Written on the body

[flywoman]

As most of you know, I'm currently writing a ridiculously long House/Wilson amnesia fic set in late S7. I would like to have a scene in which House gives himself a physical exam, looking for clues to his past. If you can think of particular depictions of, or allusions to, experiences that would leave permanent signs on his body or Wilson's (ahem), I'd love to hear about them. So far I've got the infarction/amputation, the scar from the gunshot wound at the end of S2, and Wilson's partial liver donation. Thanks!

Comments

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

The ice baths and being shut out at night probably happened when Blythe House wasn't there: in 'One Day, One Room', where House tells of those incidents, he ascribes them to his grandmother at first, saying that it happened when his parents were away. I therefore assume that the part about the non-abuser (his mother) not being there was true. The things that happened when his mother was there would have been run-of-the-mill enough in those days to have passed as normal punishment, I'd think, and would therefore have left no scars. In the case of House's father I doubt that it is the *violence* of the abuse that is the point; it's more about betrayal of trust. Someone who should be protecting you from harm, whom you should be able to trust unconditionally, is misusing his position of authority to damage you.

One notices this in House's reaction to parents: he's scorching to parents who aren't doing their best, even if they are not abusive, whereas he'll bend the law both ways to help families whose parents care about their kids, even if their attempts at raising their children border on pathetic.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I definitely have noticed this in House's reactions to parents who have been neglectful or abusive. He really cares about kids, even though he often pretends not to.

And his funeral speech in Birthmarks articulates his opinion of his father's misuse of authority very well. (Of course House also uses his own authority as an employer and doctor to coerce people into doing what he thinks is best for them, which I am able to believe is all his father was doing, at least consciously.)

[readingrat.livejournal.com]

Getting slightly off-topic here, but practically everything House says about his father in the 'eulogy' applies to himself as well. Here an excerpt, courtesy of clinic_duty (how the heck does one link that?):
"This man you're eager to pay homage to, he was incapable of admitting any point of view but his own. He punished failure, and he did not accept anything less than — "
"He loved doing what he did. He saw his work as some kind of… sacred calling. More important than any personal relationship."

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree - I'm pretty sure that was the point. Much as he might rail about genetics and complain about their relationship, House has become very much like the man who raised him. Perhaps it even took that eulogy for him to admit it to himself.