Wit by Margaret Edson How to Face Death

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main Text
Conclusion
Reference
Footnotes

Introduction

Wit, by Margaret Edson tells of a Professor, Dr. Vivian Bearing, who at the age of 50 suffers from Cancer. Through the story, the writer explains the tragic life of the Professor and how she recalls the story of her life which she spent without anybody to care and love for. She explains her cancer at stage four and fully aware that stage five doesn’t exist, speaks of life and death. She emphasis on the knowledge of life and death through sayings and literature, but within her she realizes that she doesn’t know much about the science of life and death or about treatments that are for just experiments.

She emphasizes her knowledge based on philosophy and the questions on spiritual life and death. At the deathbed, without anybody to turn to for comfort, she remembers the day that she couldn’t understand the perspective of her student who couldn’t do the work because of a death in the family. The feeling of death has presumably caught hold of her and this is seen many times in her conversation with the nurse. She finally finds peace in her death when her former Mentor tells her of the story of a bunny which goes by the theme that God can find wherever a soul hides. She does not know the depth of her sickness and she lives in a sense of denial about her death. The doctors and researchers begin to loose her as a human to a mere body for conducting experimental treatments and do not tell her that her chances of survival are very low and with predominant side effects. Finally when she learns that her death is nearer, she regrets living her the best days of her life as a strict Professor and fighting against pain caused from the side effects. She couldn’t really get time to understand or accept the facts of death as the recognition of death came very fast.

Main Text

Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom tells of a different story of facing death. This story also talks about a Professor but here an explicit relationship exists between the teacher and his pupil. A caring, tender relationship built between the student and teacher makes facing death a more enjoyable and peaceful affair. The Professor, Morrie Schwartz, is dying from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and the student remembers with fond memories of the day when the students and administration were helped by this professor during the age of radicalism. Morrie Schwartz is seen as man who didn’t follow the drive for winning with the society and dealt mainly on righteousness and happiness which began from the heart.

He is seen fondling his memories about love, family, and work and importantly his death. Through his death, Schwartz tries to educate the student about the challenges to be faced in life and how to remember that everybody will die soon. Schwartz faces death bravely but gets overly emotional at each passing stage. He finds comfort in his friends and communicating with whatever energy that is left in him. The Professor turns into a student learning the lesson of death and life. He remembers his healthier life and realizes that he, in his haste to live, forgets about thanking for his gifts in life. He realizes the moments where he failed to love, made mistakes, and was filled with pride of his accomplishments and also all the different circumstances which if he had given a chance to live again, would have dealt it differently. He is repeatedly seen telling his student that if a person learns to die he will understand the full concept of living.

In both the contexts, the Professors are seen to look back into their past and regrets the times when they had been rude or harsh in the haste to live. But they both looked at death in different ways. Dr. Vivian Bearing is seen left without anybody to care for or to be with her during her last stages. The only people who she confronts to are the nurse at the hospital and her former mentor. She is remembers her life where she had been quite strict with her pupils and unemotional in the way she dealt with them. She tries to cling back to the last thread of hope of living through experimental treatments and again in the haste to live, she forgets to live her last days of her life to its fullest. She faces death with fear and thus fails to really know the real peace of dying. Professor Schwartz on the other hand is seen always enjoying his time with his sweet memories and striving within the limited conditions by communicating by hands and learning to dance.

Morrie Schwartz had an accurate aspect of death and learnt how to face it. He believed to face it rather than to run away and learns to live with the big fact that he will loose out from the pleasures of the world. In his last days he did the most remarkable deed of letting his student know the taste and beauty of death. Even though he is a Professor with vast experience, Schwartz again turns into a student when it comes to a subject of life. He learns the aspect of enjoying his life to the core with his remaining days and in the fond care of all those who are dear to him.

In the story of Gloaming by Alice Elliot, a similar case is seen in which the dying son reconciles his life and begins to reconnect with his mother. His fond childhood memories and his mother help him to realize with content of happiness and face death with her support. Yet, a void is seen between his relationship with his father and his father’s urge to know more about his son after his death creates an emotional vagueness of life.¹ This story also marks a strong resemblance to the last days of the Professors when they also recall their life incidents.

The death of Professor Morrie Schwartz could be considered a better way of dying because he bet the odds and had the privilege to have more of a content life living it with his loved ones and by accepting the facts of death.

Conclusion

It would have been a more of emotional and tragic way to end life like Dr. Vivian Bearing without being able to accept the facts of death and most importantly not being able to live properly and without love but with guilt and regrets. She was seen to be distraught and not keen to accept the fact that death has overtook her. She was not at peace and deeply regretted for living her life for work alone and her last days were spent alone. This would have been a very tragic way to end life. The fact that everybody has to die one day is well known but a person should realise that the pleasures that he has now and the love and care which he doesn’t care for are the only strands of comfort and peace during the last days on death bed. Everybody will die at a moment and the way a person dies cannot be planned by him but the way he can live and cherishing the most of what he has at the moment is important and can be fully planned by him.

Many times a human being takes for granted his life and the love of the dear ones and looses it during his haste to live, but these two stories reveal how they both worked hard for their living yet by the end of their lives they wished they could have changed many things which they have done. Both the Professors had the unique opportunity to choose their way of death either with medicines and suffering from the side effects or a silent death enjoying the last moments in the care and love of the dear ones. Schwartz did a great attempt to study the facts of death and life and faced death by flowing with the tide. Compared to Bearing, who fought against death to live and finally ended in loosing the battle with a series of painful side effects and without time to understand the last moments of life, Schwartz takes the opportunity to understand and enjoy the beauty of death and also learn more skills and knowledge. Schwartz died the way anybody would like to die, a death surrounded by family and friends’ care and love, a death of accepting facts and moving on, a death of learning new skills and knowledge and most importantly having a death with many people to remember the loss without him.

Reference

Dark, Alice. In The Gloaming. Simon & Schuster.2001.

Footnotes

IN THE GLOAMING. ALICE DARK.

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Wit by Margaret Edson How to Face Death

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