A few months after writing his song “Cinderella”, Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest daughter was tragically hit by her brother’s SUV when she ran out to meet him upon his arrival home. This devastating event gave a whole new meaning to “Cinderella”, and Chapman poured more emotion into his performance of the song than ever before, using the song as a way to cope with his grief. In David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole, the Corbett family suffers from a similar experience when Becca and Howie’s four-year-old son, Danny, runs out in front of a car and is killed. All of the characters deal with the grief of losing someone so young, and all of them grieve in their own, unique ways. Lindsay-Abaire displays the theme that, while grief is a universal
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At Izzy’s birthday party, Becca and Nat get into an argument in which Nat attempts to convince Becca into going to support groups. “I remember when Arthur died, I found the support group very helpful” (28). Danny is not the first family member’s death Nat has had to cope with. Her own son, Becca and Izzy’s brother, had committed suicide some time ago. When coping with the grief after Arthur’s death, Nat went to support groups to express her emotions to others who were also dealing with the loss of a child. She also mentions that “Faith helps people cope...I know when your brother died...If I didn’t have God” (29). Through this, she shows that not only the support group but her faith in God had helped her cope with the death of her son. Nat now sees her own daughter trying to cope with the death of her own son and tries to convince her that faith and the support group would help her with her grief. However, while Nat grieved outwardly through the support group when her son had died, Becca prefers to grieve inwardly after Danny’s death by choosing not to go to the support group, demonstrating that everyone’s grieving process is individual and that not all ways of coping with grief work for all
At Izzy’s birthday party, Becca and Nat get into an argument in which Nat attempts to convince Becca into going to support groups. “I remember when Arthur died, I found the support group very helpful” (28). Danny is not the first family member’s death Nat has had to cope with. Her own son, Becca and Izzy’s brother, had committed suicide some time ago. When coping with the grief after Arthur’s death, Nat went to support groups to express her emotions to others who were also dealing with the loss of a child. She also mentions that “Faith helps people cope...I know when your brother died...If I didn’t have God” (29). Through this, she shows that not only the support group but her faith in God had helped her cope with the death of her son. Nat now sees her own daughter trying to cope with the death of her own son and tries to convince her that faith and the support group would help her with her grief. However, while Nat grieved outwardly through the support group when her son had died, Becca prefers to grieve inwardly after Danny’s death by choosing not to go to the support group, demonstrating that everyone’s grieving process is individual and that not all ways of coping with grief work for all