1) One important given circumstance for Kayleen is that she lost her mother when she was younger, which left a negative impact on her life. Another given circumstance is that Kayleen and her father did not have a good relationship before he died due to the high standards that he held her to. Another given circumstance is that Kayleen had/has stomach issues similar to the kind that her mother had before she passed away. Another given circumstance is that when Kayleen’s father passed away, she felt freer because she no longer had to please him with everything she did. Kayleen was also treated poorly by her past boyfriends and the boys in high school, who called her mean names and forced sex on her. Kayleen also has a pretty cruel sense of humor. Finally, Kayleen has a lot of emotional scarring from her past failed relationships with friends, boyfriends, and family.
2) One important aspect of the relationship between Doug and Kayleen is that at the beginning of the play, Doug wanted to be with Kayleen as more than friends, while Kayleen simply wanted to be friends. Another important aspect of their relationship is that Doug and Kayleen have connected through their physical and emotional injuries. For most of the play, Doug would do anything to help Kayleen, including putting himself in pain for her. Next, there was a point in the play that Doug believed that Kayleen helped to heal him and his injuries, but Kayleen never believed that until after Doug stopped believing it. The final important aspect of their relationship is that in the play, we witnessed a shift in serious interest of one another going from Doug in the beginning to Kayleen in the end. In the end, Kayleen was practically begging to make amends with Doug.
3) Kayleen and Doug met when they were in elementary school when they were 8 years old. Their relationship sprouted through running into each other multiple times in the nurse’s office. They have a pretty light-hearted relationship with a lot of dark humor, but when something was seriously wrong, they were there for each other. Status is not important to Doug and Kayleen. They both seem to be at about the same status level and respect each other. This is a lifelong friendship, not a worker/boss or teacher/student relationship. Although their friendship seems to be a bit on and off, they have a great connection that will always be there.
4) In our scene, Kayleen wants to make amends with Doug, although he would like to move on. Their friendship has strayed so far from what it used to be and she is finally realizing that she lost what seems to be the best relationship that she has ever had. She wants to rebuild this relationship so she can be happy again and finally be able to appreciate Doug.
5) First, Kayleen wants to make amends with Doug because she feels guilty for getting him caught up in her issues. In the play, she said, “You and your family, Dougie. Nicest people in the world. And you have to get tangled up in the spokes of my train wreck.” (page 56). She also stated on page 58, “I’m so sorry for our whole life right now”. Kayleen feels that she has ruined a part of his life by getting him caught up with her issues, she realized that she was being selfish the whole time. Next, Kayleen wants closure for herself. In the play when she was begging to touch Doug’s face she said “Not even for that, Dougie. Just for me. Can I just…” (page 58). She just wanted to touch Doug’s face to try to “heal” him like she used to. She wasn’t too worried about how he felt at this point in the scene, she was worried about her feelings.
6) If Kayleen does not get what she is after (she didn’t), she will end up very upset. It seemed like the only thing she was truly hanging onto in life was her past friendship with Doug. At the end of the play, there was an extremely melancholy tone since she did not get what she was after. She kept on trying and trying, but Doug continually denied her. After the play ended, I felt that Kayleen would keep on trying because she values her friendship with Doug and she is a bit stubborn.
7) admire, question, apologize, plead, beg
8) Kayleen admired Doug and his family instead of flattering him so she would seem as sincere as possible. Next, Kayleen questioned Doug why he climbed the telephone pole instead of interrogating him because she did not want him to feel super pressured to answer and she wanted to stay on his good side so she could try to amend the friendship. Next, Kayleen apologized to Doug for the way she got him caught up in her issues instead of accusing him of getting caught up in her issues on his own because she finally realized that it was truly her fault. Kayleen at first pleads to Doug about trying to touch him/fix their relationship because she thought that if she decided to beg first, he would say no much faster. Kayleen then began to beg Doug instead of pleading because she was very desperate.
9) I think that Kayleen sees herself at this point in the play as doing the right thing. She sees how she has changed into someone who cares about Doug’s feelings. She thinks Doug is in the wrong for not wanting to fix the friendship. She also negatively views herself at the same time. She feels bad for the way that she treated Doug in the past and cannot get past that unless they make amends or after a long time. I think that she thinks that Doug negatively sees her as well. She knows that she has hurt Doug so much in the past and doesn’t think that it’s possible at this point for him to view her positively. Kayleen thinks that of herself as emotionally and mentally weak. She is emotionally weak because she cannot control her emotions while trying to persuade Doug. She is mentally weak because she can’t persuade Doug. I think that Kayleen is afraid of being alone. She realizes that Doug is her only true friend and without him, she would not have anyone there for her. I also think that she is afraid of change. She wants to continue to stay friends with, even though they do not have a good friendship anymore. If she was not afraid of change, she would go out and make a new friend.
10) Kayleen tried to protect herself from change and being alone by running back to Doug. She views Doug as a safe place for herself. In the end, she also tries to protect herself by reminiscing on the good times with Doug, this reminded her of the good times when she felt protected by Doug’s friendship.
11) Doug makes Kayleen happy. She liked the attention that she got from him. I can tell that Doug is what makes Kayleen happy because, without him, she seems very upset and desperate to fix the friendship. Reminiscing on the past also makes her happy because it reminds her of the better times in her friendship with Doug.
12) I am similar to Kayleen because I sometimes hang on to friendships that I should just let go of. Especially now moving into college, I’m having a hard time letting go of friends, especially those who have gone far away for college to places like Tennessee and Nebraska. One main difference in our situations is that I’ve always been the one putting the effort into the friendships until recently. I would connect more with Doug in this situation. I am also similar to Kayleen because I am extremely determined to get what I want. Like Kayleen, I’m hard-headed and will do anything to get what I want. The difference between Kayleen and I with this characteristic is that I use my determination for good things such as doing well in my sports, school work, and making money, while Kayleen used her determination to try and make it so Doug could not let go. A difference between Kayleen and I is that I have a great relationship with both of my parents. I know how important it is to have this strong relationship with both parents is and not having this relationship has negatively impacted her life. Finally, a difference between Kayleen and me is the way that she was treated by her past boyfriends and boys at her high school. I have always had a good relationship with my boyfriend and most of the other guys in my school. I was never called names or talked badly about. This happening to Kayleen, along with her poor relationship with her father made her view on men more negative than the one that I have.
13)I chose this image to represent Kayleen because although she is 38 in this scene, she is acting like a child. I think that this image best represented the way that Kayleen was feeling and acting.
