VanessaJ’s Reviews > The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934 > Status Update

The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom: absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it…and then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death.

When I look at the large green iron gate from my window, it takes on the air of a prison gate. An unjust feeling since I know I can leave the place whenever I want to, and since I know that human beings place upon an object, or a person, this responsibility of being the obstacle when the obstacle lies within one’s self.