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| Act III: Personal Associations Mr. Reader: What are your feelings about the monastic life? Mrs. Response: Well, it seems like it would take a special type of person to live that kind of life. Mr. Reader: What do you mean special? Mrs. Response: Special like it would have to be someone who was willing to give up sex. And someone who would be willing to give up material things like TV, cars, stereos, rock and roll. They wouldn�t be able to go to bars, to drink, date, go to football games. It would be very religious. A lot of chanting and praying and meditating. Cultivating gardens, wearing the same outfit everyday. Mr. Reader: Why would someone subject themselves to all this? Mrs. Response: I guess because they want to find some sort of spiritual fulfillment. Mr. Reader: Have you ever thought of entering the monastic life? Mrs. Response: I have thought about it. Not a Christian or Catholic monastery though. A Zen monastery. Maybe Buddhist. Mr. Reader: And why did you want to do this? Mrs. Response: Looking back it seems like half of the reason was to �find the meaning of life� and the other half was to escape from the world. Mr. Reader: Why escape? Mrs. Response: It almost seemed like it was the easy way out. All my problems would disappear. A living suicide, you might say. Mr. Reader: Hmm. What about the type of anger the narrator displays in this poem? Have you ever felt this way? Mrs. Response: Sure! Who hasn�t? It�s a part of being a kid, right? Mr. Reader: Well, I�m not talking about when you were a kid. I mean in your adult life. Mrs. Response: Assuming I understand the type of resentment being demonstrated in this poem, I guess, yes. I have had relationships with a significant other where I felt like she was Brother Lawrence and I was the narrator. I mean, I felt like she �belonged� to our relationship just to say she was in a relationship. She was escaping from not being alone and did so blindly. At least this what I think I think. And I was resentful for this. Metaphorically speaking, as she tried to cultivate the garden of our love, I was secretly �snapping her lilies�. Does this make sense? Mr. Reader: Somewhat. Mrs. Response: I was bitter and harbored terrible depths of anger towards her, but only in my mind was this displayed. I am sure she must have picked up on the vibes after a while though. Mr. Reader: Explain to me again what you were bitter about. Mrs. Response: I think I was bitter because she was perfectly happy being with me. She was willing to give up her life in every way just to have a relationship. She gave up following her heart, at least this is the way I perceived it. Mr. Reader: And you were not willing to give up all this? Mrs. Response: This is why I was bitter. I wasn�t ready to give up everything, yet here I was in this relationship. Mr. Reader: Is this feeling the crux of the poem? Mrs. Response: I think it is a part, maybe even a major part. Yes I think it is what the poem is about. |
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