Mind of My Mind

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Ethical Complications of Oppressive Power

In the world of Mind of My Mind, Doro, Mary, and the other active telepaths exert an immense amount of power over those around them. Their abilities create a power imbalance, not only with regular humans but also with those telepaths who are weaker than them. This imbalance often turns oppressive, with characters grasping for power and propriety over their counterparts. Power, in this world, is not only a natural consequence of ability—it becomes a moral hazard. The greatest example of this abuse of power is Doro’s control and treatment of his many telepathic families. Doro collects telepaths and uses them for an advanced breeding program as he tries to cultivate greater power among his offspring. For much of his history, Doro’s relationship with those he uses for his program is abusive, and he treats them with little respect or concern: “There had been a time when he disposed of people like her as soon as they had produced the number of offspring he desired. They were inevitably poor parents, and their children grew up more comfortably with adoptive parents” (5). In the prologue of the novel, Doro chastises Mary’s mother, Rina, for treating her poorly. Doro’s ability to effortlessly kill and inhabit new bodies creates an ethical complication as his view of life is skewed. His power has severed him from empathy; death becomes an inconvenience rather than a loss. He does not see the people around him as individuals, but rather vessels through which he can prolong his life and complete his breeding program. Only his relationship with Emma changes him, as she humanizes him and forces him to recognize that the people around him deserve their own lives.

Doro’s abuse and control over others is later replicated through the creation of the Pattern. Mary not only seeks control over all those she is connected to, but her group also seeks to control the non-telepaths around them. They call these people with no abilities “mutes” and use their powers to control their minds and condition them into a form of slavery, in which they become docile and compliant servants. In this way, the Pattern becomes not just a psychic network but a caste system. Though the actives of the Pattern come to accept this as an integral part of their society, some, like Page, see an ethical violation in it: “Then maybe we shouldn’t exist! If our way is to enslave good people like the Dietrichs and let animals like my parents go free, the world would be better without us” (194). Page sees the society Mary builds as skewed, with seemingly innocent people conditioned out of their free will, and the abusive and violent actives given free rein. Many active parents abuse their children, and yet they are not punished. Page questions the ethics behind the “mute” class and does not wish to be a contributing member of such a society. Her resistance demonstrates how they powers of the actives can change the world and society, even if their means of doing so are ethically questionable. In raising these objections, Page functions as a moral counterpoint to Mary, suggesting that even revolutionary change can replicate the structures it seeks to dismantle.

The Development of Identity Within Community

Mary presents both a mystery and a threat to Doro because the Pattern allows active telepaths to coexist. Before the Pattern, these actives struggle to be near one another because of the mental noise and anguish their powerful minds create. Therefore, many actives lead isolated and tragic lives, making them standoffish and distrustful of others. Though they resent being tied to and controlled by the Pattern, the new sense of community it fosters among them changes their relationships with each other and to their abilities. Mary notices how they adapt to the benefits of the Pattern and each other, and how their new community changes their identities: “It scared them that they were not only getting used to their leashes but starting to see benefits in them. It scared the hell out of them that maybe they were giving in the way ordinary people gave in to them” (124). The first members of the Pattern are disturbed by being subjugated to the Pattern but begin to feel comfortable in the ease it creates. They are no longer subject to mental noise and can live more normal lives. This allows for them to eventually to explore new sides of themselves and find a place in their new community. Each of the original members of the Pattern undergo a transformation as they find purpose in their community and shed the trauma and angst of their past. Though the Pattern may have begun as Mary’s assertion of dominance, it evolves into a collective identity—a psychic commons that redefines what it means to be an individual.

A community-oriented identity becomes essential to the Patternists as Mary grows the Pattern. Each new member, used to being isolated and unsupported, becomes a new person, oriented away from total individuality to community allegiance. Even when they are completely absorbed into the Pattern and adjust to their new way of life, they seek companionship, creating families: “We Patternists seemed to be more-social creatures than mutes were. Not one of our new Patternists chose to live alone. Even those who wanted to go out on their own waited until they could find at least on other person to join them” (202). The Patternists find new identity and meaning in the Pattern, reaching a new potential that was previously impossible. The Pattern provides relief from the pain of being an isolated active, and new members find comfort in the community they were never able to cultivate. The pressure on them released by this new support allows for them to develop as individuals within a strong community. They thrive on this sense of community and naturally gravitate toward one another, drawing support from those near and connected to them. This mirrors real-world dynamics of marginalized groups forming solidarity networks, suggesting that the Pattern is both a metaphor for trauma recovery and a radical vision of chosen kinship. This change in their lives counteracts their histories of isolation and trauma, providing them with a new beginning from which they can build their lives.

The Struggle for Domination Over Others

While the Patternists do revel in their new community, there is also an intense sense of hierarchy among them. Multiple characters in Mind of My Mind struggle to establish themselves as the highest power in their telepathic society. Mary, at the center of the Pattern, innately exerts control over those she is connected to. Not only does she struggle to establish herself as the highest power among them, but also struggles to mentally control them. She is a telepath with immense abilities who relies on her ability to draw energy from others. Doro warns her that other such telepaths often kill while seeking to control others, too undisciplined to stop themselves from completely absorbing those they seek to manipulate: “They never wanted to kill, and especially they didn’t want to kill that person. But they couldn’t help themselves. They got…hungry, and they killed. Then they latched onto another active, drew him to them and went through the feeding process again. Unfortunately, they always killed other actives” (103). Doro establishes that control over others relies on what the powerful can gain from domination. In his case, he gains new bodies and extended life. For Mary, it is a rush of energy and greater power and influence. Both Mary and Doro must contend with the contradiction of control, as their means of control originate from the use, and possible deaths of others. It is difficult to control others if the only way to control is to kill. While Doro cannot separate the killing from control, Mary is able to stop herself from completely subsuming others and instead create community. Her restraint, however, is not purely altruistic—it is strategic, ensuring her survival by fostering loyalty rather than fear. This marks a key difference in their leadership styles, and a pivotal shift in how domination is enacted.

For all of Doro’s thousands-years-long life, he is the most powerful person he encounters. No one threatens his supremacy who he cannot easily dispatch. As the creator and de facto leader of the telepaths, he feels no threat to his supremacy until Mary creates the Pattern. He begins to worry about her not only because of the power she cultivates but also because of what she represents. Doro believes that she is a complete version of him, with the telepathy he lost when he began transferring bodies. Her great power and desire to spread the Pattern threatens his plans for the telepaths. When she refuses to submit to him and plans to continue toward her goals, he seeks to kill her. He fails, and in the struggle for control, experiences what his many victims do: “The fiery threads of her Pattern surrounded him. And before him…before him was a slightly smaller replica of himself as he had perceived himself through the fading senses of his thousands of victims over the years” (231). Doro’s domination over others is through the consumption of their being. When he fights Mary, he experiences the same sensation as she overwhelms him and slowly drains him of life. He sees her as a mirror of himself and realizes that there is finally another power in the world that can defeat him. His defeat is not only physical—it is symbolic. In being consumed by Mary, Doro confronts the limits of his own logic of domination and the emergence of a new, more complex form of power: one that blends coercion and communion, and reconfigures what it means to lead.