The second half
of Scene eight is one part of Water By
The Spoonful in which realities interact. In this part of the scene,
Orangutan is online and Elliot accidently types into the thread, speaking as
his mom, also known as Haikumom. Elliot starts writing personal questions,
asking about what it is like be on crack. Orangutan immediately catches on that
it is not Odessa writing, but someone else. Elliot, Odessa's son, admits that
it is him. Orangutan then asks and comfort Elliot on his past overdoses and mentions
that there are other online forums for pain medication users. As Orangutan
continues, Elliot discovers that his mother shared all of his confidential
information to her online friends, most of which Yaz did not even have
knowledge of. Hudes has these particular realities intersecting at this
particular moment in the plot in this particular way because this online
website has been Elliot's mom's life for so long, and though Elliot knew of it,
he did not know the extent of what was talked about. This moment reveals the
point in which Elliot is fully exposed to the secret life his mom has been
living, and the point in which Orangutan is exposed to the effects outside of
the thread that she spends the majority of her day on. Hudes chooses to have
the worlds intersect at this particular moment because in the moment before,
Elliot fought face to face with his mom about how she was not there for him. So
Hudes creates a climactic moment when, after a heated argument with his mother,
he finds that she has been making him a story on a website. Suddenly, the place
that Odessa, Orangutan, and many others considered their support system, is now
what is hurting others and being ripped apart.
I chose the same part of the scene too, but the way you have analyzed I would have never looked at it that way. I do agree with you though. There is this moment of revelation for Elliot and Yaz. Elliot finds out what his mom has really been up to and Yaz finds out that Elliot was addicted to pain medication but didn't tell her. The communication between real world and online can rip people apart as you stated. Things can be misread and have the wrong meaning when not spoken with inflection.
ReplyDeleteHey Dora! I really like the moment that you chose and how you paralleled the two realities with mutual a pinnacle moment of destruction. I considered writing about this one in my response, because it includes just a bout every character coming to some sort of revelation and it really ties not only all the characters together because before this moment we were a bit blind to their connection, but it’s also a moment of realization to the audience.
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