Autism
Harriet the Spy is Autistic
So I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m positive that Harriet the Spy is autistic.
Now, before you go getting your panties in a knot, know this:
- I am autistic, so yeah, I’m prone to headcanon every character I like as autistic
- Despite the above, it’s rare that I feel I can say it so definitely about a character.
- If you think “autistic” means only the non-verbal, hand-flapping kind of autism you are wrong and need to learn more about autism.
- The condition formerly known as Asperger’s Syndrome no longer exists in the DSM-V and is simply considered “autism”.
For those of you who, unlike me, don’t rabidly re-read the books you enjoyed as a child despite being a grown-ass adult, or for those of you who never read this awesome book, let me give you a brief summary.
Harriet the Spy is about a spoiled eleven-year-old girl living in upper-class New York in the 1960s. She’s a quirky kid with a highly educated and intelligent nanny who understands her thoroughly. When her nanny, “Ole Golly” moves away, Harriet is devastated. Without the guidance of Ole Golly, Harriet’s quirks, which include spying on the neighbours and writing all of her thoughts down in a closely-guarded notebook, immediately begin to cause her interpersonal problems. She loses her friends, her interest in school, and basically has a total nervous breakdown which her loving but oblivious parents are totally at a loss to understand.
It’s a BOSS book, and if you haven’t read it, you should.
I’ve always identified strongly with Harriet the Spy, and found her a deeply sympathetic character. But it wasn’t until I discovered that I am autistic that I realized that Harriet the Spy isĀ totally about an autistic kid who has lost both her comfort object AND the only person who gets her.
Why do I say she’s autistic?
Oh, man. How do I count the ways.
Let’s start with the things we learn about Harriet at the beginning of the book.