Maria Weyth Character Analysis

421 Words1 Page

In the beginning chapters of Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion, focuses more on the main character, Maria Weyth. Maria Wyeth is a woman who was raised in Nevada by her mother and father. Do to her degenerate gambling father, the whole family decides to move to New York. There transition from Nevada to New York was not only focused on Maria’s father’s gambling, but also was for Maria’s acting school. Maria’s parents encouraged her to pursue an acting career in New York. As they being to adapt to the city environment, Maria’s family begin to fade away. Maria’s mother then father pass away. In a relationship with film producer Carter Lang, Maria begins to tumble downwards. Kate, Maria’s 4 year-old daughter, does not live with Maria nor with …show more content…

“...by ten o'clock. Not somewhere on Hollywood Boulevard, not on her way to the freeway, but actually on the freeway. if she was not she lost the day's rhythm, its precariously imposed momentum” (Didion, 9). Maria is depicted as careless here because she is only used to the same routine. She is also stuck in the same routine which can represent her lifestyle. If Maria attempts to switch her way of living she will get lost. “ Once she was on the freeway and had maneuvered her way to a fast lane...She drove the San Diego to the Harbor, the Harbor up to the Hollywood, the Hollywood to the Golden State, the Santa Monica the Santa Ana, the Pasadena, the Ventura” (9). At this point Maria has nowhere to stop. One slight maneuver she beings to lose it and drives off. Another great advocate of her distant relationship affects Maria. When Maria reveals her pregnancy to Carter, he becomes upset. Carter forces Maria to abort the baby, but her hesitation shows the reader a resemblance to her other daughter kate. This love for kate also reflects on the unborn child. The reader begins to analyze that Maria is scared to feel the same feeling for the baby and become attached to the baby. That prevents her from having the

Open Document