of escapism and relaxation, but did not have to deal with lifes hassles to obtain them. An example of the above is when Harper had Mr. Lies take her to Antarctica. Her reason for going there was to find people and the trip would ultimately numb her feelings and freeze her tears. This is a retreat, a vacuum, its virtue is that it lacks everything; deep-freeze for feelings.. You can be numb and safe here, that's what you came for. Respect the delicate ecology of your delusions. Harper,part I,Act III,scene 3. Stated as it is above, this notion makes sense. Harper knows that she is delusional and out of touch with reality, but she is appreciating her current condition and taking it for everything it is worth. In actuality, Harper is in a park in NYC, but in her dream world she is in a cold desolate place where it is too cold for her feelings to bother her. In part II, Perestroika, Harper begins to come back to reality. Part two starts off with her literally trying to chop down a pine tree in Prospect Park by chewing on it. She is shocked back into reality because her task is impossible by the means she is using. However, at this point in the play, she is still not prepared mentally to deal with the events of her real life. Even though Harper is not completely turned around yet, she has made progress from the beginning of the play. Now that Harper is coming to grips with her marriage and her life as a whole, she is in the position to do something about them. It is often said that the first step to recovering from something is realizing and admitting that you have a problem. Harper knows that she is hallucinating and that her dependency on Valium is bad for her mental and physical health, but she appreciates what the drug is doing for her. The Harper of Part Two is at an advantage to the Harper of earlier acts in the play because she is able to look at her situation from a rational point of view and see what is wrong with it. ...
