Thursday, April 15, 2010

w;t

I thought Edson did an amazing job portraying the way people can hide behind things in order to avoid an emotional understanding, in this case, "wit." Bearing understood her cancer and treatments on an intellectual level, but we see the avoidance of an emotional understanding until she is in a lot of pain. This becomes particularly apparent in flashbacks to her life before cancer. Bearing's actions in the academic world showcase her tendency to use sarcasm as a barrier between her and other people. I think that's why Edson chose a metatheater format. The use of Bearing speaking directly to the audience makes for a more intimate relationship between character and audience, but also, it brings us in so close that we watch her use this "wit" barrier, frustrated, making the employment of metatheater almost ironic.

1 comment:

  1. She also retells the story of student 2 questioning Donne's techniques. "I think it's like he is hiding. I think he's really confused, I don't know, maybe he's scared, so he hides behind all this complicated stuff, hides behind this wit" (60). It's almost as if this student is describing Vivian's feelings in this dialogue.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.