Oh, Mom! – A Brechtian Analysis of Well by Lisa Kron
Most of us can relate to the adolescent struggle against a matriarchal force – almost mystical, but for sure one that seemed to be all powerful and overwhelming as well as nurturing. For many of us, that struggle to assert our own independent identities extends well beyond our years of teenage development and stays with us well into our later adult lives. This can stem from resentment, or an anxious desire to right any believed wrongs and thus clear the air of any enmity. That is not to say that we all suffered from the natal bond but, as with any relationship, the developed ego vs that of the developing ego can often leave lasting impressions that shape our view of the world and thus our …show more content…
The topics explored in Kron’s play range from racial inequality to chronic physical illness, and the two female leads suffer from each of these in their own way. The audience can identify with Kron’s Lisa, the daughter, trying to grapple with the situation her mother has left her in – desperately trying to reconcile her own health and healing with her mother’s seemingly refusal to change, despite Lisa’s realization of health, conceptualized by the healthy, as “having your sickness on top of their health (Kron 59).” Though not out and out identified as such, Kron lightly touches on the subject of ableism which introduces the audience to the idea that perhaps the chronically ill deserve more understanding from the world they are inhabiting – and if that understanding extends to beyond and stage and beyond the auditorium, then Brecht’s theory is fully realized and the “human being becomes the object of inquiry (Gerould …show more content…
Lisa is not “dumb” like Kattrin, either, which is perhaps why Ann’s compassion is so infuriating to her daughter. In the end, however, the roles are reversed and while no one dies, “Ann” leaves Lisa alone to toil in her work – writing the play she set out to
Most of us can relate to the adolescent struggle against a matriarchal force – almost mystical, but for sure one that seemed to be all powerful and overwhelming as well as nurturing. For many of us, that struggle to assert our own independent identities extends well beyond our years of teenage development and stays with us well into our later adult lives. This can stem from resentment, or an anxious desire to right any believed wrongs and thus clear the air of any enmity. That is not to say that we all suffered from the natal bond but, as with any relationship, the developed ego vs that of the developing ego can often leave lasting impressions that shape our view of the world and thus our …show more content…
The topics explored in Kron’s play range from racial inequality to chronic physical illness, and the two female leads suffer from each of these in their own way. The audience can identify with Kron’s Lisa, the daughter, trying to grapple with the situation her mother has left her in – desperately trying to reconcile her own health and healing with her mother’s seemingly refusal to change, despite Lisa’s realization of health, conceptualized by the healthy, as “having your sickness on top of their health (Kron 59).” Though not out and out identified as such, Kron lightly touches on the subject of ableism which introduces the audience to the idea that perhaps the chronically ill deserve more understanding from the world they are inhabiting – and if that understanding extends to beyond and stage and beyond the auditorium, then Brecht’s theory is fully realized and the “human being becomes the object of inquiry (Gerould …show more content…
Lisa is not “dumb” like Kattrin, either, which is perhaps why Ann’s compassion is so infuriating to her daughter. In the end, however, the roles are reversed and while no one dies, “Ann” leaves Lisa alone to toil in her work – writing the play she set out to