A fine, touching play, which goes over the treatment for ovarian cancer of an English literature professor, Vivian, who succumbs to this intense treatment for the sake of knowledge.
A very saddening story, the life of Vivian, and even though we do not get the details of her life, the briefness of what she narrates tells us how alone she really was, yet she was not sad about this lifestyle. A devoted professor, who is in the constant search of knowledge, decides to undergo an intense eight-month treatment for ovarian cancer, to provide knowledge on the illness. What surprised me the most was how strong this character really was, Vivian. Since she arrived at the hospital and started dialoguing with Dr. Kelekian, we are able to tell what type of woman Vivian is. A fifty-year-old woman, rather young if you ask me, all by herself, submitting herself to an arduous procedure which outcome is uncertain requires a lot of gut. Especially when you don’t even bother to call a cousin, or any relative, like Vivian did to support you. I did enjoy reading Vivian’s conversations with the nurse, Jason or her monologues even. Since she is an English professor she studies every word thrown at her by the doctors, and this seemed particularly funny to me. For example when Kelekian is explaining her condition and she suddenly seems to drift in thoughts about what the word “insidious” means, or “antineoplastic” while Kelekian just blabbers away.
The sense of humor of the play is really appealing to the reader, and the story as sad as it may be is approached in an optimistic sort of way. That is, imagining there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about an illness you possess and suddenly surrender to depression would only kill you faster, so the moral of the story I believe is live everyday as if it was your last.
3 comments:
WHat do you think the emphasis on John Donne is in the play. It is called Wit, and, although it isn't funny, it does have to do with intelligence and with the way Vivian respects language. The end of the play is extremely important in terms of that.
Vivian Bearing is indeed a strong woman. She is terminally ill and agrees to be admitted into the hospital to undergo treatment for a certain amount of time. Usually when someone is extremely ill and has to be hospitalized, the immediate family is notified. However, being the strong individual that she was, Vivian decided to do it alone and only had one friend to come visit her the entire time she was in the hospital. There are many people that are like Vivian, those who prefer to isolate themselves from the outside world and the only interaction they have with others is through work. She was not saddened at all to live a solitary lifestyle; she was quite content with her life. She had a great career and was happy how she made a living. Sometimes there are people who have jobs that were not particular what they wanted to do with their life and the joy and passion is just not there. Vivian loved the world of literature and took pleasure in teaching her students. Even though she was a strict professor with rigorous teachings, her students truly appreciated the time and effort she put into them. I applaud her for her braveness to take on a tribulation like cancer and deal with it alone.
I did find the play to be very funny considering its main theme. Vivian's asides did add comic relief to the daunting subject matter of the play. I agree that the wry humor of the play attracts readers to this play. I also agree with the points you make about Vivian's strength and how that is seen in her journey especially because she takes it alone. It takes lots of inner strength to be able to take the journey Vivian took without any extra support. She could have easily taken the easier depressed route, but instead she remained strong through her sickness and vomiting along with other side effects to the medicines.
Vivian's search for knowledge leads her to be her own advocate in the play. I also found that reading the play allowed me to imagine my own cast and what they would look and act like. This is an advantage to reading they play because I can use my imagination to predict what Vivian looked like and how her personality really came across to others.
Post a Comment