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"THE ROAD TO MECCA" (ATHOL FUGARD).   Term Paper ID:26756 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Uses character of Miss Helen to examine biopsychosocial issues which are part of the aging process in women & role of the social worker in that process.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Uses character of Miss Helen to examine biopsychosocial issues which are part of the aging process in women & role of the social worker in that process. Paper Introduction: This paper uses the character of Miss Helen in Athol Fugard's moving play, The Road to Mecca, to examine many of the biopsychosocial systems and issues that are part of the aging process in women. The individual grows, develops, and ages within the wider environment of the surrounding community. This extended system limits, influences, and affects the ways in which its members grow up and grow old, and Miss Helen provides an especially intriguing case study of this process at work. Many of the issues raised by her case are useful in understanding the social worker's role in analyzing and designing a plan for care for older, widowed women in the community. Her case also suggests some of the kinds of clues that the caring, perceptive social worker might look for in studying and serving older individuals. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Her sculpture is all about light and seeing,and these fanciful figures are her legacy to the community. B. Kriseman, N. Hanna (Eds.), The aging family: Newvisions in theory, practice, and reality, pp. AsHelson (1997) points out (pp. Oates, W. (1994). Hanna (Eds.), The aging family: Newvisions in theory, practice, and reality, pp. 544) much more quickly than might have been possible hadshe herself seen her husband's death only as a negative event. Handbook for treatment of attachment-traumaproblems in children. Fugard, A. James, B. 268). So many of her sculptures look like mockeriesof the cherubic angels and plaster saints found inside the church grounds,and she calls the whole project her "Mecca," pointing the way to the mostsacred city in a foreign (and therefore subversive) religion. At the time of the play, which is set in 1974, Miss Helen is in herlate sixties. Once she realized that she could light as manycandles as she wanted and keep them lit as long as she liked, she feltenormous power. References Conway, P. Elsa helps her through the anestheticperiod, forcing her to begin to accept the loss of her dreams and theisolation that Miss Helen has brought on herself as a result. Miss Helen is, in many ways, a typical older client needing assistancefrom her community. E. Marius and Katrina serve as a two-way line ofcommunication, maintaining Miss Helen's membership in the wider systemoutside her gates. However,what she may have been experiencing at that moment instead was a thrill ofpower that temporarily overrode her instinct for self preservation. (1995). Elsa's understanding came from her ownsearch for self and her willingness to look at the sculpture as art, not asa symbol that threatened her own world. When she accidentally set fire to her curtains onenight, James (1994) would have described her reaction as freezing, a bodilyresponse to fear, connected with her childhood trauma (p. D. In P. Peacock. Lachman & J. Miss Helen's gender also makes her more vulnerable to the pressures ofher community. Even her relationship with Marius is part of a larger structuralsystem. She has withdrawn from most of those around her,maintaining regular contact only with Marius, Elsa (who now lives in CapeTown, a 12-hour drive away), and Katrina, a local girl who helps with thehousekeeping. L., & Claes, J. 542), yet does not explore the possibility that theymay also result in feelings of relief, freedom, and self-revelation, asStefanus' death does for Miss Helen. Fellin (Ed.), The community and the social worker, pp. She was probably born a few years before the Union of SouthAfrica was formally established in 191 , and she grew up as part of thewhite, Afrikaner ruling class. P. In T. Hargrave & S. Systems perspectives for understandingcommunities. Losses and grief in old age. As Fellin(1995, Systems Perspectives) notes, the community's most important job as asystem is to maintain stability and equilibrium (p. New York: Lexington. Her artwork gave her deep personal satisfaction but separated her fromher community. Althoughshe mourned his passing, widowhood gave her the chance to discover herself. Her separation is, in some ways, self-imposed, but she is alsorestricted by transportation limitations and the limited resources of thetown. Marius and others within the communityappear to believe that grief unhinged Miss Helen rather than freeing her todiscover her artistic side. Gender issues and eldercare. (1988). Miss Helen has dealt with this identity panic in a waythat many other women her age have also tried, by exploring her artisticimpulses and learning to express herself through her work. (1997). The play takes place one night in Miss Helen's house, as Elsa Barlow,a much younger friend, a teacher with radical ideas and a closerelationship with the reclusive older woman, has arrived unexpectedly.Elsa is upset by a dark, despairing letter Miss Helen sent her. Elsa was thefirst person who truly understood the beauty of Miss Helen's sculpture.This engendered a sense of trust between the women that neither had beenable to find with other people. (1985). Many of theissues raised by her case are useful in understanding the social worker'srole in analyzing and designing a plan for care for older, widowed women inthe community. She stopped going to church, fearing thatshe would lose her inspiration if she did not begin each new work as soonas she envisioned it in her mind. Martins eventually committed suicide by drinking lye, whichcorroded her intestines and killed her. New York:Brunner/Mazel. The individual grows,develops, and ages within the wider environment of the surroundingcommunity. For example, she accepts Miss Helen'sexplanation about the new curtains, the burned wall, and the scars on herhands as all being evidence of a harmless accident. As in many of Oates'(1997) case histories, Miss Helen has spent many years trying to turn herdreams for her world into reality. Both C. Children threw stones at her yard and whisperedstories about her being a witch. Claes (1997)point out, research suggests that as many as 72 percent of all caregiversfor aging adults are women (p. Fellin (Ed.), The community and the social worker, pp.28-38. Her case serves as a dramatic reminder to the socialwork student that each such case, while following some patterns, is alsounique and must be evaluated separately. Fellin, P. Marius, whatever his true feelings about her (Elsa believeshe is in love with Miss Helen), sees her as a helpless woman, in need oflooking after and incapable of real independence. Kriseman and Jacalyn A. She becomes the kind of advocate that McQuaide (1998) champions (pp. While many sociologists have studied the impactof loss and grief, they are less likely to consider the ways in which deathand loss can also free the individual from significant burdens. Her sculptures are her children. As withattachment, the social worker must attempt to understand how significantevents are seen and interpreted by the individual client, not simply howthey "ought" to be defined. New York: TheatreCommunications Group. As Sharon McQuaide (1998) observes, midlife isfrequently a time of rethinking which can sometimes result in feelings ofpanic, as the individual attempts to understand the person he or she hasbecome (p. 24). In T. The play reveals much about Miss Helen's isolatedstate and the ways in which the larger systems of the community and thechurch are attempting to influence and change her to meet the needs of thesystem. Most of her neighbors were puzzled, frightened, or angeredby her strange sculptures. Miss Helen became a widow at a relatively early age. He isalso able to take the true facts of the case (Helen Martins' suicide) andsuggest a much more hopeful ending to the story. For Miss Helen, having the candletaken away at bedtime left her terrified and helpless. On herarrival, Elsa discovers that Miss Helen is about to give in to pressurefrom Marius Byleveld, the local pastor, to leave her home and move into asenior care residence. 54 -541), willing to share and investigate her own feelings in the course ofhelping her "client." Of course, Elsa is Miss Helen's friend, not her social worker, whichis fortunate, as she commits some professional blunders. The twostruggle between the fantasy world that the elderly artist has created andthe reality that she must face, and this struggle leads to a catharsis forthem both. E. 4). Her case also suggests some of the kinds of clues that thecaring, perceptive social worker might look for in studying and servingolder individuals. She has also been involved in an unhappy love affair with amarried man, an affair which she broke off eventually and which resulted inan abortion. 12). In fact, the conventional expectation that the death of a spouse is anentirely negative experience may blind social workers to the potential forpositive side effects, as well. 199-2 8. When she finds outthat they are, instead, proof of a near-tragedy, she is reluctant toconclude that Marius may be right about Miss Helen's physical decline andneed for supervision. For example, the nearest doctor is in the much larger town of Graaff-Reinet, an hour or so away, and Miss Helen does not drive or even own acar. Hargrave & S. Miss Helen is well off enoughfinancially not to need state welfare or governmental handouts, but sheremains subject to the laws of her government, including the restrictionsof apartheid that separate her from her black neighbors. E. Her letter to Elsa was a cry for help, but MissHelen is unsure of the kind of help that she needs. 2 1). The self in middle age. James (1994) notes thattraumatic events disrupting the all-important attachment relationship canhave lifelong consequences and are triggered by the child's owninterpretation of the event (p. Fellin, P. She is clearer on her feelings the night of her husband's funeral.The experience, while sad and stressful, was also liberating in acompletely unexpected way. She was, by mostdefinitions, middle aged (and at the time of the play has entered what mostsociologists agree to be the chronological period defined as old age). Itasca,IL: F. In some respects, thisfreedom allowed her to resolve, reformulate, and transform her loss(Conway, 1988, p. Elsa has been incontinual battle with representatives of her own community system, fightingagainst the restrictions of apartheid that she sees as limiting herabilities as a teacher and the possibilities she is able to offer her blackstudents. They are her way of assuring hermemory among future generations by leaving something of herself behind.Erikson's term is generativity (Helson, 1997, p. 34), and Miss Helen'saberrant artistic expressions are a threat to the community's balance and,particularly, to the church. MissHelen may not herself know what she was actually feeling. Miss Helen's burst of creativity was released by her husband's deathand by the kind of contemplation and self-examination that often occursduring middle age. McQuaide, S. For her, growing upand gaining control of her life came to be symbolized by her ability tocontrol the light at night. 259-269. This paper uses the character of Miss Helen in Athol Fugard's movingplay, The Road to Mecca, to examine many of the biopsychosocial systems andissues that are part of the aging process in women. She married a man named Stefanus andsettled into the conventional life of housewife and ardent churchgoer. In fact, Elsa's prejudice against senior care facilities and the lossof independence they represent, as well as her dislike of Marius, preventher from considering Miss Helen's case objectively. While MissHelen's neighbors believe that her sculpture is actually an attempt toundermine the common culture, Miss Helen herself sees it as her way ofilluminating possibilities and communicating the artistic light she hasdiscovered within herself. In her physical isolation, Miss Helen is typical of many older womenliving alone, as Fellin (1995, Defining Communities) points out (pp. The play offers a microcosm of the bereavement process that Oates(1997) outlines (p. 21-43. Reconciling with unfulfilled dreams at the endof life. Candles have a specialsignificance for her, reminding her of her relationship with her mother andher fear of being left alone in the dark. Although Miss Helenhas little direct contact with most of the others living near her, she isnonetheless as aware of the details of their lives as they are of hers.She is able to give Elsa gossip about people with whom she has not spokendirectly in years. Nevertheless, she is part of the larger community of NewBethesda, if only because she still lives within the town limits andremains within the consciousness of her neighbors. Had they considered her case in more depth,they might have recognized her sudden sculptural activity as a good sign,rather than an indication that she would soon need institutionalization.She was indeed grieving for her husband's death and the changes that beingleft suddenly alone might bring, but she was also exploring and delightingin the freedom that her solitude allowed her. The road to Mecca. The sculptural confections she hasproduced do not always match the visions that inspired them, and most ofthe people around her find them to be strange, frightening monsters. Fugard describes Elsa as being in her late 2 s, but she appears to bea little further along in her personal development than many other womenher age, perhaps because of her own difficulties in life. Chicago:University of Chicago. 537). Oates (1997) argues that late middle age and old age oftenprovide individuals with the opportunity to review their dreams andexpectations and to reconcile what they were actually able to accomplishwith what they hoped to achieve. Miss Helen is an important case for social work study in partbecause of her gender, and Elsa's relationship to her is also significant.Since women tend to live longer than men, they represent a greaterproportion of the senior population, as well as a different set ofchallenges and problems. In Miss Helen, Fugard has created a complex and realistic picture ofan older woman facing many of the challenges, pressures, and complicationsof the aging process. When Elsa arrives, Miss Helen is trying to actas though nothing has happened. Miss Helen's original artistic inspiration came from a candle Mariuslit the night of her husband's funeral. Fellin (1995,Defining Communities) observes that locality-based communities are definedas much by geography as by social interaction (p. What Fellin (1995, Systems Perspective) callssocial mapping (p. (1997). She was left with the house, a respectableincome, and the realization that she had never loved her husband. In Fugard's fictionalization ofher story, Miss Helen is still alive at the end of the play, suggesting theplaywright's hope that, with caring intervention, she might have beensaved. M. Marius heads the local church, which is governed by an areacouncil and answers to a much bigger organization, one whose members havenever met Miss Helen but who are helping to influence her fate. B.James, Multiple paths of midlife development, pp. She is also suffering fromarthritis, which makes trying to sculpt (or, in fact, do other householdchores) painful and difficult. 31) would show the ethnic segregation that Miss Helen'scommunity imposes, preventing a true friendship to develop between twowomen who see each other regularly and apparently enjoy one another'scompany. As Nancy L. Peacock. She tries to get MissHelen to tell her what she really wants to do, but she does not heareverything that the older woman is actually saying because of her ownpreconceptions. (1995). AsRavenna Helson (1997) points out, research studies on the issues andeffects of middle age have not been sufficient to confirm or deny many ofthe most prominent theories about this period of life (p. Sheis now confronting the fact that the lasting legacy she has created doesnot completely mirror the dreams that inspired it. Fifteen years before the play, when Miss Helen was in her early 5 s,Stefanus died unexpectedly. Social Casework;The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 541-549. However, her eyesight has begun to fail, and she has not had anartistic inspiration for a long time. Lighting candles helped her begin to regain the power shehad lost as a child. Miss Helen may be able to behelped by glasses and arthritis medication, but she must be considered asan individual, not a statistic. 3-27. She is neglecting her health and personalhygiene, and her sculpture, which she illuminates by candlelight, has madeher home a fire hazard. Itasca, IL: F. 1 ). Elsa can stand for the younger social worker whois faced with many similar cases, but she can also represent thepredominant caregiver. In M. New York:Brunner/Mazel. One of the challenges that interested Fugard in dramatizing this casewas the opportunity to explore an important relationship between two strongwomen. 33-34), many artists are able to create theirmost important, enduring works only in middle age, after they haveaccumulated a sufficient body of life experience from which they can drawtheir inspiration. Pat Conway(1988), for instance, argues that all losses of any kind result in someform of grieving (p. She began to create her sculptures, drawing on an artistic inspiration shehad never before realized she had. The age difference between the two women isalso a factor, but Miss Helen has not let age be a barrier in herrelationship with the much-younger Elsa, while it continues to restrict herdealings with Katrina. Although the community New Bethesda is physically isolated, it is,nevertheless, part of larger systems. Defining communities and community competence.In P. Discontent at midlife: Issues andconsiderations in working toward women's well-being. D. This extended system limits, influences, and affects the waysin which its members grow up and grow old, and Miss Helen provides anespecially intriguing case study of this process at work. She sees in Miss Helen an older version of herself, alone andembattled, and her fight to help the older woman becomes a personal battle. 13-14). The Road to Mecca is a dramaticcapsulization of this process, as Miss Helen looks back at the fear of thedarkness that trapped her for so long and the inspirations that eventuallyallowed her to try to escape from the darkness. Helson, R. 23). M. (1997). Miss Helen begins to face the pain and memories of her pastthat brought her to this moment, and, at the end of the play, she isbeginning to consider the future and her place within the wider community.Because it is a drama, the playwright can simplify and streamline agrieving process that would actually take place over a year or more. Wayne E. (1988). Fugard knew the woman only by her reputation in the town as aneccentric artist who had turned her house and grounds into a fantasticallandscape. The churchcouncil, acting on its unspoken mandate to maintain public harmony, mustwork to try to halt Miss Helen's disturbing challenge to the status quo. Katrina is black,which makes a true friendship of equals with Miss Helen an impossibility inSouth Africa in the 197 s. A. She has become soconvinced that she knows what is best for Miss Helen that she fails touncover all the relevant facts. G.Jung and Erik Erikson have argued that middle age is a period in which theindividual becomes especially interested in playing a role in thecontinuity of the surrounding culture (Helson, 1997, p. Families in Society:The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 532-541. E. Fugard based his play, The Road to Mecca (1985), on an actual person,Helen Martins, who lived in the remote town of New Bethesda in SouthAfrica. 22), and Miss Helen'ssculptures are the method she has found of assuring her immortality andpassing on what she has learned about life to subsequent generations. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.