Road to Mecca

The Road to Mecca examines the bio-psycho-social systems and issues that atomic number 18 p dodge of the aging process. There argon many issues introduced that are useful in understanding the social workers routine in evaluating and developing a plan of care for young adults through late due date development. Since the passing of her husband, Helen has devoted her time to creating and transforming her residence into her stimulate Mecca of beauty and freedom. The dozens of sculptures of wise men, mermaids and other figures inside and outside of her home has secluded Helen from her neighbors who are re anyy rigid white Calvinists.Her neighbors are assay to get rid of Helen by encouraging her to actuate into a topical anesthetic erstwhile(a) folks home because of her eccentric work of art surrounding her home and because they revere for Helens safety living alone, right a direction that she is in late adulthood and recently near burnt her residence d make. Elsa is a young career minded woman who has befri finish Helen and the solo soulfulness that respects and accepts Helens work and inte stop. Throughout this p localize there are many psychoanalytic themes such as love, giving up, dependency and loss to address a few.Both Helen and Elsa appeared to have grown up with a signified of abandonment and lack of self-confidence from their families and others. Before the death of Helens husband, she lived as a conventional member of society. After becoming a widow, she began expressing herself in an fastidious way and displaying her creativity throughout her house. Now that she is in late adulthood and becoming gradually un sufficient to manage on her own as she use to, her sense of creativity receivems at an end and she finds herself faced with a sense of darkness and hopelessness that at times overwhelms her.Helen discusses that when she was a small fry her fetch would overhear away her coffin naildle at night to be in pure darkness as a chil d was affright for her and when her aim took away the candle, she took away Helens only source of comfort. That fear of darkness transformed into a feeling of abandonment for Helen which has caused her to search for liberty and curse in her biographyspan that she fears she will non find earlier she dies. Helens darkness that she once saw on the outside when the candles were short-winded out is now darkness she feels on the inside candles can no longer help this kind of darkness.This darkness symbolizes Helens depression. She is frightened that old age is over taking her and affecting her ability to continue creating her Mecca, pass water care of herself and find the square intimacy in her life that she needfully. When Helen meets Elsa and their companionship blossoms, she becomes Helens only source of light. The day Helen met Elsa is the day she felt desire her true self. Elsa didnt judge Helen because of her statues and mermaids, she accepted her and after this, Helen felt she could depose Elsa. Elsa revived Helens life by accepting her true self.Elsa has entire trust issues which are exposed throughout this play. All trust is at sea and feelings of abandonment resurface after Elsas unite boyfriend leaves her and chooses his wife and child. Shame and transgression arise when Elsa has an abortion and when her plan to live jubilantly ever after with a married man goes sour. The relationship with the married man opened her up to life and love, she felt same(p) a woman for the first time. Her heart was wide open to someone that ended up betraying her. Now she feels as though she cant trust at all and will think twice before she trusts again.Elsa feels you can love someone without swear them, she is stuck in a mind counterbalance of all you need is love. This situation brings up feelings from the past for Elsa. Its unembellished that Elsa never learned trust as a child and trusting another is what she fears most. Trust is more dangerous beca use thats when you drop your defenses, lay yourself wide open, and if youve made a mistake, youre in big, big trouble. And it hurts like hell. Helen and Elsas fear of abandonment, trust and feelings of possible rejection also emerge when they two hide secrets from separately other.Helen lies to Elsa active her suicidal attempt when the house almost burnt down and Elsa hesitates to tell Helen about the abortion and the married boyfriend. The two women have found love in each other and trust they have had too much rejection in the past and fear their knowledge will end badly if their secrets are revealed. Both women are very desperate to see if their friendship will survive their struggles. When Helen explains to Elsa about Marius and the rest of the community encouraging her to move into an old peoples home, Elsa becomes fiery with Helen for not standing up for herself.Elsa becomes so angry about this issue, she needs Helen to stand up for herself and fight because Helen is t he only one that lives her life the way she wants. If Helen goes into the old peoples home, Elsa will feel a sense of abandonment. Helen serves as a source of inspiration for her and her reaction to Helens softness to cope is tied to her need for Helen to remain a strong section model. There are many instances where both women let a mirroring attend for each other in their lives. Elsa understands Helens life of expressing herself through her statues and she appropriates Helen to see how special she is.Elsa represents the good liberal mother for Helen. She provides a holding surround for her. Especially after Elsa receives Helens letter of despair and comes to her side for support. Helen is up to(p) to challenge Elsa, to be herself and nobody has ever done that. This is what a mother would provide for her child. Both have a fear that if one is in darkness how will the other survive. Helen and Elsa need each other to take away their darkness inside. Miss Helen and Elsa develop a twinship with one another.Both allow themselves to be vulner suitable with each other, Miss Helen even states she allows the little female child inside of her come out to play when she is around Elsa. They both provide a sense of belonging and acceptance for each other. A mother holds the key to her childs development. Helen and Elsa are on a move around of self discovery and both are at two distinct developmental stages in their lives. They are both stuck in two areas of the life cycle, trust and abandonment. The mirroring experience Miss Helen and Elsa have, allows a social worker to prize that both women are searching for the mother they never had.These two women were each others therapist. A therapist in many cases acts as the mother or caretaker for their clients. Therapists provide a safe holding placement for their clients to be able to fall apart in. Therapists also mirror bear strengths and uniqueness of a client that typically a good enough mother would provide. Wi th support for each other Miss Helen and Elsa were able to move on with life. At the end of the play, Elsa helps Helen gain confidence when she stands up to Marius about not moving into the retirement home.Helen was able to explain to Marius that her home is the only place where she feels real. After Helen is able to stand her ground against Marius and the rest of the town, Helen and Elsas bond deepens. Elsa is able to admit that her choice of abortion has caused some depression. Helen is able to understand the pain that Elsa feels just like Elsa is able to understand Helens unconventional art work. The understanding that Helen has for Elsas troubles helps Elsa recognize the special procedure that Helen plays in her life.In the first act of the play when Elsa was very mean and withering to Helen, she was displacing her anger and grief about her married ex-boyfriend and aborted child onto Helen. Elsa is even able to trust again by the end of the play, which is evident in the deter mination line, Open your arms and catch me, Im going to jump. At the end of Act two, Helen is also able to move on with her life by allowing her candles to be blown out which symbolizes she is accepting her development in late adulthood and the completion of her Mecca.The childhood background of a person plays a major part in their adulthood life. When one has a healthy family typically the experience of abandonment and trust issues do not occur. Elsa felt trapped in her early adulthood she had a romp as a teacher in a colored rail and ultimately had to conceal her true self to keep her job. Her heart was rugged by the man she loved and opened her heart to and she experienced guilt and shame for terminating her pregnancy. Helen was also feeling trapped in her life.Creating her Mecca allowed her to create her own freedom and show her true self instead of complying with Cape towns religious ways of living. Both women were able to find a way out of their trapped lives by finding t rust and true intimacy with each other. This play shows the development of a great friendship and how having true intimacy in your life means showing all your faults and rawness without rejection. Helen and Elsas characters show that you can continue to grow until the end of life.