By Elizabeth Meyersohn
THE COCKTAIL PARTY
Nobody likes to be left with a mystery:
It’s so… finished.
UNIDENTIFIED GUEST: Yes, it’s finished.
And nobody likes to be left with a mystery.
But there’s more to it than that. There’s a loss of personality;
Or rather, you’ve lost touch with the person
You thought you were. You no longer feel quite human.
You’re suddenly reduced to the status of an object—
As quickly as we can. When you’ve dressed for a party
And are going downstairs, with everything about you
Arranged to support you in the role you have chosen,
You have the experience of being an object
At the mercy of a malevolent staircase.
Or, take a surgical operation.
In consultation with the doctor and the surgeon,
In going to bed in the nursing home,
For those who surround you,
All there is of you is your body
And the ‘you’ is withdrawn. May I replenish?
Water.
EDWARD: To what does this lead?
UNIDENTIFIED GUEST: To finding out
What you really are. What you really feel.