In the articles “Beyond Belief – How People Feel about Taking Medications for Heart Disease” by Lisa Rosenbaum and “The Myth of Closure” by Pauline Boss and Donna Carnes both give some clarity for the musical Next to Normal. Rosenbaum’s article explains her journey on trying to find the reasoning behind why patients do not like to take medicine when they’re in need too. She came across many different answers such as, “I’m old-fashion – I don’t take medicine for nothing,” “I’ve never been a pill person,” and simply, “I don’t like taking them, period.” Through her journey she figures out different reasons among different types of people and realizes a lot of people believe the same thing; “Medications remind people that they’re sick.” In the end Rosenbaum understands where patients are coming from because if she were in their place she probably wouldn’t take them either. This clarifies the background of the musical because at one point Diana refused to take her medication because she felt as if it wasn’t working. Because of the stories of people’s personal experiences in Rosenbaum’s article it enhanced the understanding of as to why Diana felt that way and it wasn’t just because she was “crazy” and didn’t want to take the medication. Boss and Carnes article on closure explains that closure isn’t the best way to get passed the fact that someone has passed away when in grieving. In Next to Normal Gabe passed away as a young child and both Diana and Dan felt as if they never got closure with Gabe. Though, Diana is more affected by this because throughout the entire musical she is unable to let go of Gabe until the very end. And because Diana didn’t force having some type of closure with Gabe she was able to let go and be on her own. Boss and Carnes article also enhances my understanding of this particular period in the musical because at first I didn’t understand why she felt better without having complete closure with Gabe and was just able to let go after all she went through. Both articles brought a better insight into Next to Normal and I was able to truly understand the reasoning behind why things went the way they did within the musical.
(Word count: 379)
(Word count: 379)