AP Lit Post #6: March at the Hospital

        Chapter 24 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor is titled, "And Rarely Just Illness...". It encompasses the belief that illnesses brought onto the main character of a piece of literature are never just illnesses. Sure, they may seem like just a curve in the story to make it more interesting, but they bring with them a whole lot more than just a sickness.
        About midway through March, Mr. March ends up with something known as "Saddleback Fever" while staying at the cotton plantation. He becomes gravely ill, but soon recovers. However, the sickness weakened his heart and every once and a while March would have recurrences of the fever. This doesn't have too much of an impact on the story however, until around three quarters through the book, at which point March gets grazed in the side by a bullet and the fever takes hold of him.
        Seeing as March then becomes unconscious for quite a while and the novel is written in first person (my favorite), the author - Geraldine Brooks - switches to the viewpoint of none other than Mrs. March, providing an entirely different viewpoint of the situation. As Foster believed to be true, an illness derived from literature is rarely just an illness. It brings along with it certain attributes that add a great deal of plot development for the story. For one thing, the addition of the famous Mrs. March to the scene. Before this point, the audience only gets to know Mrs. March through the eyes of her husband, never really showing her innermost beliefs and emotions. As soon as the lights dim on Mr. March, a new character, full of spirit and carrying enormous burdens upon her own shoulders appears to enlighten the audience on the other side of the March family. By introducing Mrs. March to a certain character from Mr. March's past, conflicts and uncertainties arise within the boundaries of Blank Hospital.
        The introduction of March's illness exposed the other characters to the troubling encounters he tried so hard to keep hidden from them, opening loose ties that would not be closed up until the very end of the novel. By exposing the main character to this imminent weakness, Brooks steered the plot in a different direction, in a way depositing Mr. March's sickness as the climax of the story, and allowing Mrs. March to lead the way for the falling action.
        The illness itself brought with it a good many things - Hardship, loss, regret for past events, reunions, a change in lifestyles, heartbreak, burdens, more regret (only from a different source), as well as a faint glimmer of hope, hope that cast away the darkness of all the other factors listed. Without this event taking place, March would most likely have stayed away from his home and family for countless years. The illness that followed catastrophe truly changed March's life, as well as the lives of those around him. Although the illness was considered a burden by the March family, it sparked the beginning of a new lifestyle and better days to come, something that March would have avoided had he never been contained in a hospital on the brink of death itself. Sometimes obstacles are put in our way for a reason, which is shown vividly in the works of many pieces of literature. It all depends on what happens next - for better or for worse.