Introduction

Rabbit Hole is one of the most entertaining and educative stories in the modern society. It is a story where togetherness and forgiveness are portrayed as critical aspects of life. The play is about a couple, Becca, and Howie, who are mourning the death of their young son Danny. The death of their son was as a result of a road accident. It is a very touching story where this couple is trying to get to the reality of the matter that their son is gone forever. The family is leveled with grief as they struggle to put their lives back together (Web, 2015). Despite the challenges, the family has tried to remain together in these difficult moments.  It is also important to note that the issue of forgiveness is evident since Becca continuously held meeting with the driver of the car that caused the accident. Becca exhibits a forgiving heart that most people would not have especially in such emotional instances.

Summary

The play has different scenes most of which are in a house. It begins with a discussion between Becca and her young sister Izzy. Izzy is describing to her sister about an experience in a particular bar at night. She explains to Becca how she was verbally assaulted by an older woman who claimed that she had stolen her man. She continues to state how she punched the woman as the only form of defense at her disposal.  This did not go well with Becca and saw her sister as an irresponsible girl.  Becca is even more surprised after Izzy confirms to her that she is dating the man at the center of controversy. To add salt to injury, the young Izzy is even pregnant with this man. Becca hesitantly accepts this fate and offers some baby clothes to Izzy.

Sometimes later, the couple is eating crème caramels as they discuss Izzy’s pregnancy. At this scene, we find Howie pouring wine to Becca in an attempt to create a good mood that the latter is not interested (Web, 2015).  There is heated debate about the declining sex life and issues of their dead son are in top gear.  In later scenes, there are incidents where there is the celebration of Izzy’s birthday. There are also instances where Becca decides to meet Jason against the husband’s will. This causes tension between the couple but finally they realize that they are there for one another. The couple finally agrees to stay together and sort out their issue as a family.

Story analysis

For us to have a critical analysis of the play, it is paramount that we understand the different characters and their significance in the play. To start with, Becca, is an older sister to Izzy, husband to Howie and a mother to the dead son Danny. The play depicts her as a mentally disturbed person resulting from the tragic death of her son.  The issue of this death has traumatized her to a great extent. From the play, it is evident that she is a character with so much to say but decides to stay mom until she is motivated by other characters.  This can be confirmed by the instance when Howie is pouring wine to her and alleviate the mood.

Additionally, Becca is a hot-tempered woman. The instance where her young sister, Izzy, is describing to her the bar confrontation is a good example of her tempers. She is also very mad with her husband Howie when she finds her watching a video of their dead son (Web, 2015).  We are also made to understand that she is a conservative lady since she has withdrawn her sex life after the death of their child. However, it is worth knowing that the playwright has used Becca to bring out the theme of forgiveness. Despite the efforts by Howie to prevent her from meeting Jason, she strives to ensure that they meet with him severally. Becca’s arrogance is also evident from his remarks at the weekly meetings. “God needed another angel,” Becca bristles, remarking, “Why not just make another one? He’s God, right?”

Howie is another important character in the play.  He is the husband to Becca and the biological father of Danny, the dead son. He tried his level best to console his wife though it was at times difficult bearing in mind that he was also mourning. Howie was attentive as he took the counseling classes seriously. This is explained by his discussion with Gabby and Kelvin, who worked very hard to console the family.  Even after Becca feels fed up with the weekly meetings of the support group, Howie continues to attend the meetings on his own.

Howie also wants to mourn the death of his son and also have fond memories of him. This is evidenced by the part where he is keenly watching the video of his son. This is exactly opposite of Becca, who can’t bear the constant reminder of his son and starts to remove his drawings from the walls (Web, 2015).  She also packs all of Danny’s belonging and keeps them in the basement despite his husbands’ efforts to stop her.

Another essential character in the lay is Izzy, who is a younger sister to Becca, aunt to Danny, new found girlfriend to Auggie and daughter to Nat. She is a rambunctious, more youthful character but not afraid to speak her mind. She describes the bar incident to her sister and even admits that she is pregnant with Auggie the man leading to confrontations at the bar. Her aggressive character is also clearly depicted by her acts of punching the woman involved in the fight in the bar. She is also a disrespectful girl with a habit of stealing other people’s boyfriends.

Jason is another equally important character in the play. He is a teenage driver who killed Danny through an accident. The playwright uses this character to further his thesis of forgiveness. The scene of the meeting between Jason and Becca is one of the most emotional parts of the play. Though it was an accident, Jason feels very disturbed and guilty of all that transpired on that fateful day (Web, 2015). Nevertheless, he tries to console the couple and wishes them well.  It is clear that Jason is ready to be forgiven since he accepts it is a tragedy where all the parties involved have to take and carry on. Jason and the meters of the weekly support group also depict the importance of consoling those in trouble.

From this occurrence, the play seems to be against law and order mentality. This is a situation whereby people insist that behind every social tragedy, there must be someone jailed for this. It is also against those people who feel that revenge is the easy way to healing. Jason and Becca act maturely by forgiving one another. They all conclude that no one should be made to pay for the tragedy.

It is, however, important to understand that forgiveness is not an easy matter as many people would think.  As long as Becca was willing to forgive Jason, Howie was not ready to just let it go. It is evident that he lashes out to the young driver at the first meeting. From this perspective, we should not judge him harshly but we ought to understand that the level of understanding varies from one person to another.

The weight of the tragedy of losing a young son is not questionable. As a result of this grief, Becca has stopped working, and nothing seems to make her happy. She has even taken her pain to higher heights where the family is not even enjoying their sex life. To make matters worse, she even finds herself at loggerheads with an innocent dog (Web, 2015). In the play, there is a situation whereby she packs all Danny’s belonging and takes them to the Corbett’s basement.  All the belongings that the young boy left behind fit in one corner of a room. This is symbolic of life not fully lived, and we can understand the frustration of the mother to the young Danny.

Apart from these main characters, the playwright has used other characters to drive other themes. For instance, Nat who is the mother to Becca and Izzy is also an important character in the story.  Through her, we are made to understand that she had another son who died after dealing with heroin addiction for some time (Web, 2015). The theme of the dangers of drug and substance abuse is clearly portrayed by this character. From this perspective, we are aware that the issue of drugs is fatal especially to the youth since Nat’s son died in his early thirties.

Conclusion

The rabbit hole is a good play where several themes and lesson can be drawn. The play is very emotional as it explains how a couple has to deal with the death of their young son. Though the play fails to explain what finally happens to the couple, we hope that they can recollect themselves and face the reality that the child is dead and cannot be brought back to life.  The pay tries to explain the importance of facing the world with calm and accepting what it is difficult for us to change. Rabbit hole tries to explain the importance of dealing with tragedies when they arise and comfort others when they are faced with hard times (Web, 2015). It is important to note that continuous mourning for the dead is not a solution since the dead have no chance of resurrection. Though the story is very emotional, it has a clear message that we should not allow ourselves to be victims of mourning.

Work cited

N.p., 2015. Web. 9 June 2015.

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