The sky was hot and cold and full of glare.  Their voices stabbed at the air between the front and back seats.  Her voice was calm, smoothing the static.  She tried to sound hopeful, to force all that she wanted from the afternoon into clear round words.  She spoke of bridges and birds and uncoiling line and the boy whined, “There will be too many people there!  They’ll think you’re crazy.”

Why, she thought, should birds being hung from an iron railing, to sway in the wind over the train tracks, be considered crazy?  She understood that she would not be invisible as she stood on the bridge, but was it crazy to want to be uninvisible for a few minutes, to reach into a bag and to draw out a bird, to let a child’s hands draw out the monofilament and fish the open air for a moment…?

She considered an essay put forth by the Council for Post-Apocalyptic Psychiatry, which explored the relationship between social etiquette and the manifestations of mental illness.

…when one is expected to adhere to social norms of action that are repetitive,impersonal, and driven by external forces rather than internal forces, the individual becomes constrained.  In that state of constriction, there exists an anxious tension, as well as the associated emotional states of frustration, sorrow, and feeling a 'little pissed that the world is so fuckin’ square.' 

Freedom of expression in the post-apocalyptic era is codified by cultural compartmentalization of societal roles and their function of maintaining the illusory landscape of scripted participation.  Even artists are, in their acceptance of relegation to the tidy constructs of cultural diversity, subject to constricted self-expression.  

The Council has found that the inflexible and often oppressive criticism which is prevalent in this post-apocalyptic age serves to limit and reinforce our roles as they are prescribed by race, socioeconomic status, and clan values.  When one diverges from the expectations of his or her group, they are actively or passively ostracized.  Often, the initiation into an ostracized state involves the use of pathological labeling and mental health indictment.   

Defining as "crazy" the failure to adhere to prescribed course of action has proved to have a deleterious effect on the mental health of post-apocalyptic citizens. In order to avoid the dehumanizing isolation imposed upon those deemed "crazy," many people have sought to become invisible within their roles, fulfilling the expectations assigned to said role so thoroughly that any aberrant personality traits are cloaked by acceptable mannerism and endeavor.  

It has been found that, over time, the social brutality of forced invisibility results in clinically significant increases in maladaptive and sociopathic activity, such as watching television, compulsive accessorizing of role through over-consumption of material goods, self-harm through ingestion of toxic foods, and diminished desire to imagine a world other than this one.