What's wrong with Mary?

[arothenberg9]

When I first started reading Act I, I immediately picked up on the fact that Mary had some sort of condition or sickness. My first hypothesis was that she had an eating disorder of some sort, because they emphasized food a lot. They called her "fat" many times, which was a positive. She is also a very self-conscious person, viewing beauty as a high priority, which made it seem logical that she would have some sort of eating disorder. However, I think that because of her nervousness and they fragile emotion state, her condition or sickness goes beyond just an eating disorder. I don't know the correct medical diagnosis, but I think that because of her extreme nervousness, she has made her self physically and mentally ill.

[epolak9]

I noticed this too. I think that her anxiety might also be partially due to whatever illness Edmund has (malaria). James and Jamie were both very against talking to Mary about his illness, instead just agreeing with her about it being a summer cold. I definitely think that Mary has anxiety issues and that her family tries their best to protect her from anything that would stress her out. This shows a softness that the fellow family members have towards Mary, regardless of their differences.

[bvanderschaaf9]

I think that the true nature of the mother's illness will be revealed in the next act. At the end of Act 1, it seems like she has a relapse, which consists of a "battle with herself" to control her seizure or panic attack (49). It's clear that the rest family is attempting to keep the mother calm, fearing a return of the sickness, but Edmund's sickness and the family's failure to act completely normal around her has triggered the sickness once again. Whatever the mother's illness was, it must've been serious enough to have to send her away - Tyrone mentions that "she's been well in the two months since she came home" (36).
I feel like the illness has a mental component or is believed to be a mental illness because of the way they are treating it. I don't think the family would be tiptoeing around the mother as much if the illness were purely physical; I think that it could be talked about. They obviously don't want to remind the mother of the illness, which makes it seem like her mental state has some bearing on the illness. Also, the cause of her panic at the end of the act seems to be purely mental.
Just a guess: she was at a mental hospital for some period of time until two months ago.

[mmazzucco9]

I definitely agree with the fact that Mary previously had an eating disorder. Besides the fact that the family members constantly mention how "fat" she is, there is also an emphasis on the number of times Tyrone puts his hands on Mary's hips or puts his arms around her. I think this also goes to show that he is somewhat appreciative of the weight Mary has put on.
However she seems to have more wrong with her because of her constant nervousness and self-consciousness. This could definitely be attributed to the fact that her family is in shambles. Her two sons disrespect their father and are "failures" in life. It appears as if Mary is unfortunately thrown in a hopeless situation with no way of getting out, as if she is constantly bombarded by the situation. Possibly Mary is experiencing depression and due to this she has experience extreme nervous attacks. I definitely think we need to read on due to the cliff hanger at the end of Act I.

[msheil9]

Mary also seems to distrust doctors; she says "Doctor Hardy! I wouldn't believe a thing he says" (27), nervously. So I think whatever she had made her wary of doctors, and has lead to a very unhealthy denial that her son is seriously sick. Mary is self-conscious, anxious, and kind of pathetic and possibly previously had a mental illness, but I think her flaws are merely reflecting the problems that exist within all the members of the family. The family is clearly disfunctional: they fight as soon as they are all in the same room, they exchange petty insults, and are all working to deceive Mary. And I doubt that will be the end of their trouble. So far, Mary--and whatever is wrong with her--just exhibits a clearer manifestation of the problems of the family as a whole. I think her flaws are more respectable for that reason; she doesn't hide or deny them, they're all almost on the surface.

[timlehms]

I agree with your thought that Mary most definitely had some sort of nervous disorder. The references to Mary becoming fat as a positive definitely does suggest some variety of eating disorder, however, it is also mentioned multiple times by Tyrone that she had issues dealing with nerves. From the symptoms of general discomfort at certain points where there is conflict, I would say that she perhaps suffers from GAD, generalized anxiety disorder. Another theory could be that she was suffering from some mental problem and the treatment she underwent was shock therapy which could also explain her distrust of doctors. Shock therapy could account for all of her current symptoms in addition to causing her enough stress to keep her from eating.