The Trip to Bountiful/Wit by Horton Foote/Margaret Edson

Mrs. Carrie Watts seeks to escape her 1940s Houston, Texas, apartment and return “home” to Bountiful, Texas. Without the help of her son, she uses a social security check to pay for the trip home. Mrs. Watts seeks redemption in a land she loves among a people she loves. Drawing parallels between the lives of the characters and rural America, The Trip to Bountiful reveals that death is a long-term process and an inseparable part of life. Horton Foote has woven more than one theme into the story, creating a unique and personal reading experience for each individual.

Dr. Vivian Bearing is diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer Wit is the story of her journey to death. Though she has avoided intimacy, she ultimately finds redemption in her studies of John Donne’s poetry. An incorrectly placed semicolon in a line of a John Donne sonnet provides insight into the play. It reads, “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” The semicolon should actually be a comma, illustrating that the distance between life and death is no more than just a brief pause.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.