The Link Between Mental Unhealth and Art
There is an undeniable connection between mental health and the artistic process. From Van Gogh to Cobain, this issue has been discussed in the public eye. In this book Ondaatje attempts to cement the connection by illustrating the lives of Bolden and Bellocq. Both are struggling artists from rough backgrounds living in less desirable parts of town. For Bellocq his art is how he processes pain, but he intentionally hurts himself in order to perfect his artistic process. This leads him to hire more and more attractive women, whom he would love to sleep with, but he doesn't have the courage to try. He photographs them in provocative poses in truly artistic pictures, but the entire process is torture for him. Afterwards he often rips up and scratches any photos which do not live up to his high expectations of these women. Similarly, Bolden dips into his schizophrenic tendencies in order to write increasingly jazzy pieces. He's trying to create something which has never been done before, but he leads himself to believe that he's been commissioned by the beings he hears inside his head to this thing. He indulges the voices until he's effectively made himself insane with schizophrenia and still he persists, trying to make better music. Both men learn the cost of such unhealthy impulses for the sake of their work when they both die in isolation and agony, Bellocq of suicide by fire and Bolden of insanity and abuse in a mental hospital.
Violence and Poverty
Much of the true suffering in Bolden's life is a direct result of his social class. He was born poor and lives in poverty as an adult. New Orleans isn't a particularly wealthy city to begin with, and Bolden lives in Storyville, a notoriously violent neighborhood. As he grows up in such a harsh environment, Bolden learns to fight for himself and to distrust everyone. He's on his own with no family except the one he makes, which is nearly impossible with his innate abandonment issues. When Bolden feels threatened, he vents his fear in extremely violent outbursts, like when he beats up his customer after learning of Nora's affair. He doesn't have the resources he desperately needs in order to calm down. He ends more stability in his life but has no good picture of what that would even look like. To him, the world will always be a dangerous, cruel place in which he must survive instead of thrive. His violence leads to poverty because he can't hold down a regular job, yet the violence is also a direct result of growing up in poverty where he had to fight to live.
Infidelity
Bolden's wife has an affair with a friend while they're living together. Whether she acts up because he's given to neglect or because she wants to hurt him is difficult to determine. Most likely it's a little bit of both. At any rate Bolden is enraged to learn the truth. He immediately leaves town without telling anyone. Two years later Webb finds him living in Shell City with a woman and her husband. Bolden is having an affair with Robin, but she's still living with her husband, so the three of them live there together. Needless to say, it's not a healthy environment. By the time Webb arrives, the husband is threatening Bolden with violence if he doesn't leave. Still living in the cycle of infidelity, Nora has given up on Bolden and moved in with his former bandmate, Willy. Upon his return, Bolden moves into the home with Nora and Willy although his marriage exists in name only now. The pain of Nora's infidelity and his own disloyalty lead him to throw himself into his music. Such suffering can only find outlet in art.
Paranoia
Bolden is not a healthy person. It's apparent from the way his friends talk about him, that he's not trustworthy or stable. They treat him sort of like a child but try desperately to stay on his good side. He has paranoid delusions -- hears voices, sees vision, and often expresses suspicion of the people around him. When Nora confirms his worst fear by cheating on him, he makes a conscious break from reality. His partnership with Bellocq only increases this disparity as Bellocq encourages him to believe these paranoid thoughts which he had always fought before. Eventually Bolden acquiesces and gives himself up entirely to the whims of his delusions. In order to play music that's never been hear before, he starts believing that he's playing music which he hears in his head and playing it for audiences which don't exist. He descends until he completely breaks from reality and becomes the slave of his delusions, with full-blown schizophrenia.
