Forever 27: A Club for Elizabeth?

            When I started thinking about creativity and how it can be connected to the powers of self destruction, I immediately thought of the 27 Club also known as Forever 27.  I have seen Forever 27 posters many times with pictures of deceased musicians like, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, and Jim Morrison.  All of these artists were innovators in creating their own styles of music and culture, but all of them mysteriously died at the age of 27.  What makes the deaths of these musicians even more mysterious is that they either died of a drug overdose or committed suicide.  In the novel, A Question of Power, I really started to notice how Elizabeth’s struggle with her personal demons is very similar to the artists that make up the 27 Club.  This has led me to believe that the powers of creativity are inevitably connected to the powers of self destruction. 

            As the novel has progressed we have seen Elizabeth’s struggle with her personal demons and her mental state have become a very difficult burden for her to deal with.  It is so hard for her to handle that she eventually goes delirious and passes out. When she awakes the doctors and nurses tell her she had a nervous breakdown.  Elizabeth does not believe her diagnosis and say something that really displays the path of self destruction that she is headed for. 

            Elizabeth says to the doctor, “There’s something torturing me. There are strange under-currents and events here” (52).  This quote shows that her personal demons are really starting to take over her life and are taking her down a destructive path. Her visions keep on intensifying and start to haunt her even more.  Evidence of this is shown later on in the novel when her visions start taking a toll on her health.

            When Elizabeth starts working at Montabeng Secondary School and starts tending the garden her visions get even worse.  She is continuously tormented by Medusa and the Sello in the brown suit.  The torture is so painful that Elizabeth’s health starts to decline. On page 87, the reader can really feel the pain that these personal demons are inflicting on Elizabeth.   This quote is clearly displays the agony that Elizabeth is victim to, “By day, Elizabeth crawled around, painfully.  By night she lay back, a pinned-down victim of approaching death.  Medusa had the air of one performing a skilled and practiced murder” (87).  You can see that these metal visions that Elizabeth has created are leading her down the path of self-destruction.  If she does not find away to get rid of or control these personal demons she will end up dying a tragic death.

            Hopefully later on in the novel Elizabeth will have to strength to over come these demons.  If not I feel she will have the same destiny as the members of the 27 Club and will die before her time.