Cultural Crticism of Happiness in "Wanda's Visit"

Marry + Therapy = Happy:
A Cultural Commentary

Debra A. Quintero
ENG 102 QJ
01May2014

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Notable columnist Frank Rich once said, “History is cyclical, and it would be foolhardy to assume that the culture wars will never return.” While fashion, music and current events may change throughout the decades, one recurrent subject is the culture war. In Christopher Durang’s 1993 play “Wanda’s Visit,” we meet married couple Jim and Marsha, who have their lives of suburban wedded “dullness” disrupted by a surprise visit from Wanda, Jim’s high school ex-girlfriend whose outrageous behavior threatens to destroy their marriage for good. Although Durang’s piece was originally written in 1993, the work easily resonates to a timeless audience, as spectators to this production are able to relate to the same values that society places on the therapy, marriage and happiness more than two decades later. From the earliest days of Dr. Sigmund Freud introducing us to individualized psychotherapy analysis session in the early 1900s (Nevid, 9), society has embraced the science of psychology. In 1993, Jim, Marsha and, yes, even Wanda, are all apparently benefiting from this mental health fad, which in fact, continues on seemingly unchanged even today in America. One would be hard pressed to find any American in 2014 who has not participated in some form of therapy at one time or another in their life. In 1993, Jim and Marsha think that they have escaped the tedium of matrimony but in reality they have become a bored, middle aged, attractive couple that has been together for 13 years, perhaps one year too long. They have reached a point in life where they have seemingly reached a plateau and
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cannot climb any higher. It seems as though they are looking for something new and exciting in order to move on to this next level in their relationship. Happiness seems to be lacking, yet the two are at a point in their lives when they assumed that they would be the happiest they could ever be. Wanda’s visit itself stirs up the couple’s relationship, much like therapy, and perhaps this is why the couple seeks out a marriage counselor to continue looking for some type of joy in their relationship. Easily the audience is able to liken Wanda herself, the outside force, as the “therapy’” that Jim and Wanda so desperately need. Even without having been married for 13 years, like Jim and Marsha, any audience member, even today, is able to appreciate the notion of life growing stale and they can create for themselves the desperate longing for something to come along and shake things up a bit, like Wanda did, as therapy did, does, and continue to do for couples today. In the words of Marsha, “…all told…Wanda’s visit helped to stir us up in a good way, all told” (Durang, 1376). As any of us start out in a marriage, it 's common to have some expectations of what we will experience, but then there are the expectations of everyone else and how society views marriage and divorce in general, and let’s be honest, the views haven’t changed that much in the last few decades. The scene of 1990’s yuppie suburban bliss is set so perfectly in Durang’s relatable play. Durang’s mild but meticulous original setting description is a direct reflection of the couple, Jim and Marsha, themselves. Right from the start, Durang describes the couple living in a
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“comfortable home in Connecticut” (Durang, 1362), the state practically known as the birthplace of the yuppie. The 1980’s and 90’s marked several decades of marital turbulence in America as the country became more urban, women more emancipated, families more mobile and religion less important; this is the very definition of the young, urban, professional, the yuppie. Clearly, Durang’s Jim and Marsha are facing some of the 1993 yuppie dilemmas that many of my married friends in 2014 still face, because lets face it, keeping up with the Jones’ has never gone out of style. Even today, the expectations of society, culture and our families still have lasting impacts on how long a couple will stay together to avoid becoming the dreaded divorce statistic. The dictionary defines happiness as a mental or emotional state of well being, characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy, so who doesn’t enjoy being happy? Every human strives to accomplish this feat in one way or another throughout life. Whether it is getting married, having children, and growing old with the one you love, or living a single life, running around being free from the old ball and chain. Playwright Durang depicts how humans are an unhappy species through Jim, Marsha, and especially, Wanda. In the play, Durang compares the true meaning of happiness between two different lifestyles, with both leading to a not quite so happy ending. Whether it is getting married into suburban khaki bliss as Jim and Marsha have or Wanda’s wild adventures with the mob, each of us from the beginning of time, just wants to be
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happy. Clearly Jim and Marsha aren’t happy, the first line from Jim’s mouth is that their lives have “been seeming dull for a while” (Durang, 1362). In the 1990’s with divorce rates skyrocketing, there were so many couples that had “loved and bored each other to distraction” (Macdonald) like Durang’s Jim and Marsha have done. Notably, this trend of passive denial and resignation in lieu of divorce continued well into the later 90’s and by 1996 “recent movements to save marriage on the part of science, society, religion and what 25 years of research tells us about the fallout from divorce” (Macdonald) had remained on trend. This trend seems to continue even today as couples consider putting off divorce until the kids are out of the house or until it is “convenient.” Marsha seems to sum it all up in her last line of the play by simply stating “Now if only we were happy” (Durang, 1376) to the imaginary marriage counselor, the audience. While “Wanda’s Visit” is a comic, somewhat realistic one-act play about a married couple who are a bit restless in their relationship, it really is quite a relevant situation for any couple dealing with the boredom of daily married life, whether its 1993, 2003 or probably even going to be in 2023. Society and culture have always placed high moral standards upon the sanctity of family and marriage, so many couples, like Durang’s Jim and Marsha, end up willing to sacrifice personal happiness for coexistent boredom. Critic Laura Weinert said “Durang has never shrunk away from satirizing American society and culture” (Weinert) and that has never been truer than in this production. In “Wanda’s Visit,” both single and
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married spectators can enjoy Christopher Durang address such adult relationship themes as psychotherapy, marital monotony and eternal happiness in a sometimes ironic, often comic, ways that are easily relatable to generations of audiences.
Works Cited

Durang, Christopher. Wanda’s Visit. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2012. 1361-1376. Print.

Lucie, Rasheem. Wanda’s Visit. YouTube. 27 May 2013. Web. 17March2014.

Macdonald, Sally. “The State Of Marriage In the '90S -- Successful Marriages Combine Fantasies, Realism.” The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times, 21 July, 1996. Web. 27 April 2014.

Nevid, Jeffrey. General Psychology. SUNY Orange 4th Ed. Mason. Cengage Learning, 2012. 9-10. Print.

Cited: Durang, Christopher. Wanda’s Visit. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2012. 1361-1376. Print. Lucie, Rasheem. Wanda’s Visit. YouTube. 27 May 2013. Web. 17March2014. Macdonald, Sally. “The State Of Marriage In the '90S -- Successful Marriages Combine Fantasies, Realism.” The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times, 21 July, 1996. Web. 27 April 2014. Nevid, Jeffrey. General Psychology. SUNY Orange 4th Ed. Mason. Cengage Learning, 2012. 9-10. Print.