Of all deaths, suicide most begs the question, “Why?” Since Mark Madoff died, pundits and bloggers alike have looked to the Bible and the ancient Greek dramatists for answers. Perhaps the best analogies, however, are to two 20th-century works about the dark side of the American dream. In Arthur Miller’s play “All My Sons,” Larry Keller, a bomber pilot in World War II, deliberately crashes his plane after realizing that his father – a bastion of respectability -- sold faulty airplane parts to the government, causing the deaths of 21 pilots.
In Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly,” the deluded geisha Cio Cio San -- finally realizing that race as much as her love for the faithless Pinkerton has doomed her hopes of being a modern American wife -- commits hara-kiri while her blindfolded son plays nearby. (You'll recall that Madoff hanged himself as his 2-year-old slept in the next room.)
That someone would kill himself within the proximity of his child is what most disturbs some people. Perhaps the suicide's pain is so great that it blocks out everything -- and everyone -- else.
Or perhaps we simply can't reconcile that death and life, monstrosity and normalcy can coexist.
W.H. Auden addressed this seeming incompatibility in the opening lines of his poem "Musee des Beaux Arts":
"About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along...."
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Thanks for posting this. My mother attempted suicide when I was six and outdoors playing with my brother and sister. Although, she did not succeed it profoundly changed my life and everyone around me. An important point to make is that mental illness can have a part in suicide. No surprise there. It's often difficult for people to make sense of the senseless. Normal rules don't apply.
ReplyDeleteIf you know someone who is suicidal seek professional help from someone who knows how to get them the right help whether shame, pain or mental illness. Anyway, just wanted to share a thought or 2 while thanking you for this post.