Feb
2016
The Whale: A Whale of a Time
Image from stageagent.com
In Sam Hunter’s The Whale, readers are treated to a plethora of jarring imagery and emotional turmoil in the form of Charlie, a 600 pound dying man whose only connections with the outside world are Liz, a woman who cares for him; and his online class of students who could not care less about writing a decent scholarly paper. However, not all hope is lost in the last remaining days in this man’s life. He tries to salvage a relationship with this estranged daughter, Ellie. Ellie has a very special case of “teenager syndrome” meaning that she is apathetic towards everything and everyone and doesn’t give a second thought towards the feelings of others. This gives her a stark contrast to the overly emotional and sympathetic Charlie (or as Ellie might call him, “Sym-pathetic”). Another person that adds on the bleak and misanthropic list of characters is Elder Thomas. He is the bright and cheery Mormon missionary who meets Charlie under pretty awkward circumstances. Elder Thomas continues to come to visit Charlie, despite being chased away by Liz. As the play reaches its fateful ending, it is revealed that not all is what it seems. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do and everyone is self-aware of those reasons. Ellie is crude and mean because she still harbors ill-will towards her father for not being there, even if Charlie asked about her and sent money. Charlie has given up hope about his life and is following in the footsteps of his late lover by wasting away into nothing. Charlie is aware that his time is limited and he refuses any kind of help that would save him. At one point, he even gives up on his class, telling them simply to write just anything. Anything meaningful. This is important as it shows Charlie’s desperation to hold on to any piece of this world that mean something, thus making his existence not entirely worthless. When first read, none of the characters come off as inherently likable. Charlie had given up on life, Liz lets him eat himself to death despite supposedly being there for his support and well-being, Ellie is unnecessarily nasty to her father, Ellie’s mother refuses to let Ellie have contact with her father, and Elder Thomas is a complete liar. During the first read through, it seems that there are no redeeming qualities to any of these characters. However, upon further analysis, there is a subtle quality to each of these characters that presents them not only as one-dimensional characters on a page, but as relatable humans. When viewed like this, the characters seem to change. Charlie becomes the antihero who is trying to grasp reality before paying the ultimate price for his life choices. Liz becomes compassionate and nonjudgmental as she tries to make Charlie as comfortable as possible in his impending death while still respecting his choice to not get help. Ellie turns into a lost teenager who has a good heart underneath the hard exterior, shown when she tries to get help for Elder Thomas in the only way she can: through manipulation. Mary is a worried mother unable to understand her daughter who tries to keep Ellie from her father in order to avoid further heartbreak. Elder Thomas, I believe, is more lost than the rest of them. He has lost his religion and instead went on a one-man mission to redeem himself by helping just one other person. He hides his true self from everyone and only opens up when he is pushed over the brink by Ellie. Afraid of failure and afraid of owning up to his mistakes and returning home, his only respite is through Charlie for believing in him, even though he did not believe in the religion, and Ellie. If it weren’t for Ellie, he may never have been able to go home to start again. While the play ends on an ambiguous note, it is implied that Charlie died. While this gives a feeling of unimportance to Charlie’s journey, it is quite important to the whole point of the play. We know from the beginning that Charlie is going to die and there is no hope for him. Death is the only way this play could have ended. Yet, the reader is left with a longing for a deeper meaning. Death can’t be the end, can it? Just after Charlie got his daughter back? I believe the point Hunter is trying to make is that no matter your circumstances in life and what you do to redeem yourself, you will always end up being a victim to death. Just a page in an essay someone else will write about you. In a world where morbid obesity is becoming more and more common, this rare insight into the life of one of its victims is definitely a fresh idea in a new age of realism theatre.
Sources:
The Whale by Sam Hunter
John Monaghan’s Review of The Whale