Anatomy of a Suicide - Part 17

Lesson: Thursday 7th December 2017

In this lesson we read through Scene 4 which is the second scene in which three stories are playing simultaneously. However, in this scene, all three scenes have talking in them and often overlap, allowing for more similarities to be seen across the three time periods.

In Carol's scene, she is being taken around the family home that is present in all three stories by an estate agent, Dave. This is vastly important because the majority of the main events take place in this house such as Anna giving birth to Bonnie. As Carol is looking at the house by herself, whilst heavily pregnant, it suggests that she had more impact in buying the house. This could show that John is trying to give Carol what she wants such as the house to make her feel better after her attempted suicide. The buying of a new house could simply mean that they need more space because of Carol's pregnancy. There were many lines and actions in this scene that I thought were either important or were quite awkward/funny (all three stories in this scene were awkward). Carol asks Dave to face the back of the room so that she can imagine what her family will look like in the house. Although this is awkward, it could be something that someone would do so that they could imagine how they would live in the house; Dave complies with this request because he wants to sell the house as quickly as possible. When Carol says "I don't" Birch may be trying to imply that Carol can't imagine her family in this house, especially as it comes after a long period of silence which is why it's a surprise that she does end up buying the house.

In Anna's scene, John visits Anna in a rehab clinic. Much like Carol's scene, this is a very awkward situation because the last time Anna saw John, Anna was high and drunk and tried to have sex with John so that she could get more money for more drugs. As Anna is in rehab, it shows that she is trying to get better, something that John may have been trying to make her do for a long time now. In this scene, they mention the house that Carol is buying in the opposite scene. In Carol's scene, it seems as though Carol is not that enthusiastic about the house whereas in Anna's scene, John suggests that the only things he knew Carol loved were Anna and the house, both of which could be untrue as Carol may only be buying the house because it's what she should do and only seems like she loves Anna because that it also what she's supposed to do as a mother. Although, it may be said that Carol loved the house, Anna, and John in her own way. When John asks "What about a new house?" it shows that he is prepared to abandon something that he thinks his wife loved, to look after Anna. It could show that he is ready to be a father to Anna, something that she may not have had after Carol's death as John may have completely broken down. John may have said this to Carol after her first attempted suicide so that they could move on from their 'tragic' past; as he says this to Anna, he may be seeing that Carol and Anna are showing stark similarities and if John buys her a new house, then Anna will stop having the similarities and get better quicker.

In Bonnie's scene, Jo visits Bonnie with a fish so that Bonnie can cook the fish. This section is awkward like the other sections within the scene but has a funnier undertone. I have talked about this section is previous blogs. Additionally, Birch has cleared space for the lines in the fish scene which allow the lines to be funnier - this could show the Brechtian technique spass as the other sections in the scene appear to be more serious which contrast with the spass of Bonnie's scene.

On page 48, there is an overlapping section between Carol's scene and Anna's scene that I thought was interesting. Carol asks Dave "Who lived here?" to which Dave replies "A family". At the same time as this, John says "I I". This is showing that John used to live in the house that Carol is currently looking round. Dave's reply also links to how three generations of Carol's family lived in the house and could link to the final scenes for Bonnie where she begins to show people and an estate agent round the house - the estate agent for Bonnie calls the house a 'family home' which is something that may have been said by Dave to the previous family who lived in the house.