Introduction
In The Nurse's Compulsion, author (Don Henderson) presents to us a story with a double twist. In the first part of the book we are introduced to people who live what can only be called a loose and immoral life (by society's standards) and who wish they were "better" people. The last part of the story concerns a young couple who rigidly obey all of society's dictums at the cost of their personal growth and happiness. We are not just dealing with a case of greener grass but with real fears and aspirations that manage to bottle up the full potential of the individuals concerned.
But can social fears be called "real"? Or is it the tardy realization of the artificial nature of social laws that finally frees a tortured individual from an endlessly descending spiral of confused frustration?
These are some of the important questions that Don Henderson courageously deals with in this frank and sometimes shocking work. With clear insight and good taste, he makes a clear distinction between those necessary agreed-on rules without which no society can survive. But at the same time, the case is clearly made against outmoded rules that cling to our collective lives long past the time when they become counterproductive. It is the petrified minds of the dull among us who unthinkingly cling to rigid codes of "do's" and "dont's" for no other reason save that they have a past history. Their Pavlovian morality serves only to frustrate, when new conditions and circumstances arise that require more flexibility in the way we live. Sometimes cultural and economic forces require that a person live on two levels-the outward show that others see, and their real, vital internal life.
This last dualism has been well brought out in The Nurse's Compulsion. The heroine of our story works under conditions that bring out, nearly compel in her, certain types of behavior. But this behavior conflicts with what society and she herself feels she owes to other people, particularly to her husband. A terrible inner struggle ensues, with the only probable resolution involving a great deal of damage to the girl's sense of self. What makes her moral struggles seem particularly futile is the half-amusing fact that her husband also labors under the same burdens. Through our overview as a reader, we wait excitedly for our struggling young couple to pull the veils away so that they can see that their personal happiness lie in the same direction-as long as they listen to their own inner voices rather than society's confusing and conflicting calls to spurious duties.
And when their problems seem solved, our young couple meets another young couple who are almost a caricature of their former selves. But armed with new wisdom, they happily share their experiences, finding in the other couple's relief the vindication for their own unorthodox behavior.
If we said any more, we would be telling the whole tale. We leave it to you, the reader, to quarry your own reactions out of this fine book, and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.