In the play "Wit", the main character, Vivian Bearing, struggles to maintain her dignity as she is treated for terminal ovarian cancer. Throughout the play, Vivian relies on her intellect as a coping mechanism for the pain and embarrassment brought on by her disease. However, it is compassion that ultimately helps Vivian re-examine her life and find enlightenment.One scene in the play shows Vivian's professor advising her to put aside her paper and go be with her friends. This confuses Vivian, and as she watches other students enjoying each other's company, she muses about the separation a comma causes between two things. The essay by Kathy A Smith points out Vivian's "insuperable barrier," aka the comma, that causes division between Vivian and other people (Smith 4). I think this is important because Vivian has let her intelligence come between herself and her ability to maintain personal relationships.
At one point in the play, Vivian is given a gynecological exam, and Smith points out that Vivian uses Donne's Holy Sonnet to console herself. I think this is really important because it shows how much Vivian has relied on her intellect instead of compassion. In most situations, a person would be looking for the concern of another person to help them through such a difficult time, but Vivian relies on her own mind to keep herself sane. Smith's Essay points out that "the degradation Vivian undergoes has made her uncomfortably aware of the emptiness and fragility of her past" (Smith 8). No one visits Vivian, save for her old professor, and I think at this point in Vivian's life, she is realizing that her intellect is not something that is able to soothe her anymore, but rather the tenderness of another person is. She eventually reverts back to a childlike state, and allows herself to be treated sympathetically by her primary nurse, Susie.
It is not until Vivian recognizes and allows the compassion of Susie that she starts to think back on her life and her treatment of others. She begins to understand the importance of compassion, and by the end of the play, Vivian is finally able to find peace.
3 comments:
Celestine:Baker you really have a great understanding of the play. You read deeper into things that would not cross my mind. I really relate to the idea that in the end Vivian realizes her words are not enough to get her through life anymore. When she reverted back to her child like state it seems as if Susie was a mother figure that taught Vivian how to be compassionate. Since Vivian grew up with her father or rather had intellectual conversations with him she was not taught how to nurture and guide an individual. This was a very important skill she lacked as a professor. In the play when Vivian’s professor tells her to go socialize with friends and Vivian goes to the library anyway her lack of social skills and care for others is seen. Perhaps if Vivian had relationships outside of words she could have developed a better understanding of life. She spent her time alone and only concerning herself with her own opinion, which caused her not to relate and communicate well with others. During the gynecological exam she uses words to soothe her, which is quit pathetic seeing that words are not enough in situations like this.
I like how you focused on Susie however you ended your first paragraph with the line “re-examine her life and find enlightenment.” In her process in revaluating how she lived Vivian strongly related to Jason Posner because they both had a lack of concern for humanity and once she realized this Vivian truly began to examine how her negative actions affected her students and herself.
(Sonya Bonnin- Baker)
You clearly explain Vivian's growth as a human being while at the hospital, which leads to her final acceptance of her fate. I also viewed Vivian’s intellect as functioning as a type of barrier between her and others, especially those who didn’t appreciate words and poetry like she did. Like you point out, she uses John Donne's sonnets to calm herself while she is being examined, but more importantly as a way of comforting herself, since she is completely alone. Her intellect left her unable to forge relationships with other individuals, and as a consequence during this critical time in her life Vivian has no one to comfort her and take care of her. It is not clear if it is as a result of the chemotherapy, the cancer’s progression or if she willingly lets down her intellectual wall and reverts to a childlike state, helping her to cope during her final days. The audience sees Vivian trying to get the attention of Susie and enjoying a popsicle as if she were a little girl, and later on one sees her former professor read to her a children’s book. Vivian needed to feel human kindness and compassion for the first time in her adult life, and reverting to this child like state enabled her to do so. As this play clearly points out, intellect can become worthless when a person possesses no sense of humanity.
You put your pencil right on the real issue--Vivian has made a choice to go to the library. She has made a choice to pursue intellect instead of feelings. This is a very perceptive blog. Also, at the end of your blog, you do show how Susie, a nurse with no real training in literature, teaches Vivian something vital about life and relationships.
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