Various philosophies of mind frequently claim that the mental supervenes on the physical; or, in other words, that there is no change in our mental state without a corresponding change in biology. Sheku, the protagonist of William McCauley's story "Mister Henry's Trousers," illustrates this principle in extremis. In fact, Sheku's elephantiasis-infected testicles could be posited as the real protagonists of the story, for they are among only a small handful of explanations for the tragic overreaching with which Sheku conducts himself. As McCauley interlaces the self-destructive actions of this unflappably submissive house servant with intimate and painful scenes of self-readjustment, a connection is forged between the two. Sheku begins to confuse his with other medical conditions as he senses at one point in the narrative some heavy-lidded mental fog akin to malarial fever. It's clear from his startling behavior, though, that Sheku's fog is purely psychological, a phenomenological mutation to correlate with his unspeakable biology.

• as a Normal Quality PDF Document (367 KB)