A smile has the incredible ability to hide anything. “The funny thing is, no one really knows how much pain someone else is suffering. We could be standing next to someone who is completely broken and we wouldn't even know it” (Anonymous). Many people in our world suffer internally. Some may say that “[t]he most difficult years of life are those between ten and seventy” (Anonymous). During these years of life, people face countless struggles and discover the true disfigurement of the world. When people experience extreme or stressful situations that they cannot handle and face the tragedies of the world, such as death, they normally fall into a black hole called depression. Depression is everywhere and has been around for centuries. But over the years, the situation gradually got worse. In the 1970s, depression was less of a problem than in today's society. In the 1970s, depression began to gain more attention as such a wide-ranging problem and began to affect humanity at younger ages as the years passed. The number of people suffering from depression has almost doubled since the 1970s. However, depression is just as concerning today as in the past. In The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty depicts depression through the juxtaposition of characters, her use of symbolism, and the verbal irony depicted throughout the novel. The juxtaposition of the characters Laurel, Fay, and Judge McKelva contains the differences in how depression affects each individual. At the beginning of the novel, the author states, “For a long time, Judge McKelva was considered a reassuring figure by those who knew and loved him” (Welty 170). However, this... middle of paper... when you know that is not the case” (Anonymous). This may explain why depression remains such a significant problem in today's world. When a person acts as if they are happy and hides their true feelings of anxiety, there are no warning signs that anything is wrong. Others do not notice the real suffering that is occurring in that person. Without awareness and knowledge of this suffering, unrecognized depression could potentially lead to an even more immense problem. In fact, major depression usually leads to suicide attempts. Statistics indicate that on average, one person attempts suicide every forty seconds in the United States. Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death among Americans (Caruso). Not being able to admit something only makes things worse and the consequences could be fatal. Repressing feelings of depression will only lead to deeper depression..