love and belief in “Elizabeth” function as both a narrative catalyst for the truth and an illustration of the collateral damage caused by severe trauma?

Discuss how Phantom Limb explores the relationship between the body and the mind. How do Rose and the narrator’s minds cause them to misperceive their bodies? How does the body serve as a text that tells the truth that the mind evades?

While Phantom Limb uses the unreliable narrator and plot twist common to psychological thrillers, its final revelation exposes a deep psychological trauma rather than a malicious deception. How does the novel use the conventions of the genre to guide the reader toward empathy and a clinical understanding of dissociation?

Analyze how the idealized version of Elizabeth that Emily constructs reveals Emily’s own psychological state.

The Epilogue of Phantom Limb presents a resolution where Emily chooses to continue living as Elizabeth, a decision accompanied by a return to self-harm. Does the novel ultimately present this choice as a successful adaptation for survival or as a tragic failure to achieve true psychological integration? Support your argument with evidence from the text.