In Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, the most important character relationship is between Anna and Carl. Their sibling bond is close and is displayed throughout the course of one act. Since they have a particularly close relationship, Carl’s death at the end of the play is hard for Anna to take in thus resulting in an alternative fantasy where Anna is diagnosed with ATD and the pair goes gallivanting across Europe. The loss of her brother requires Anna to cope with the loss by imagining a world where they completed their dream of roaming across Europe and replacing Carl’s diagnosis of AIDS and substituting it with her diagnosis of ATD. It is the loss of her brother that triggers a coping mechanism for Anna, and as she is having her final moments
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In most psychological case studies, it is shown that the loss is manifested in a variety of symptoms. For example, psychologist Mash Herberman and his colleagues say, “symptoms of complicated grief include persistent yearning and longing, preoccupation with the deceased or circumstances of the death, [and] difficulty accepting the death…” (1202). Anna’s symptoms specifically surface in scene fourteen, when she is thinking about her impending “death” and wondering how Carl will react to it. She says:
ANNA. When I’m gone, I want you to find someone.
CARL. Let’s not talk about me.
ANNA. No, I want to. It’s important to me to know that you’ll be happy and taken care of after … when I’m gone.
CARL. Please.
ANNA. I’ve got to talk about it. We’ve shared everything else. I want you to know how it feels … what I’m thinking … when I hold your hand, and I kiss it … I try to memorize what it looks like, your hand … I wonder if there’s any memory in the grave? (Vogel, …show more content…
They are discussing ATD when it is revealed that the Doctor was a fraud all along, revealing him to be the Third Man that has been stalking him throughout the play. Once the jig is up, in German the Doctor asks Anna repeatedly, “Where is your brother?”. This scene is a reflection of how selfish Anna is. Throughout the course of the play, Anna is preoccupied with men. In all of the different stops throughout Europe, Anna sleeps with a variety of men, from a French waiter, to a radical student. All of this time could have been spent with her brother and the moment that Doctor Todesrocheln asks Anna where her brother is, represents how she was not there for Carl when he needed her most. The scene is also the turning point for Anna’s character. It is the moment when her fantasy is shattered and she is returned to a sense of reality. Psychologist Linda Robinson says that there are three different characteristics that emerge when one is going through sibling bereavement. The second and third characteristics are, “a change in self-perception… [and] a change in world view, including one’s roles and responsibilities” (485). When Doctor Todesrocheln shatters Anna’s illusion, she stops thinking about herself and worries for Carl. Now that she is solely focused on Carl there is a change in her self-perception and world view and the change reflects how her sense of identity is intertwined with
In most psychological case studies, it is shown that the loss is manifested in a variety of symptoms. For example, psychologist Mash Herberman and his colleagues say, “symptoms of complicated grief include persistent yearning and longing, preoccupation with the deceased or circumstances of the death, [and] difficulty accepting the death…” (1202). Anna’s symptoms specifically surface in scene fourteen, when she is thinking about her impending “death” and wondering how Carl will react to it. She says:
ANNA. When I’m gone, I want you to find someone.
CARL. Let’s not talk about me.
ANNA. No, I want to. It’s important to me to know that you’ll be happy and taken care of after … when I’m gone.
CARL. Please.
ANNA. I’ve got to talk about it. We’ve shared everything else. I want you to know how it feels … what I’m thinking … when I hold your hand, and I kiss it … I try to memorize what it looks like, your hand … I wonder if there’s any memory in the grave? (Vogel, …show more content…
They are discussing ATD when it is revealed that the Doctor was a fraud all along, revealing him to be the Third Man that has been stalking him throughout the play. Once the jig is up, in German the Doctor asks Anna repeatedly, “Where is your brother?”. This scene is a reflection of how selfish Anna is. Throughout the course of the play, Anna is preoccupied with men. In all of the different stops throughout Europe, Anna sleeps with a variety of men, from a French waiter, to a radical student. All of this time could have been spent with her brother and the moment that Doctor Todesrocheln asks Anna where her brother is, represents how she was not there for Carl when he needed her most. The scene is also the turning point for Anna’s character. It is the moment when her fantasy is shattered and she is returned to a sense of reality. Psychologist Linda Robinson says that there are three different characteristics that emerge when one is going through sibling bereavement. The second and third characteristics are, “a change in self-perception… [and] a change in world view, including one’s roles and responsibilities” (485). When Doctor Todesrocheln shatters Anna’s illusion, she stops thinking about herself and worries for Carl. Now that she is solely focused on Carl there is a change in her self-perception and world view and the change reflects how her sense of identity is intertwined with