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Educating Rita Analysis

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Rita sat by her husband facing the window. He stared out into nothing. There was little evidence of any thought process from either of them, only an occasional whine from the patient.
A nurse entered the room, greeted Rita, but received no response. The nurse bathed and manipulated Morrison’s legs and arms as if to invoke an act of movement from her patient. Earlier, the doctors and attendants spoke to Rita about the slight improvements they had detected. They found the sounds he made relating to speech, baffling. They asked her to interpret the sound their patient intermittently made: ‘E-bi’. Rita guessed it was her son’s name. She wondered if it was a compassionate call to his son, or of a more devious rancor.
“Levi?” One attendant leaned …show more content…

Morrison was completely dependent on his caretakers, his wife and Levi. They taught Levi to lift his father out of his bed and into the wheelchair. His father’s speech remained distorted and difficult to understand. He often had to repeat what he wanted before they understood, a repetition often delivered through tears of frustration. Levi showed exemplary patience and perhaps even concern for his father.
His mother had become another person; alcohol free and dependable. When his father returned home after he insisted, cutting short his rehabilitation at the Handicap Center, the family was uncertain, but felt the home environment would aid in a more rapid recovery.
The doctor’s were less positive about his recovery. They told them he would more than likely remain in his wheelchair. His independent mobility and the distorted speech were permanent.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that his self centered controlling nature was not in the least affected by the strokes. His tearful requests turned into angry demands. The costumes had changed but the ugliness was alive and …show more content…

Rita looked toward the abandoned liquor cabinet, the contents of which eased her harrowing life. She rejected a return to that solution. Levi suggested a trip to the Grand Canyon and the arranging of a freefall for the occupied wheelchair.
Rita had a more sane idea. She discussed that idea with her son and then took complete control of the situation. She would file for divorce. They shipped Mr. Morrison to a handicap center and their Central Park apartment, sold. Mother and son discussed domestic changes to Levi’s studio with the intent that she move

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