The entire profession of talk therapy is built around the idea that there are clear lines of separation between patients and their therapists—but in The Silent Patient, cigarettes (and cigars) demonstrate how those lines can be blurred. When Theo Faber, a well-respected psychotherapist, first shows up for his new job at the psych ward known as the Grove, he is anxious to conceal his smoking habit: “psychotherapists tend to view smoking as an unresolved addiction,” he explains. But just a few weeks into the job, Theo learns that his boss, Professor Lazarus Diomedes, also smokes, justifying the habit by saying that “we’re all a little bit crazy in this place.” And towards the end of the narrative, Theo smokes a cigarette with his patient Alicia, causing him to reflect that they were “crashing through every last boundary between therapist and patient.” The persistence of cigarette smoking throughout the story suggests that everyone has bad habits and dirty secrets—no amount of training can erect a clear barrier between those who claim to help and those who need to be helped.
Cigarettes Quotes in The Silent Patient
[Diomedes] pulled out a little box from his desk, sliding off the cover to reveal a row of cigars. He offered me one. I shook my head.
“You don’t smoke?” He seemed surprised. “You look like a smoker to me.”
“No, no. Only the occasional cigarette—just now and then…I’m trying to quit.”
“Good, good for you.” He opened the window. “You know that joke, about why you can’t be a therapist and smoke? Because it means you’re still fucked up.” He laughed and popped one of the cigars into his mouth. “I think we’re all a bit crazy in this place. You know that sign they used to have in offices? ‘You don’t need to be mad to work here, but it helps’?”
Diomedes laughed again. He lit the cigar and puffed on it, blowing the smoke outside. I watched him enviously.
Cigarettes Symbol Timeline in The Silent Patient
