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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Still Alice, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition and Success
Loss of Identity
Illness, Marriage, and Family
Alzheimer’s, Quality of Life, and Happiness
Summary
Analysis
Alice goes to Dr. Moyer’s office complaining of “difficulty sleeping.” She tells Dr. Moyer that it takes her a long time to get to sleep and then she struggles to stay asleep due to the anxiety she’s experiencing over her Alzheimer’s. This is only half true because “she’[s] been sleeping like a baby.” Dr. Moyer offers her an antidepressant or Restoril, but Alice says she wants a “stronger” sleeping medication. Dr. Moyer is hesitant and wants to talk to John, but Alice insists on getting the prescription. Dr. Moyer and Alice study each another for a minute before Dr. Moyer agrees to give her the prescription.
Although it goes unsaid, in this scene it is clear that Alice wants the sleeping pills to carry out her suicide plan when it is time. It is implied that this is something that Dr. Moyer understands. What Dr. Moyer also understands is that if she were in Alice’s position, this might be what she would want for herself, too, which is why she ultimately writes the prescription.
Themes
Alice returns to Mass General Hospital for her checkup with Dr. Davis. She performs many of the same neuropsychological tests that she took during her last appointment, answering basic questions about her age, the season, the date, and her birthday. She is also asked to write a sentence, identify what’s in some pictures, and name as many words as she can that begin in “s” and then “f.” Alice is then given a newspaper story to read and then summarize. She answers some more questions, but when the neuropsychologist asks Alice for details about the newspaper story, Alice says she doesn’t “really remember much” and is embarrassed.
Alice is used to considering herself an extraordinarily intelligent woman, which explains her embarrassment when she fails to repeat the newspaper story after hearing it moments before. She is being confronted with the fact that her above-average intelligence is not enough to save her from forgetting information shortly after hearing it for the first time.
Themes
Alice is led into Dr. Davis’s office, where he and John are waiting for her. Alice does not feel like herself, but like “a character in a play.” She sits next to John and wishes she could talk to him about what happened while she was away. Alice discusses the problems she’s been experiencing, including night wandering, with Dr. Davis, who advises her to register with a program that sends her a personal ID bracelet that can be used to find her family’s contact information if she gets lost.
Dr. Davis’s suggestion that Alice get an ID bracelet echoes John’s earlier insistence that she always keep her phone with her: it implies that she is rapidly losing the freedom of movement because she might be incapable of finding her way back home and needs others to take care of her. This intensifies the sense Alice has that she’s “a character in a play” rather than herself.
Themes
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Dr. Davis asks Alice about any other issues she’s been having and if she’s still running regularly. She says she runs daily, so Dr. Davis tells John he should run with Alice, especially because exercise has been shown to help slow the progress of Alzheimer’s. John agrees to, but Alice “doubt[s] that he [can] commit to it” because he hates running.
Alice’s doubt in John’s ability to “commit” to running with her reflects her growing doubt in his ability to be there for her in the way she wants him to be, let alone the way she needs him to be as her illness worsens.
Themes
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Dr. Davis asks Alice if she’s informed anyone at Harvard of her diagnosis and she tells him she hasn’t. Alice also shares that although she was able to perform her usual duties, “it took a lot more out of [her] than it did last semester.” Dr. Davis warns her that she will have to make a plan for telling someone at Harvard about her Alzheimer’s and that she needs to consider obtaining a living will and a power of attorney.
Dr. Davis’s advice to Alice about letting someone at Harvard know about her condition and the need to get a power of attorney are additional reminders to Alice that the loss of her identity, independence, and ability to speak for herself is something she will soon face. Alice has always been successful at her job, but she knows that once she tells someone at Harvard about her Alzheimer’s, it will mark the end of that period of her life.
Themes
John asks Dr. Davis about clinical trials for which Alice qualifies. Dr. Davis shares some information about a clinical trial for a drug called Amylix. It is a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, so there is no guarantee she would get the medication. John asks about different medications and therapies, but Dr. Davis isn’t confident about most of them and they would prevent Alice from being able to take part in a clinical trial. John wants her to take a combination of different medications, but when Dr. Davis asks Alice what she wants to do, she decides to take part in the Amylix trial.
Alice takes a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that this is one thing about her life that she gets to make a decision about, especially because soon she will not be allowed to choose for herself because she’ll lack the awareness necessary to do so. Alice’s choice to take part in a risky trial also reflects her love of research and highlights how much her life has changed in just a short amount of time—rather than overseeing studies as an academic researcher, she is now participating in one as a subject.
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