Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body (2011)

One of the primary struggles in Martin’s experience is the dichotomy between the physical limitations of his body and his vibrant inner life. The book’s title itself alludes to this dichotomy, as expressed early on when Martin writes, “I lay like an empty shell, unaware of anything around me. Then one day, I started coming back to life” (7). The idea of an “empty shell” suggests a bodiless spirit, conscious but unparticipating in his own life. The limitations of Martin’s body, juxtaposed with the freedom of his spirit and his imagination, lend an added layer of complexity to Martin’s struggle. His spirit, unfettered by his body’s illness, was perhaps the most central part of his identity, his true self that remained concealed for so long.

As Martin writes, “I used to immerse myself in such fantasies to escape the feelings that threatened to overwhelm me when I thought I’d be trapped forever” (67). Later, when Martin’s body becomes more connected to the world around him, Martin admits that the world of his imagination was often more comforting, a refuge from the intense hardships of his gradual process in being able to once again communicate with the world around him. From a symbolic perspective, the body represents a painful prison, whereas the spirit presents infinite possibilities by which he can escape into other worlds.

As Martin makes progress in becoming more functional, the dichotomy of body versus spirit remains but also goes through changes. Because of Martin’s high spirits, he pushes his body to do better. Examples of this include him learning how to use machines to communicate. Though a painstaking process in the beginning as he has to have his mother suggest each and every word to add to his working dictionary of terms for the machine, the laborious process paid off. Martin went on to not only communicate with his family and therapists but to begin giving talks and speeches, as well as working full-time in a career he enjoys.

Martin’s marriage to Joanna is another example of his approach to “mind over matter.” Both Martin and Joanna accept the things that Martin cannot do, as opposed to trying to ignore these factual limitations. They’re both open with one another, so that bodily limitations don’t hamper their shared spiritual life. In fact, throughout Ghost Boy, Martin (and Joanna) clearly expresses a connection to God. Even in moments where despair and hopelessness threatened to take hold of him, Martin found comfort in his faith, thus adding a religious aspect to the “mind over matter” dichotomy. In fact, when Martin could speak to no one else in his life, he found himself speaking to God. He writes, “God and I didn’t talk about the big things in life—we didn’t engage in philosophical debates or argue about religion—but I talked to Him endlessly because I knew we shared something important” (161).

For Martin, God was a constant companion, a spiritual presence as real as anything else in his life. Even in Martin’s confusion and disorientation while he was alone in his mind, he writes, “my faith didn’t waver. He was as present to me as air, as constant as breathing” (15). When Martin and Joanna deepen their relationship, Christian faith also plays a central role in terms of how they view sexuality, for instance. As Martin recalls their romance prior to getting married, he explains:

[T]he one thing we don’t do is make love to each other. Joanna was brought up with a strong Christian faith, and she has educated and enriched my belief. We share a love of God and agreed before I arrived that we would wait to be physically together (230).

Thus, Martin’s faith does not remain in the abstract. Rather, his connection to God has practical applications that help him make decisions and orient his moral compass.