Memoirs of a Born Shlepper

“Memoirs of a Born Shlepper” begins with Fadem describing his own conception and birth as he is convinced that his problems started in the womb, not after he was born. As the memoir progresses it is evident that Fadem sees his problems (before the term ‘OCD’ was introduced) as personality traits that he merely has to accept. At more than several instances he describes himself as a “shlepper”. I believe this was Fadem’s way of giving his problem a name and explaining it to his adolescent self in a day and age where no one knew of OCD and related disorders. During his childhood his OCD was not severe; of course he did have repetitive thoughts and strange quirks, such as when he thought he could save his grandmother’s life by counting to one hundred (Fadem 51), but it did not affect his life greatly. As he grew older the severity of his OCD increased and he started to become more obsessive. This can be seen when Fadem becomes a lieutenant in charge of cleaning rifles for the army. His obsession with the rifles he cleans is so intense that he protests to anyone shooting the guns because he thinks they will get dirty (Fadem 37). Later on, Fadem’s coping mechanisms in not only real life but also in his writing become very clear. His writing shows that he looks back on his life with humor, almost making his memoir comedy noir. Another interesting tool he uses to cope with the obstacles caused by his OCD is daydreaming. He lets himself escape the difficult ordeals in his life by drifting off to a dream world where he tries to make sense of his life. He even takes us into his imagination with the story of his birth and conception (Fadem 4), and the story of the Angel Shleppriel (Fadem 87).