JASON. Oh. Jeeze. Clinical. Professor Bearing. How are you feeling today?
VIVIAN. (Very sick) Fine. Just shaking sometimes from the chills.
JASON. IV will kick in anytime now. No problem. Listen, gotta go. Keep pushing the fluids. (47)
"If arsenic and serpents are not damned, then why is he? In asking the question, the speaker turns eternal damnation into an intellectual game. Who would God choose to do what is hard, to condemn, rather than what is easy, and also glorious—to show mercy?" (49-50)
Neutropenia (noo-troe-PEE-nee-uh) is an abnormally low count of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps fight off infections, particularly those caused by bacteria and fungi. (Mayo Clinic definition)
I've been keeping a dictionary close while reading this. I hope you have too.
So now we know that the tumor "the size of a grapefruit" (47) is not responding to the treatment. Now we now that Vivian is imperiled not by the cancer but by the treatment itself. Now we know that she is in terrible pain. Now we know she suspects she is dying.
1. A Thrower-kind-of-check-in. Your reaction to the play right now? What is it about to you?
2. We haven't yet looked too closely at the "health care professionals," as Vivian somewhat sarcastically calls the doctors and staff (though not, arguably, Susie). When I did this play last, a student made the point to complaints about the way the doctors treat Vivian, "[The doctors'] job is solving the puzzle." Another student asked, "Can the doctors have compassion for Vivian without losing themselves?" Respond to one of those quotes: agree, disagree, or answer the explicit or explicit question it poses. Go ahead and quote from the play in your response.
Here's the scene that the last reading covers. It actually goes a little past the stopping point. Warning: Vivian is really sick here.
See you all tomorrow.
1. I love this play. It is really resonating with me. I don’t know if that is because it strikes a lovely balance between funny and tragic or because I connect with Vivian and am compelled by her story or just because it is a very well written, well thought out play, but regardless I am really enjoying it. To me this play is about cancer, about the battle within a person that occurs when their own cells turn against them. Because this battle takes place within Vivian, the audience can focus on the cancer itself and what it does to a victim instead of the impact it has on a magnified scale. Somebody brought this up in class today (I can’t remember who, but let this suffice as my giving them credit for the point), the idea that because Vivian is so isolated, without friends or family, we can see clearly the impact that the cancer is having on her without being distracted (there is a better word for this but I can’t find it right now) by the pain it causes her loved ones to see her suffer from the disease. Cancer is like a bomb, or a volcano: it strikes at one point but causes ripple effects that harm a great area surrounding the target. The people within the social circle of a cancer victim suffer emotionally—it is really hard to watch someone you care about slowly die—and when we hear stories of cancer victims we worry about how it must be for the patient’s parents or children or partner or best friend. Vivian is stripped of all those social attachments, allowing the audience to really try to understand what it is like for her, alone, to fight cancer.
ReplyDelete2. The idea of empathy in the clinical world is quite a controversial one. Many doctors act like the health care professionals in this play—cold, businesslike, unfeeling. They do not allow themselves to feel anything for their patients because it is just too much. If a physician sees a hundred patients, all of whom are suffering, it would be too much for that doctor to try to empathize with all of those people. One human being cannot feel the pain of a hundred human beings and stay sane, much less function in a job that requires a good, quick, rational brain. The scene in which the technicians are looking at Vivian and discussing her symptoms struck me because it was such a clear example of how doctors can begin to think of human beings as objects, as specimens in a lab. Dr Kelekian finally tells them to “use your eyes. Jesus God. Hair loss”, provoking outrage: “Come on. You can see it. It doesn’t count. Not fair.” (40). They think of Vivian as a game, a competition—who can think of all the ways in which she is suffering. In this scene they have crossed the line. I think that a really great doctor who is emotionally stable can find a way to be kind and compassionate and perhaps sympathize with their patients without crossing the line and hurting their own state of mind. Dr Kelekian (I believe) is a good doctor, but we haven’t gotten enough of him yet to see if he has found the balance between being professional and rational and being compassionate. The only character who has been truly kind to Vivian in the hospital thus far is Susie the nurse.
1. I enjoy reading the play. It integrates a lot of hidden meanings and symbols, possibly connecting to the 'wit' of the poems Vivian loves so much. As of now, the play seems to be about the way that cancer, or any traumatic event, can strip away the pretenses of life. Vivian has been so focused on her goals in life. She knew what she wanted, and she worked hard to achieve it. It seems to have made her at least somewhat happy to gain so much success. However, when she is distracted from her normal life by the cancer, it broadens her range of vision. Slowly throughout the play, she seems to be seeing slightly beyond her narrow world of Donne's poetry. She might start to see the value in non-professional related accomplishments. Vivian's understanding of life and death seems superficial, and I think by the end of the play she will have gained greater understanding.
ReplyDelete2. I think some level of separation from the doctors can beneficial. It is best if they can make objective decisions and do not allow personal connections to confuse their thinking. However, when they treat Vivian like she isn't there or she is simply an object to be studied, it shows a lack of compassion and awareness. One example is when Kelekian points out her hair loss, and the fellows all say "Come on" or "You can see it" or "It doesn't count." They look at her almost like Vivian looks at her poems. Vivian looks at punctuation and wording and dissects poems to find their exact meaning, but she fails to connect that meaning to life or find deeper truth from it. Similarly, the doctors focus on all the facts and numbers involved in her sickness, but perhaps miss their original goal (to help Vivian, not to keep her alive at all costs). She seems to be suffering only because of the treatment rather than the cancer. I disagree with the idea that doctors are there to solve a puzzle. Solving a puzzle might not be the best thing for a patient.
I enjoy reading the play. Every page offers moments of humor and moments of reflection, and because of this density it never loses my interest. My only gripe is that I want to learn more about these characters, notably Vivian, Jason, and Kelekian, but I know it would be impossible to do so without adding layers of complexity and irrelevant detail.
ReplyDeleteThe play feels like its some sort of psychological check in with Vivian; we are acutely aware of what makes her motivated, what past experiences were formative for her, and what her shortcomings are. Maybe she subjects us to this close analysis of her mind in order to make up for how she wasted her life focusing on Dunne.
The doctors suffer the same fate Vivian does- the inability to see past the finer details of their work and recognize the broader effects of treatment and medicine. You can see throughout the section we have just read. First, when Kelekian does the “Grand Rounds” with his fellows, they fail to notice both her hair loss and the fact they left her stomach uncovered when they leave her. And when Vivian is admitted to the hospital due to fever and neutropenia, Susan begs Jason to lower the dose, claiming “it's too much for her like this.” Jason refuses: “No way. Full dose. She's tough,” while Vivian is shaking and chattering her teeth. The doctor's care for the treatment, not for the patient.
1. This play is a bundle of contradictions. The plotline builds suspense, though the reader knows exactly what’s going to happen at the end. The protagonist is both impossible to like and strangely magnetic in her brilliance. And the play itself is both a highly personal glimpse into the mind of a scholarly, yet emotionally stunted, woman, and a more broad critique of our current medical system. It both exalts the power of poetry and pokes fun at those who analyze it. It is, in other words, a force. Also, after reading the sonnet “If poysonous mineralls,” I can better understand why Vivian would dedicate her life to Donne. It’s really an amazing sonnet, worthy of her intellect.
ReplyDelete2. I believe that the doctors absolutely can have compassion for Vivian without losing themselves in the process. Though it’s true that doctors can’t become emotionally invested in every patient without eventually suffering from a breakdown, I think that there’s a distinction between becoming emotionally invested and exercising compassion. Compassion, in my opinion, entails realizing the humanity of an individual and acting accordingly. It can, but does not necessarily, involve deep emotional investment. Currently in this play, none of the doctors have demonstrated any real effort to establish a connection with Vivian. There are many examples of this callous, detached behavior that I could reference, but the one that jumped out at me most was when Dr. Kelekian encourages Vivian to “think of [her time in reverse isolation] as a vacation.” Though perhaps borne of good intentions, Dr. Kelekian clearly has no concept of the agony Vivian is suffering. This is also apparent during rounds (grand rounds usually refers to a lecture or presentation on a particular patient or issue and isn’t the correct terminology here), when the doctors literally prod her bare abdomen and compete amongst themselves to answer questions about the slow death of the woman sitting right in front of them.
1. I like this play. It's really making me think and reconsider my previous thoughts about it. I like hearing what other people have to think about it too because the theories we all have go so in depth and introduce new ideas that could all totally be true and right. I also really like this idea of not being able to relate to the character because it makes you focus on other aspects of the play rather than how you can sympathize/empathize with them. I feel like this is important because sometimes relating to a character distracts you and gets in the way of what the play is really trying to communicate to the audience because you're somewhat blinded by this connection. I think this play is about Vivian reassessing her values and what she really deems important to her. I think it's about her coming to a realization that maybe suppressing her emotions doesn't necessarily make her any more powerful than anyone else and I think she's observing this through Jason who's very emotionally detached and solely focused on the logical part of everything.
ReplyDelete2. Vivian says, "[The doctors'] job is solving the puzzle," but what is the puzzle? I think to her the puzzle is her health and how to restore it, but what about her emotional state through all of this? She doesn't acknowledge the psychological turmoil some of these treatments are putting her through, most likely to protect herself. But it's interesting because at some points when she's vulnerable, we see her feelings peak through. For example, after Jason leaves on page 47 she goes into this spiel about how her and Donne understand paradox but it's too difficult for her students. Then she goes on to talk about how if she were lecturing, she could help them understand what it all meant and at the end of this thought she says, "I could be so powerful." I think this is her expressing how weak and out of control she's feeling. She doesn't directly address how she's feeling, but she makes it apparent that she feels obviously lesser.
1. I love the play. It is engaging, I am curious to know what happens next. I appreciate how the dialogue is funny – I think it is an entertaining play to read – while still covering extremely difficult topics in a very poised manner. I particularly like discussing Vivian Bearing (probably because we’ve done a lot of that in class). I love how clever and brilliant she is but find it fascinating how little insight she has into herself. To me, the play has a lot to do with this imbalance of smarts Vivian possesses. It is an emotional and literal exploration of cancer and I think the play pronounces the importance of understanding emotions by highlighting Vivian’s inability to connect with herself.
ReplyDelete2. “Can doctors have compassion for Vivian without losing themselves?” I completely believe that the answer is yes – I actually think that this is what makes a good doctor. There are many doctors in the world that feel compelled to be a doctor because of the reputation that accompanies the occupation and because it is a ‘respectable job’, not because they want to help people. I agree that if a doctor were emotionally invested in every one of their patients, it would be much too taxing on the doctor. However, I still think that it is crucial for doctors to have compassion while working with their patients. While an oncologist may not be able to empathize with their patients (if this oncologist has never had cancer), they must be able to listen to their patient, to treat them like a human being. Not as a competition, as the fellows and Jason treat Vivian:
KELEKIAN. Use your eyes. Jesus God. Hair loss.
FELLOWS. Come on
- You can see it
- It doesn’t count.
- No fair.
1. This play has made me think about what constitutes a fulfilling life. Can a life made up solely of an academic career be a good life? So far, this play has lead me to believe that a entirely academic life can be a good life because Vivian’s pride is so strong whenever she speaks about her academic achievements. Vivian has no real connections with other people and many people would say that relationships are important part of being happy, yet Vivian doesn’t really know what she is missing because she doesn’t consider relationships to be valuable. Maybe because she doesn’t know what she is missing out on, Vivian is able to be content without them.
ReplyDelete2. For the most part, I think the doctors could have more compassion for Vivian. The distance between how they are treating her now compared to treating her compassionately is so large that it wouldn’t be that difficult for them to edge a little closer to treating her compassionately. She’s being used as a practice tool for the young medics, and interestingly, she is not completely opposed to this. “At times, this obsessively detailed examination, this scrutiny seems to me to be a nefarious business. On the other hand, what is the alternative? Ignorance? Ignorance may be… bliss; but it is not a very noble goal. So I play my part.” It seems like she is somewhat ok with making this sacrifice for knowledge’s sake. But she doesn’t have to be examined in such a cold way. Susie shows us a better way of interacting with Vivian, and Vivian seems to appreciate this greatly. Jason treats her in almost an opposite way, yet I think he might be less able to treat her warmly because Vivian was his professor.
I think the play is about that comma Vivian’s professor stressed earlier. It is about the pause between life and everlasting life. It is about death but also dying. In that comma, one’s life is supposed to flash before your eyes, and here is vivian’s life. Her treatment has left her in a state of near death and this her newfound confusion surrounding the time and place she’s in. As far as living goes, there isn’t much of it going on here, and it isn’t as though we’ve seen Vivian express ideas about what she believes to be “everlasting life” other than the idea of her work being remembered, of her being remembered, so that leaves us with the in between. I’ve never read anything about this sort of time, about losing yourself while finding out what you really were to begin with, so I find myself taking a really long time over every single word, but I’m loving it.
ReplyDeleteThe doctors may not treat her very well, but at the same time, I don’t think this would mean as much to us if we saw other people in Vivian’s life, but as they are the only reappearing characters so far, they’re the only one’s we have to try and forge a connection with between vivian and them. That sounds odd, but all I want is for her to have one truly loving relationship before she dies, or at least understand that she has lived life wrong, and the only way that seems possible is for one of the fellows to show her compassion. That said, it isn’t their job to fulfil her; it’s their job to fix her. Now, whether or not they are doing that is another matter “my treatment imperils my life” she says, and she couldn’t be more right. It’s their drugs that are killing her so quickly. They fail as the role of her doctors, but to then attach them to her emotional starvation is another matter. That is not their job.
1.The play is becoming increasingly distressing. The clever humor is beginning to wane, and the horrors of terminal illness and all that comes with it are becoming more apparent. This does not sound like a story in which our tenacious protagonist manages to best their challenges. Every instance in which Vivian reassures herself and us of her impressive credentials, which previously seemed to be simple arrogance, is now becoming more obviously a desperate gamble at achieving normalcy. Vivian is frightened and suffering, and humiliated publicly and repeatedly. She runs through poetry, selecting one that emphasizes the lack of justice in one individual’s persecution by God when everything else goes off free. The poem says that the person hides from God to be saved, and yet God would save them. Vivian is gaining treatment, yet her treatment is killing her. She laughs at the frenzy such a paradox would induce in her students, yet refuses to admit to herself that she is panicking also. How could you not, when your supposed medicine seems to be tearing you apart? Right now the play is about Vivian: her suffering, her thoughts, her experiences. Vivian had humor, Vivian has pain, and we’re coming along for the ride.
ReplyDelete2.Doctors will suffer with their patients, but to not suffer with them is worse. In order to not actively empathize with a patient in extreme agony, most likely afraid and confused, I think you’d have to give up a little humanity. Jason in particular is treating Vivian as something he needs to take care of - a job, a task to be completed. Vivian remarks that she “did teach, and now is taught,” and I believe that her sour humor at this revelation hints to her growing awareness that she is more than a trove of information. Her life has consisted of being just that - a teacher, a wealth of knowledge - yet she is now the object of learning, and she itches to be more than that. She’s not even THE object of learning (maybe she would feel less degraded, considering how much love and attention she showered on Donne’s poetry, her own object of learning), but simply one example of (assumedly) many to come. She is the trial, she is the test subject, and she seems to be regarded as… expendable. Kelekian is neither supportive nor invested, and even he has to keep reminding Jason to be “clinical,” asking nonsense “how are you”s when they already know the answer, in some pathetic attempt to appear as though they care. Susie has no real control over Vivian’s medical care, but she has expressed genuine interest in her wellbeing. Susie comforts her, bring her juice, even ensures her that leaving the lights on at home isn't a big deal. The differences between Jason and Susie is starkly outlined when Susie attempts to appeal to Jason’s sympathies, pointing out how much Vivian is suffering, and asking him to lessen the dose. Jason responds with indignity, saying that “[Vivian] can handle it.” He pokes her, talks about her organs as though they do not compose a whole being, and leaves her uncovered and alone. Vivian is Jason’s job, his project, his test sample - Vivian is Susie’s patient. Jason is less affected by her suffering, but there is a very good reason why so many of us are repelled by him, and drawn to Susie.
1. I like this play because it constantly keeps me engaged and interested. It has a bit of humor mixed in with some very sad themes which keeps me interested, but what keeps me engaged is the fact that it isn't an easy read. It's quite dense, and the medical terminology doesn't help. I really get a sense of how most other people must feel when Vivian talks, only I have the luxury of taking some to process it whereas, the technicians for example, had to understand her right in that moment. In contrast, her emotional intelligence is not so impressive and the play makes it very clear. This aspect of Vivian is what the play is about. Vivian has spent her life in academia and never let herself connect with others or feel any real emotions which was a choice then, but not now. The cancer/treatment and the realization of her impending death forces her to acknowledge her emotions and takes the choice of setting them aside away. It's about a woman who only knew what life was through the eyes of Donne, being made to see it through her own.
ReplyDelete2. I think doctors can have compassion for patients without losing themselves, but the difficulty in that is knowing when to pull away to not becoming too attached. These doctors –Jason in particular– are far from compassionate. It doesn't even seem like she's a person to them. They treat her like an experiment to learn from and Jason seems like he's pushing his own agenda: “Lower the dose? No way. Full dose. She's tough. She can take it”(45). Any decent Doctor would've asked their patient or even suggested to their patient that they take it easy. I think to Jason being a doctor, at least at this point in his career, is a competition to be the best and to solve an almost unsolvable puzzle to distinguish himself rather than to treat a person. So compassion is out of the question for him, I think the best we can hope for is for him to muster up bedside manners once in a while.
1. I'm glad you asked that question. When I was reading I was trying so hard to think of what everything meant that I never even stopped to consider how I felt about it.
ReplyDeleteI love the play. It's amazing what it accomplishes in a short span of time. Somehow I feel like I understand and love Vivian, a character who I despised in her opening lines. She's such an interesting character because even as she is so observant when it comes to the world around her, something seems to prevent her from understanding herself. Even with the transformation her cancer treatment is causing, there still seems to be some sort of disconnect. It's all very contradictory. But not only does Wit have the Vivian conundrum to grapple with, it also includes stunning critiques of health care and academe. Not to mention the poetry, which Edson somehow masterfully links to the plot. And, of course, an excellent command of details: the subtlety is mind-blowing. Almost any given line in the play some insight that's fabulously unique and revelatory.
2. Wit is as much of a critique of health care as it is of academe. In both of these fields, so much thought is put into the details of their conclusions that none is left for the more important question, what implications do these conclusions have on the human experience? In fact, Vivian makes the comparison between academe and health care herself: "full of subservience, hierarchy [...] it is just like a graduate seminar. With one important difference. In Grand Rounds, they read me like a book. Once I did the teaching, now I am taught" (37). Jason and the fellows see her as just another body for their experiments, in the same way that Vivian sees just another poem and not a life lesson. However, it feels fundamentally worse when this problem exists in health care than when it exists in academe, if not for the fact that health care has a much stronger effect on the average person. Yes, Vivian's emotional growth might be stunted but that's not going to affect anyone except her. But when doctors value success so much that they take risks with people's lives, like Jason is doing with Vivian "she's tough" (45), they they risk hurting family members, partners, friends (ironically, this isn't the case with Vivian).
So the doctor's job is solving the puzzle, but instead of focusing on Vivian's puzzle they're just using her as data to help solve a larger one. To not have Vivian on the full dose would be compromising their data, which is why they resist doing it even if she's clearly dying. So no, I don't think the doctors could help Vivian without losing themselves, because all we've seen of them at this point is their desire for success. If they throw away success just to help one woman, in a twisted way they've lost what makes them who they are.
1) Simply, I think the play is about Vivian. From using fourth wall breaks to separate her from the rest of the cast, to making her character “prickly” to separate from the stereotypical cancer story, everything is done to make sure this is Vivian’s story and only Vivian’s story. The story has become a lot more painful to read. Seeing such a strong character struggle to get human connection during the toughest time of her life is saddening. The way Edison made it so apparent why this happening to Vivian ow makes it even more painful now that is it happening. At the begging of the book, I would have never imagined Vivian crying, but it happens. The stage direction “In spite herself” is so important in this scene. Edison knows Vivian’s character isn't supposed to cry, but it's Necessary in the progression of her character.
ReplyDelete2) I think it's important to distinguish between the different healthcare professionals. Jason acts nothing like Susie, who acts nothing like Kelekian, who acts nothing like his fellow, who act nothing like the technicians. Jason is very obviously detached from Vivian’s situation. He only cares about becoming a researcher, and doesn't make an attempt to be caring, constantly having to remind himself to be clinical. Kelekian connects with Vivian on a teacher level, asking “Why do we waste our time, Dr. Bearing?”, Much to her delight. Susie cares, or at least pretends to care, the most. This is probably how it seems due to her role as her nurse, who constantly has to interact with Vivian. The scene where she shares the Popsicle with Vivian was beautiful. Simple and short, but beautiful. It was a nice break from the pain VVivian(and I) had been going through. This is the first time we see Vivian genuinely connect to someone else on an emotional level, and it was great to see.
1. I like it. Vivian is a really interesting character and also manages to keep up her spirits with humor despite her rather alarming circumstances. Her humor comes from a place of brilliance. It's also not just about her vocabulary so steeped in academia. Even when she takes "a turn for the Anglo-Saxon" her words are clearly thought out and clever. She doesn't need to use fancy vocabulary to be clearly very conscious of words. The play as whole is based around her, and even if you don't like her, you have to admire her. Whether through the brain that reached the top of her field or the sheer determination and willpower that can withstand the treatment, Vivian Bearing is a force.
ReplyDelete2. As I said yesterday, I don't like Jason. The technicians don't seem too bad, since they're all over the place and have tons of different people on their minds. Kelekian is someone who I'm not sure of yet. The general issue I'm seeing with the system of healthcare is that the individual patient isn't valued. Of course, considering the number of patients rolling through each day, it's unsurprising that the technicians aren't terribly interested that one of them is a scholar of John Donne's poetry. Jason should be more interested though. Susie, like Jason, is personally assigned to Vivian. Susie notices that Vivian has had no guests whatsoever. Jason forgets that one of the treatment's side effects is baldness. During the Grand Rounds, Kelekian is the only one who talks to the most relevant person in the room, Vivian. They also are using Vivian's cancer as a means to experiment. Yes have to have some way to test out a cure, but when one clearly isn't working, should they follow through to the end to get all the details? The point is to save people, not to gain knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Treating each patient with Susie-Level care may not be realistic, but Jason, and the general system depicted in Wit, is hurried and inconsiderate to patients, which are the reason the whole system even exists.