EARLY SELF-PORTRAIT by Joey shows a robot made of electrical wires. The figure symbolizes the child's rejection of human feelings. Raised by his parents in an utterly impersonal manner, he denied his own emotions because they were unbearably painful.
"Joey: A 'Mechanical Boy'" is an article by Bruno Bettelheim, originally published in the March 1959 issue of Scientific American and later republished in The Empty Fortress. The article was published as nonfiction but is most likely fraudulent, making it possibly the first ever fictional depiction of autism.Nine-year-old Joey arrives at the Orthogenic School identifying as a machine. Bettelheim discovers that his parents' emotional abuse has caused him to withdraw from the world of emotions and social interaction, and he is coaxed out of his shell over the course of three years.
The story can be read online
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"Joey: A 'Mechanical Boy'" contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Joey's mother left him alone in the playpen all day, fed him on a strict four-hour schedule no matter how much he cried, never touched him unless necessary, and generally treated him with cold indifference. His feckless father punished him for crying at night before mostly disappearing from his life.
- All Psychology Is Freudian: Not surprising, since Bettelheim was a Freudian psychologist. Joey's problems are all caused by his parents, and he expresses his feelings through elaborate symbolism. At one point in the story, Bettelheim is surprised by Joey's short-lived obsession with feces, since his "personality damage" predates the anal stage.
- Disappeared Dad: Joey's father was sent overseas when Joey was eighteen months old, after which he and his mother moved in with his grandparents.
- Happily Failed Suicide: Joey attempted suicide three months before entering the Orthogenic School. Once there, he discovers that life can be enjoyed.
- Malaproper: Joey refers to masturbating as "master painting." Naturally, Bettelheim assumes that this is deliberate obfuscation to further separate himself from the world.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc: The story follows Joey as he learns to appreciate emotion and eventually makes a full recovery from his autism.
- Robots Are Just Better: Joey is a believer in this trope. When his teacher tells him not to kick a pipe in the playground because the pipe is harder than his foot, Joey says, "That proves it. Machines are better than the body. They don't break; they're much harder and stronger." He wishes he could replace his brain and limbs with machinery, because then he wouldn't forget, lose, or spill anything.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Joey is the product of one, causing him to feel rejected in the womb.
- Tantrum Throwing: Sometimes Joey's machinery "explodes," and he screams "Crash, crash!" while throwing light bulbs and radio tubes.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Joey's drawings look like they were drawn by an actual child, and a photo is shown of the apparatus he built around his bed. Considering the inaccurate depiction of autism, Joey's improbable use of symbolism, and Bettelheim's history of child abuse and fraud, though, it's almost certain that most of the story was made up.
