English Essay For Sarah Polley’s Film: A Critical Reflection

Grant’s Decision to Send Fiona to an Assisted Living Facility

Discuss about the English Essay for Sarah Polley Film.

This essay aims to reflect critically upon the represented issues in Sarah Polley’s film adaptation “Away from her”. It represents the health issues through the marriage of Fiona and Grant. “Is Grant’s decision of taking Fiona to an assisted living facility suitable for her conditions?” This question stresses on the bonding or relationship, which Fiona and Grant possessed and this decision has revealed about their marriage or love relationship as Fiona began to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and was shifted to a nursing home (White et al., 2014). Away from her’ is based on a story on short story by Alice Munro named “The Bear Came over the Mountain” and deals with the subject of affection, not from the perception of an individual suffering from dementia, but rather from the perception of the one left behind.

According to me, Grant’s decision of taking Fiona to an assisted living facility was suitable for her conditions because she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and was not in a state of managing herself. The individuals suffering from this disease find it difficult to complete their daily tasks. They forget dates and events and are confused and depressed. In some of the cases, they can also cause harm to themselves.  Hence, they need support for carrying out their daily activities. The similar thought was affecting Grant, as he used to go for work every morning. He was worried regarding the care of his wife. Therefore, he opted to send her to the care facility so that she can be given a proper care and can recover in an efficient manner (Brooker & Latham, 2015). 

In this film, Fiona, regarding her condition received a diagnosis. She admits the news with peace and calmness. She tells her friends that she is ‘beginning to disappear’. She gave a consistent reaction in terms of the responses given by some of the patients who receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and experience a sense of validation and relief from becoming familiar with their diagnosis (Jamieson, 2014). Fiona was aware that there had been changes in her memory as well as functioning and her diagnosis provided her with an explanation along with an opportunity for the intervention. On the other hand, Grant denied the diagnosis and sticked to the thin thread of trust that the conditions of his wife will not get worse. When the health conditions of Fiona got worse and she became lost and perplexed, she decided to get admitted in the dementia care facility (Balestra, 2016).  It was not was not easy for Grant to send her wife to the care facility and she tells her that it is a just a ‘rest cure’ and is only a sort of experiment and she does not have to stay there for a long time. This reveals the love and affection of Grant towards his wife that in spite of in deep grief; he still controlled himself (STRAUSS, 2016).

Fiona’s Diagnosis and Reaction

Grant eagerly awaited his first visit with his wife, but he returned to the care facility after the extended separation, he discovered that Fiona was sitting and playing cards with other man named Aubrey, who was bound to wheelchair and was chronically mute. Fiona approached Grant, but in the course of their conversation, it became apparent that she does not recognize Grant and thought that he is a new resident who is new to the facility. This pattern persisted in the subsequent visits (Balestra, 2016).  She believed that Grant as an especially determined suitor, but she was politely not interested, having evidently and determinedly associated with Aubrey, who needed care like a child from Fiona (Jung, 2015). Grant recognizes his wife’s need for Aubrey, as he needed care and support from Fiona. According to the view of some psychologists, the receiving and giving of care and support that occurs between partners, when one suffers from dementia, typically happens in the perspective of a relationship that paves the way for the commencement of Alzheimer’s disease- an association that persists to develop with the progress of the disease or illness (Jamieson, 2014). Just as characteristics of the former relationship or association affects how partners or couples compromise the roles and dynamics assumed during the process of exchange of care. The procedure of surviving with dementia possesses an impact on relationship that often causes alterations or loss that is not easy to admit or adjust to (STRAUSS, 2016).

As the story of Fiona and Grant’s life together is revealed in his reminiscences, it becomes apparent they had a complicated relationship in which he had been unfaithful to his wife. The complicated past together with the poignant baggage might have been lost to Fiona and something which has moved away along with the memory of her past relationship of her husband. The circumstances had made Aubrey a perfect companion for Fiona and there was no past, no confusion and baggage for both of them to forget (White et al., 2014). They continued living in the present, and had only a short past and did not have any hopes or plans for the future. On the other hand, Grant had intact memories of his wife and the relationship they had. He existed in a state of loss that was compounded in nature. He used to miss his wife and grieved the loss of Fiona’s memory. He mourned the future of their relationship and know that they will notable go live together. He suffers from an additional loss, when he came to know that he has already lost his wife to a stranger (Peña-Longobardo & Oliva-Moreno, 2015).

Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on the Relationship

All of these confuses and pains Grant as he resisted the alterations to the relationship or association while still attempting to understand the condition and its implications for his social, moral and personal prospects for relating to his wife (Twigg & Buse, C2013). At one point, he speculated in a discussion with Kristy, whether his wife might be acting in a way by means of her sickness and her new attachment with Aubrey to penalize him for his past unfaithfulness to her. He struggled to deal with his situation and understood how the roles had changed for him as well as well for his wife and how the former trajectory of his association with her would or would not persist (Schwalbe, 2015). 

The turning point comes when his wife Marian removed Aubrey from the care facility, it was Fiona who felled apart and exhibited the symptomology, together with depression, commonly observed among the residents of care and among the aged, when they are subjected to be isolated from a close relationship or association (White et al., 2014). Fiona suffered, unexpectedly in the similar way like Grant. Her nurse warned her husband that she is experiencing a mental as well as physical decline and this despair and vulnerability allowed Alzheimer’s disease to progress speedily (Brooker & Latham, 2015). 

In the end, it can be concluded that Grant’s decision of taking Fiona to an assisted living facility for her conditions was fine because she was not in a condition of managing herself. This decision has revealed the love of a husband for her wife. He knew that it was very hard for him to live without her but he still sent her to care facility so that she can recover and have a proper lifestyle like before. It was not was not easy for Grant to send her wife to the care facility and she tells her that it is a just a ‘rest cure’ and is only a type of experimentation and she does not have to stay there for a long time. This reveals the love and affection of Grant towards his wife that in spite of in deep grief he still controlled himself. He struggled to tackle his situation and understood how the roles had changed for him and for his wife, which shows the ‘love that sacrificed happiness.’

References

Balestra, G. (2016). Aging, Memory and Identity: Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over The Mountain” and “In Sight of the Lake”. Oltreoceano, 11, 21-30.

Brooker, D., & Latham, I. (2015). Person-Centred Dementia Care: Making Services Better with the VIPS Framework. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Herrera, J. R. (2014). Away from Her? Sarah Polley’s screen adaptation of Alice Munro’s” The Bear Came Over The Mountain”. Brno studies in English,39(2)

Jamieson, S. (2014). Reading the Spaces of Age in Alice Munro’s” The Bear Came Over the Mountain”. Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, 47(3), 1-17.

Jung, C. G. (2015). Psychology of dementia praecox. Princeton University Press.

Peña-Longobardo, L. M., & Oliva-Moreno, J. (2015). Caregiver Burden in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients in Spain. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease,43(4), 1293-1302.

Schwalbe, R. (2015). Utilization of Services by Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementia’s (Doctoral dissertation).

STRAUSS, S. (2016). Memory, Dementia, and Narrative Identity in Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”. Traces of Aging: Old Age and Memory in Contemporary Narrative, 9, 133.

Twigg, J., & Buse, C. E. (2013). Dress, dementia and the embodiment of identity. Dementia, 12(3), 326-336

White, C., Nearing, D., & Intellectual Life Committee. (2014). Film Showing of Away from Her