Vivian Bearing is very evident as her cancer takes hold of her. Vivian is forced to set aside her academic superiority as her illness steals away her life. Edson shows Vivian craving human connection from Dr. Posner and it becomes apparent what she has without a doubt realized: wit is not a replacement for kindness. This revelation marks her transition from a cold intellectual to a gracious compassionate woman with the ability to love. Vivian says herself when she sees that her death is near, "Now is not the time for verbal swordplay, for unlikely flights of imagination and wildly shifting perspectives, for metaphysical conceit, for wit . . . Now is the time for simplicity. Now is the time for, dare I say it, kindness. I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see that I have been found out”(69-70). Once Vivian realizes the importance of compassion, she is finally able to die peacefully and gracefully without any scholarly
Vivian Bearing is very evident as her cancer takes hold of her. Vivian is forced to set aside her academic superiority as her illness steals away her life. Edson shows Vivian craving human connection from Dr. Posner and it becomes apparent what she has without a doubt realized: wit is not a replacement for kindness. This revelation marks her transition from a cold intellectual to a gracious compassionate woman with the ability to love. Vivian says herself when she sees that her death is near, "Now is not the time for verbal swordplay, for unlikely flights of imagination and wildly shifting perspectives, for metaphysical conceit, for wit . . . Now is the time for simplicity. Now is the time for, dare I say it, kindness. I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see that I have been found out”(69-70). Once Vivian realizes the importance of compassion, she is finally able to die peacefully and gracefully without any scholarly