First off, she would not have ever gotten cancer. If she had control over her life, a few things would have been different. In her life, she felt the illusion of control, but she never really had it. This perceived loss of control is evidenced in the latter half of the play however, she could not lose what she never had. If a student could not control his situation, this was no reason for her to show kindness – ironically, this comes back to bite her in the end with her doctors not showing her the kindness that she aches for when she starts to feel as if she has lost control of her life. Apparently, she expected others to control their situations to the same extent, not showing mercy to students who may have needed a little extra time or a little extra help. Every ambiguity, every shifting awareness. She had tremendous control of the subject matter, saying, “I could work my students into a frenzy. In the classroom, Vivian exercised tremendous control and poise, never needing notes and never slipping in her lectures (74). She is the queen of the department, and her colleagues, it appears, cannot wait for her to move on so that they may take her place, even those that are former students of hers (32). In terms of her scholarly career, she at one point refers to herself as “a force” in the study of literature (Edson 17). Up until this point in her life, she had exercised great control over her environment. She has been diagnosed with terminal stage four metastatic ovarian cancer, the cancer having slipped by undetected when it would have been treatable in stages one through three. Her life, which has been under control for half a century, is undergoing drastic changes. Wit’s main character is Vivian Bearing, a scholar of 17th century poetry, particularly John Donne. It is this wisdom that is the focus of the play Wit. While it is possible and desirable for one to be the “captain” of his or her own soul, that is the extent of the control one can achieve in life, and some, the mentally ill for example, do not even have that control. Literature often seeks to show that it was never there to be taken (truthful literature, at least). The thwarting of control leads to anxiety and pain because people feel that something is being taken from them. Part of this wisdom is understanding that total control in life is an illusion. The serenity prayer attempts to meet people halfway: “Lord, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” A key word used in this prayer is the driving goal behind much of literature and religion – the attainment of wisdom. Religion has often sought to deal with this crisis, offering the simple mantra “let go and let God” as well as the more meaningful serenity prayer (used by Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization dedicated to helping people to regain some measure of control in their lives). If a person cannot accept that control is an illusion, then he will face much anxiety and unhappiness. One of these dilemmas presented in this rite of passage is grappling with the illusion of control. Furthermore, if they are presented with someone else’s mistakes that cause the conflict of the story, they can perhaps see a reflection of themselves in the literature and be able to side-step the unpleasant dilemmas that cause anxiety about death which can prevent living a fulfilling life. So what is the purpose of this less often used rite of passage? Generally it is to teach readers/viewers about death in order to allow them a fuller life. An example of this form of literature is the play Wit by Margaret Edson (also wittily titled W t). Once this is done and the character accepts mortality, he is then able to put his affairs in order (usually with loved ones) and possibly able to pass on learning to his loved ones. The plot of these stories (like any in literature) involves some conflict or dilemma which opens the eyes of the character to the certainty of death. In this version, the character is stripped of the illusions of adulthood and made ready to die peacefully. Classic examples of this type of tale include the folk tale “Hansel and Gretel” and Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield.Īnother coming of age or rite of passage presented by literature is the preparation for death. The youth is stripped of utopian illusions about life and acquainted with the hard facts of reality in a fashion that is painful, but never lethal. A youth (generally between 10 years old and 20) passes, by some calamity or other intense situation, from the world of innocence to the world of experience to join the rest of the adults who made the passage before him. The traditional method is preparation for adulthood. In literature (novels, folk tales, plays, movies, etc.) one finds presented two forms of so called “coming-of-age” stories.
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