A Little Smoother Rough Draft

Margaret Edson’s Wit is the story of Vivian Bearing, a renowned scholar and professor of Donne’s poetry, as she contracts and deals with cancer alone. One of the clinical fellows, Jason Posner, is an aspiring researcher hoping to use Vivian’s case as a stepping stone to a promising career. Although they studied different fields, Jason typifies Vivian as she was in her youth but retains the potential and hope to lead a more balanced life.

            As a child, Vivian realized that her life’s purpose/ambition was words. That ambition carried on through her college years. In one flashback Vivian has, her professor is berating her for using the incorrect punctuation of a Donne poem, but when her professor finishes by telling her, “You’re a bright young woman. Use your intelligence. Don’t go back to the library. Go out. Enjoy yourself with your friends” (p 15), Vivian passes students laughing on the lawn on her way back to the library. Similarly, when Jason was in college he “made a bet with [him]self that [he] could get an A in the three hardest courses on campus” (p21). He placed such a strong emphasis on study and scholarship that he placed himself on the same solitary path Vivian was on. Jason even said that, “one thing we learned in 17^th Century Poetry, it’s that you can forget about that sentimental stuff.” (FROM VIVIAN BEARINGS CLASS) That is one lesson that both Vivian and Jason took from their college education and applied to their lives.

            As a professor, Vivian was often harsh on students and didn’t take their feelings into account, denying them the “touch of human kindness.” This sentiment is mirrored by Jason as he sees Vivian as research rather than a person, avoiding eye contact whenever feelings/emotions are mentioned. As Vivian notices, “The young doctor, like the senior scholar, prefers research to humanity.”

            Towards the end of the play, Vivian’s character develops as she begins a friendship with her nurse, Susie. Whereas Vivian’s realization of the importance of humanity comes at the end of her life when she doesn’t have time to do anything about it, Jason is given a chance at the end of the play to choose a different path than Vivian. (Scene with Susie, discussing something other than cancer/research?) In the last scene, Vivian’s heart stops. Although Jason knows Vivian asked not to be resuscitated, he tries to do just that, claiming she is research. But as Susie reminds him of what Vivian wants, Jason stops. He just repeats, “Oh, God,” over and over. The script describes Jason as “in agony” and “howling,” which may be indicative of remorse.

            The remorse Jason feels over seeing Vivian as research rather than as a person is a potential turning point is his life. Although Susie previously asked, “Does he ever get it? . . . Does he ever understand?” And Jason responded with, “Oh, now way.” (<-NEED TO EXPAND THIS PART) The play ends with Vivian’s death, but leaves a glimmer of hope for Jason. If he is able to honestly answer yes to Vivian’s earlier question about whether or not he misses patients when they pass away, then Jason will have realized the importance of human kindness and humanity.