Summary Of Lewis Thomas The Attic Of The Brain

Lewis Thomas, an American essayist, conveys the importance of preserving the mystery of one’s mind in his essay, “The Attic of the Brain.” Thomas explains that humans produce internal and external conflicts because they overanalyze their choices. For instance, Thomas focuses on a particular problem based on humans choosing to discard their “unidentifiable articles” in their attic or to preserve their valuable possessions or “memories.” He uses the analogy of the multitude of “unidentifiable articles” in the attic to compare to the flood of ideas in the human brain. The commodities stored in the cramped attic are “an old chair, [and] trunkful of old letters” which serve as a purpose of remembrance, as the human brain is filled with crucial information

He mentions that the human brain is an “indispensable organ of thought” which automatically translates thoughts and feelings into words (77). The human brain retains a collection of memories or previous experiences, whether captivating or unappealing to the person. Therefore, the human brain holds an excessive amount of information which leads to an emotional or mental conflict. Thomas introduces an internal conflict in his essay by stating, “We thought we discovered, first off, the attic…what we really found was the trapdoor and a stepladder,” to illustrate the dual nature of the human brain in control as opposed to the person in control of his or her brain (75). People prefer to be in control of themselves, but the human brain overpowers the person’s ability to control their thoughts. From Thomas’ analysis, it can be concluded that by allowing the human brain to be in control, humans do not have to follow “the great error of our time to think that by thinking about thinking.” (76) The human brain is an effective tool that expresses preliminary thoughts vocally. Overall, the complicated thoughts circulating the brain will eventually diminish once people vocalize their internal

“Dust,” portrays a multitude of particles of waste packed together into an irregular round ball to indicate the different shape and appearance of dusts. For instance, the dust balls collected at a tailor are covered with an assortment of colorful filaments, while the dust collected from the human naval has a characteristic gray tone. The vibrant colors of the dust ball signify the most recent memories, whereas the gray tone dust are the oldest memories. Altogether the old and recent memories are filled in the human brain, just as the dust ball is compacted with an accumulation of waste. The dust filled in the “bureau drawers” adds value to the collection “stored in the tissues of the house” (75). Each particle of waste is a major aspect to the completed image of a dust ball. According to Thomas, dust accumulates at the “open, openly acknowledged and displayed” surface and generates in the concealed, tight spaces in the attic signifying that the dust in the “tissues of the house” cannot be removed entirely, since dust continues to accumulate, and past memories keep appearing in our thoughts. Lewis Thomas explains that people attempt to eliminate their old possessions by “finally paying around fifty dollars an hour to have them carted off,” meaning that humans