On the surface, "Tick" seems to be quite a straightforward story: A woman (who has separated from her husband) finds a tick in her scalps and panics.
Now, look deeper into the story. Pay particular attention to the details that Oates infuses about the way the woman reminisces about her husband and the woman's inability to handle this physical setback. Then, answer the question:
Is the tick even there? Prove it.
no I honestly don't think the tick is there at all. I think she's imagining it there like same kind of sign that she can't handle herself and life without her husband there with her. that's why when the phone rings at the end she starts imaging scenarios that would involve her husband being back in her life so the tick was just like a stress factor that she created because she's afraid to be alone
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mikayla, I believe that the tick is just a stress factor she has made up in her mind. It is symbolic of all the stress she has felt in being with her husband as well as separating from him. She fears being alone and has some mental issues (being possibly suicidal) and realizes that she needs her husband in her life, as she searches through his personal property in order to find something to help (the book). at the end she ultimately foresees going back to her husband to start their lives together. "it is time"
ReplyDeleteLike he other 2 commets, I agree that the tick is actually her imagination and that it represents her stress and separation from husband instead. In the beginning she dreams of all the things she would be able to do now that she is finally away from her husband, but the tick is a reality reminder that losing him was more stress than she thought. She feels "like a trapped animal" and has a face full of tears and despair because of the events with her husband, not the tick. She keeps describing the tick as such a small problem yet resorts to solutions such as killing herself because the tick is actually the boatload of her stress. At the end there is also the scene with the phone which was probably her husband, and this is when she forgets the pain from the tick.
ReplyDeleteI believe the tick represented the woman's breaking point, where she could no longer face the loneliness and pain of being left by her husband. Though the tick isn't actually there, it's a constant reminder to her that she can't be alone and that she needs someone (though she can't even go to her neighbor for help and doesn't really think of anyone else). As she realized all of her problems and foresaw her future troubles (suicidal thoughts, etc.) the tick's importance became extremely overexaggerated. I feel as if the end, where she goes to get the phone, truly proves that there is no tick, considering she completely forgets about the tick. If the tick was actually there, she would have continued to focus on it rather than the phone.
ReplyDeleteI mean, sure I get what other people are trying to say with the tick is just an emotional barrier that she can't stand being alone thus causing her to go insane. But I mean the author CLEARLY states it in the passage; "clumsily with the fingers of one hand and she gives a little scream and nearly drops the mirror it is a tick,..." if it wasn't for that I would totally understand, but it clearly states the tick is much very real and clear that it's there upon her head. That or it's a very weird lookin' bump, I mean there's SOMETHING there o.o... Idk, but there's no doubt she is becoming insane; its clear that she is much attached to her husband and in fact she needs his presence regardless of how cool or laidback she may act.
ReplyDeleteThe term "medical condition" comes to mind while reading this story, due to the relationship status of the husband and wife. The word "tick" can mean something more than the insect, it could mean a nervous tick like biting your nails or twitching, or the ticking of the clock. By saying the work "furious" the author could be portraying anger. Also, the author uses the word "careening" symbolizing how the wife has lost control of her life. When the line of "a mere tick embedded in her scalp" is said, it makes me think that everything that has happened has indeed shown that there is no insect in her head, just a tick from her stress. The end paragraph tells about how she is seeing her future, with a child and fun stuff like that. When she believes that "it's time," she seems more calm. The story begins to spiral, but as the last paragraph comes into play, everything just levels out and calms.
ReplyDeleteI think that the tick was just in her imagination. Her life was spiraling downward and imagining things while her life was falling apart would not be uncommon. She was the lowest point in her life, most likely, saying how "she should kill herself after all" and saying how life was never going to get better. She hit a wall and made up the tick on her scalp to compensate for her breakdown. When "she foresees a reconciliation" suddenly the story gets brighter and the thought of the tick had vanished.
ReplyDeleteAfter thinking about it, I feel that the tick is in her head and just her imagination. In the beginning she continues to claim how she will happier now that her husband is gone. She refuses to answer his calls because she doesn't want her "happiness spoiled". But the moment she "sees" the "tick" she begins to freak out excessively. Almost as if she is just making up an excuse to hide her pain and sadness that her husband is truly gone. She even over-exaggerates and claims that the "tick" is digging through her skull (which is far from the truth). She also threatens to kill her-self too because she can't think of any other way to solve her "large problem". But what really solidifies this idea that the tick isn't real is the fact that in the end, when the phone rings (her husband calling), the "tick" seems to have disappeared. She just silently drifts to the phone, and foresees a reconciliation and lovemaking (presumably with her husband). The ridiculous pain she felt instantly vanishes because of the fact that she can talk to her husband again. The "tick" was just her loneliness and fear of being alone that were getting the best of her. It was never real.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that there is actually a tick on her head. I think that the tick is symbolic of her how fragile her mental state is and like Allan said, her breaking point. Also how on edge she really is. The "tick," allows her to let all of her deep-rooted emotions out. She doesn't really realize deep down whats going on until she finds the "tick". Once she discovers the tick its almost a realization that her husbands really gone and the overwhelming rush of emotions she targets at the tick.
ReplyDeleteI have a good reason to believe that the tick is not an actual tick at all. It seems that she is merely imagining it. This all happens after she splits up from her husband. She claims she is happier without him, but she finds the "tick" later on. It is apparent that the tick is not real because she paces around her apartment wondering "What if...what if.." constantly which shows signs of paranoia. She begins to lose her mind at this point and makes up situations in her head about telling somebody about the tick. Like Heidi said, a tick is not just an insect, but also something that bothers someone. When this woman, at the end, hears the phone ringing she forgets the tick and "like a sleepwalker" heads to the phone. If an insect was embedded into her head, I'm almost positive she wouldn't be able to forget it that quickly. It was all in her head. (Figuratively speaking of course.)
ReplyDeleteI think the tick represents the major issues in the characters life and how she feels about them- all jumbled up and impossible to get rid of or figure out. And as she tries to pull the tick out she's really trying to figure her life (emotions, relationship etc) out. As we see, she gets really frustrated and no matter the advice she gets she still cannot get the tick out. I think this event was also the point when she truly realized that her husband was gone and that she was all alone.
ReplyDeleteI think that the tick is actually there. To me it seems there would be a huge problem if one was clawing their head till the point of bleeding if nothing was there, that wouls certainly he indicative of serious mental problems. However I think that the woman does have a tick but she is unable to cope with it because she is emtionally strained. Her separation from her husband has taken a toll on her making it hard for her to deal with additional stress, but has not driven her to the point of insanity.
ReplyDelete*would *Be !!
DeleteYEAH I agree, mostly that the tick just represents her breaking point, the point where she just looses control and doesnt know what to do. They do say that divorces is nasty soo maybe it has just taken a toll on her. I dont believe that the tick is actually there, but maybe there is something little there like a hair clip that she cannot remove from her hair, so then she starts overreacting, but I do believe that she is physically harming herself. I dont know what is actually happening to this girl but since she just clawed her brains away she might want to get that checked out.....im just saying. Plus overreacting like that is not normal soo she might want to see a doctor for that too... soon, as soon as possible. BUT I HOPE everything turns out well though, you know since there is no tick.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the tick was actually there, but it just serves more as a symbol to the woman's emotional stress. While most people would view a tick simply as just an insect, this woman saw it as more than that. She had a rather dramatic reaction to the bug, "panting, cursing, blood beating in her eyeballs and rivulets of sweat running down her back." This dramatic reaction, while extreme to most people, can be rooted back down to her separation from her husband. After they went their separate ways, the woman was so distraught that she found it "easier...to hate [herself] than to respect [herself]." This obviously unhealthy emotional instability can relate directly to her dramatic and shocking reaction to the tick in her hair. Her emotional stress after the separation from her husband left her with a chronic case of stress, leaving the littlest and simplest of things to make her "tick" and stress her out, hence the title of the story (OMG!!!). This tick represents not only her emotional stress, but also the little, simple things ( like the characteristics of a tick) in life to make her dramatically react to things that most people would not as a result of her obvious distress from a former experience.
ReplyDeleteI think that the tick wasn't there, but it was more of a representation of the internal struggles that the woman had been facing. All these painful emotions and memories filled her head at the very place that the tick directly sat. The story is more figurative than literal in this sense. Throughout the story, the woman's mental state is clearly unstable. She's depressed to the point of being suicidal and she has this horrible feeling of being a victim of her own emotions from the breakup. She knew from the book what she must do to deal with the tick and it seems simple but she overreacts and cannot manage to deal with the problem. It's just like emotions. There are plenty of books that make it seem simple to deal with negative feelings after a breakup, but people still struggle despite. After all this struggle with the "tick" in the story, she reconciles with her husband. I doubt that a struggle with an insect would change her mind about her relationship. It was that struggle with her emotions represented by this annoying "tick" that led her to make up with her husband.
ReplyDeleteIn a literal sense of the question, the tick's presence could have been a result of hallucinations. Maybe she saw something on her head that wasn't a tick, but due to her unstable mind set, she wasn't able to act logically and deal with the problem.
THE TICK IS NOT REAL!!! It's in her head--- figuratively!! This story reminds me so much of one of my all time favorite movies, "Black Swan". It's about a dancer who strives for the role of the "Swan Queen", the lead character that embodies both the pure White Swan and evil Black Swan. She was absolutely marvelous as the White Swan, but she lacked the requirements to be the Black Swan, therefore she starts to hallucinate and become delusive, just like the lady who believes that there is her scalp. The dancer, Nina tries so hard to embody the Black Swan that she was introduced into her own little world of horror and terror. BASICALLY her experience is also known as psychosis, which is "a loss of contact with reality that usually includes false beliefs or delusions, and seeing or hearing things that are not there." JUST LIKE THE LADY WITH THE TICK. It's not real, she just somehow entered a whole new world filled with her own paranoia and fears. (If you haven't watched the movie you probably should, ok? Ok)
ReplyDeletethat there is a tick in her scalp** oopsies hehe
DeleteThe tick is real. Upon viewing it, she "gives a little scream and nearly drops the mirror" because "it is a tick...stuck fast to her scalp." She SEES the tick, so it exists, unless she is hallucinating or this is another case of the unreliable narrator. The tick is her breaking point; it pushes her from attempting to convince herself she is done with her (ex?) husband to realizing her need to have him. In this way, it is representative of the void left within her after he left and how essential he is to her. After her husband left, she is "happy here alone" and has "gotten though the worst of it," or so she claims, as she also has suicidal thoughts at this time, indicating that she cannot handle life without him. During the incident, it it his medical book that helps her through the panic and hysteria, so she relies on him in this, her darkest moment, and he is "there" for her, which warms her to the idea of returning to their previous state of marriage/living together. She thanks God that her husband left it behind, obviously for tick-removal purposes, but also for it's role in making her realize she needs him. Afterwards, she "foresees a reconciliation" between them, which she desperately needs because she really isn't doing well without him.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the tick. is not really. there, she was. just. imagining it because. Of the mass. emotions. she was going through and the thoughts she was having about her husband and how he was almost messing with her head and so they finally split up which made her seem almost paranoid
ReplyDeleteMaybe there is a tick. But I believe that there is no tick and that she is just hallucinating. In the beginning she was trying to convince herself that she does not need her boy anymore but in fact she needs him dearly and her mind keeps "ticking" when she thinks of him. The tick shows that she is going crazy without him and it just inside her head that she has a tick and in fact it's just the agony that her boy is gone. She is like the tick to her boy. She is attached and will no go out without a fight and is quite parasitic to him and thrives off of him.
ReplyDeleteNate-the revised version:
ReplyDeleteI believe that the tick is not really there, she was just imagining it because of the mass emotions she was going through and the thoughts she was having about her husband and how he was almost messing with her head and so they finally split up which made her seem almost paranoid...-Nate the Great
P.S.-"...As always, a teacher comes home..."~Beowulf theme song
I don't believe the tick is actualy there, that she is only imaging it. She tells herself that she is happier and her life is better without her husband, but she imagines the tick being stuck to her because it shows that she is lonely and needs the comfort of someone constantly being with her
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ReplyDeleteI understand where everyone's coming from with this imaginative approach, as she clearly has other problems going on. However, i agree with Howard; the author clearly and explicitly states that there is in fact a tick submerged within her scalp, such as represented by the quote, "clumsily with the fingers of one hand and she gives a little scream and nearly drops the mirror it is a tick,...". Now, theoretically, there is a possibility that the woman was simply hallucinating while in the midst of getting her emotions under control, however i simply don't fully see how a tick is in any way shape or form relates to the problems she's currently facing with her husband.
ReplyDelete*related
DeleteI believe there is actually a tick present. However, I think she's completely overreacting because of everything that happened with her husband. Normally, a tick would not cause this much emotional distress, and her reaction to it shows us that she is not in a proper mental state because of what happened with her husband. The situation with the tick on her head shows that she is actually not happy without her husband like she originally said: "I'm happy here alone." I believe the tick is actually there, and her reaction to it is used to show she is mentally unstable without her husband and on the verge on breakdown: "trembling and panting as if she'd been physically assaulted, a mere tick embedded in here scalp." Even she knows she's overreacting, but given her current emotional state, she does not know how to handle herself. I'm probably wrong because everyone else seems to think there is not a real tick, but that's just how I interpreted the story.
ReplyDeleteI THINK the tick is a figmint of her imgination, created under the stress of the situation she is in. The stress of being separated from her husband is breaking her mentally, and so she is creating this scenario in her head.
ReplyDeleteI do not think the tick is actually there. I think its her imagination and its her way of avoiding all her issues with her husband. By thinking about this tick, she won't think about her husband as much. She creates this image of a tick because of all the stress she is under.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think the tick is actually there, however the woman's already shaken mental state causes her to overreact, making the situation seem much more extreme and almost as if it is all in her head. The vivid descriptions that Joyce Carol Oates gives about how the woman is digging at her scalp and filling the sink with flecks of blood and hair, clearly show that there is really something in the woman's scalp that she is trying to get out. It does seem that the woman is losing her mind, and maybe the tick doesn't even exist, but this is only because she is so emotionally drained already that she can not handle the stress of the tick and overreacts.
ReplyDeleteThe tick must be there, as the woman literally scratches her scalp to the point that she draws blood. Her isolation and lack of confidence weaken her already fragile mental state, and this results in her overreaction to the tick. If this small insect really doesn't exist, then woman is ridiculously insane and should probably seek help from a therapist. But, visual hallucinations such as this are very rare, and most cases occur in men. Leaving science behind, this woman is in dire need of companionship, but chooses not to ask for help until her husband tries to call her again, and her mind has endured all it can take.
ReplyDeleteSorry this didn't orgionally post, however, I definataly believe that the tick was totally in her head the entire time. She notes that she scrapes and scrapes at her head, yet all that comes off her head is blood from her scalp, if she had been actually scratching at a tick, it would lead me to believe it would either come off from that amount of forceful scratching, and she would not have had that much comes off of her head. Furthermore, the tick appears to get worse as her stress increases, "It burrowed her way furiously into her scalp." this only appears to happen as her emotional stress gets worse, leading me to believe that the tick is just something in her head since she obviously has problems as she thinks she should kill herself over this tick.
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