This book tells a true story, William Stanley Milligan, or "Billy" for short, was the first suspect in the history of the United States to commit a felony but was acquitted because he had multiple personalities Splitters have as many as 24 multiple personalities.
In 1977, Billy, the serial robbery suspect in Ohio, was arrested by the police, but he had no memory of the crimes he committed. After investigation, he was found to have a total of 24 personalities in his body, and these personalities are different in personality, IQ, age, nationality, language, gender, etc. The personalities in his body can talk to each other, play chess, and control each other's behavior. All personalities live in a hall, and whoever walks under a spotlight in the center of the hall is the personality that now controls Billy's body, but None of these personalities knew what the other was up to, so Billy's life before treatment was extremely chaotic.
In solitude, be a multitude to yourself.
by Daniel Case first met Billy at the Athens Mental Health Center. Billy asks Case to tell his story, as he hopes to make his mental illness known to the world. Keith had doubts about Billy's situation but was quite interested. When Keith saw an article titled "Billy's Ten Faces" published in Newsweek, his curiosity was further aroused. And so this book was born.
"I'm nothing more than a walking dead body lying in an empty cave. Saliva seeping from my chapped lips shows that antipsychotics are wrestling with my mind, soul, and body. Can I resist them, or will they eventually Will it defeat me? Did I come here to escape the tragic fate of being outside the bars? Is there any value in continuing to exist after the incompatible soul has been thrown into the trash can? Trapped in this concrete In the cast box, facing a wall that keeps mocking me and approaching me, what contribution can I make to mankind?"
Over the years, the voices of controversy from all walks of life have never stopped. Guilty or not guilty, everyone seems to have their say. Injury and pain are there so vividly that no one can completely ignore them. Whether it is a victim or a perpetrator, whether it should be sympathized or destroyed, this voice challenged Billy's fragile nerves over and over again.
"Teacher"—this personality who may have always existed, has a complete memory of Billy from the age of four to the present. It is with his help that the author sorts out the context of Billy's entire life. When the "teacher" traced his "where he came from", he discovered the truth of his father's suicide and the flaws in his mother's character. Perhaps Billy knew these subconsciously when he was a teenager. The misfortune of his native family led to a tragedy for a teenager. "When there is too much sadness, a person can no longer bear it, so I accept all the suffering that bet on a person separately." From hopelessness to hope and then to despair, I have experienced one after another struggle against helplessness , Billy's multiple personalities may be produced in this way.
At the end of the book, in the depths of Billy's spirit, the spotlight is no longer the personalities doing their own thing, but coffins that have not been closed. Life is empty with hope.
"24 Billies" is a typical documentary novel: focusing on hot news events with far-reaching influence, the writer spends a lot of time doing investigations and interviews, and appears in the novel as a source of certain materials and information. Using third-person objective narration, most of the characters, places and related institutions in the novel are real names.
This world is not only sunny and warm, but in the unknown dark place, there are too many people who suffer from unbearable bleakness and grief because of their unfortunate experiences. The fragile and distorted psychology is wrapped in layers of shells, rejecting the entry and salvation of the outside world, living alone in the shadow of the past, and it is difficult to escape. Whether
Billy is a liar to deceive the public, or an unfortunate victim, the truth is even more difficult to distinguish, the dust has not yet settled. Perhaps, sometimes, reality is stranger than drama.