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Karen Corona

English 115

Professor J. Rodrick

5 December 2018

Play it As it Lay​s: Literary Analysis

In Joan Didion’s novel, ​Play it as it Lays, ​the novel mainly focuses on character Maria

Wyeth and the life she lived as a Hollywood actress in the 1970’s. Wyeth, who is in her early

30’s undergoes a series of events that cause her to realize that there is no meaning to life.

Throughout the novel the readers see the effect that the Hollywood “lifestyle” has on Maria and

how it contributes in shaping her identity. While living in Los Angeles, Maria is lead to have

existential thoughts, by always questioning the meaning of life, losing control in her life by

following others decisions regarding her life, rather than her own and losing her identity trying to

adapt to Hollywood

Throughout the novel Maria is constantly debating on whether there is a meaning to her

existence in this life. It is all the painful events that took place in her life that has lead Maria to

believe that life is both unpleasant and impractical. Towards the end of the novel, she is in a

motel with BZ. BZ asks Maria if she wants to know where her ex-husband, Carter is. BZ then

lets Maria know that Carter is having sexual intercourse with his wife Helene. “ ‘Tell me what

matters,’ BZ said. ‘Nothing,’ Maria said” (202). The fact that Maria said nothing matters, shows

the audience that at that very moment she felt nothing. Almost as if Maria were empty inside and

believed that nothing should matter. At that point Maria, had been through a lot with her
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ex-husband Carter, such as him forcing Maria to have an abortion, mistreating and disrespecting

her constantly, and taking away Maria’s right to consecutively see her four-year old daughter,

Kate. “I have been disappointed in love” (4), explains Maria. Maria has been humiliated enough

by Carter, that she reached the point where nothing matters. What Carter does should not matter.

It no longer mattered to her. Even though Carter plays an important role as to why Maria thinks

the ways she does, he is not the only one who contributes to Maria’s development throughout the

novel. Maria’s father, Harry Wyeth who is a gambler also plays an important role as to why

Maria has these existential thoughts.

Growing up, Maria’s father lost the house they had in Reno due to a “private game”,

resulting in Maria and her family moving to Silver Wells, Nevada. Silver Wells was a town that

her father remembered he own. At the beginning of the novel, she mentions the population of the

town, “...pop. then 28, now 0”(5). This informed us on how the town is no longer there, as well

as there is no one living there. The fact that the own town she grew up in was unable to stand,

showed and lead Maria to believe that eventually all comes to an end, including our life. Her

father and the people she grew up with were all involved in the game of gambling, which

represented that life itself is a game. There are some people who choose to “play” the game and

there are some people who chose to “end” the game. In the novel for example, BZ stopped

playing the game, by committing suicide. Maria, however continued to play the game. In Allan

Schwartz article, “The Existential Crisis, Depression, Anxiety And Mortality” Schwartz talks

about humans and their awareness of knowing that life is limited and that humans are also the

only creatures who are aware of death. He explains the meaning of having an existential crisis

and how it is the realization that eventually we all die. However people who are deeply religious
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do not believe in existential crisis for they believe that there is an after-life. This shows that

Maria herself was not raised religious by her father, Harry nor her mother. There is also no sign

that shows Maria to be religious throughout the novel. This was another factor that contributed to

her feeling as to why nothing should matter and that there is no meaning to life. Besides having

existential thoughts, we saw Maria lose control of her life as well.

In the novel, Maria tends to listen to others when it comes down to making decisions

regarding her life. She follows with events that she herself does not wish to happen, but never

finds the courage to stand up to those who tell her what to do. This shows that Maria has lost

complete control of her life. One example would be when Maria has an affair with a married

man, Les Goodwin and gets impregnated. Carter then tells Maria to get an abortion and that if

she does not, he will never let Maria see Kate again. Even though Maria does not wish to get an

abortion, she goes through with the procedure either way. Maria gets the abortion in a room in

Encino. She describes this room as ordinary. In class we discussed that the reason for this was to

calm herself down and to convince herself to believe that getting the abortion was not a big deal,

but instead just an “induced menstruation” (82) as how the doctor described it. Unfortunately,

this caused trauma to Maria, as she referred back to this event several times in the novel. “I try

not to think of dead things...I try not to hear the air conditioner in that bedroom in Encino” (10),

Maria says this at the beginning of the novel when she is staying at the neuropsychiatric hospital.

Even though she says she tries not to think about it, it is still something that lives within Maria

for it was a traumatic experience she lived.

After the abortion, Maria meets with Les for dinner and when Les asks Maria what is the

matter with her, Maria responds with, “I am just very very very tired of listening to you all” (85).
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Maria herself acknowledges the fact that she is constantly listening to others and doing what

others tell her to do. However, the fact that she acknowledges this, does not necessarily mean

that she will stop listening to what people tell her to do. After the abortion, Maria lost more

control of her life than what little control she already had. The only control Maria felt she had in

her life was when she was driving on the freeway. Maria dressed every morning and was on the

freeway by ten o’clock. Driving made Maria feel as if she had a greater sense of purpose. She

had control of where she was going to go, where she was going to stop, and how long she was

going to drive. This however, was described before the abortion, and just after Maria and Carter

separated. Perhaps, Maria was shown in the novel to have no control in her life, so the author

Joan Didion would be able to describe some of the fragile women who lived in the 1970’s, while

trying to adjust to the Hollywood lifestyle. It could also be that the author was showing Maria as

a reflection of herself. A lot of the times when one has no control of their life, it is because they

have lost a part of their identity. The author might have wanted to showcase women living in the

limelight in Hollywood, during this time era and how it can sometimes cause one to lose their

true identity, which is what happened in Maria’s case.

In the novel, Maria also showed loss of identity adapting to the negative side of

Hollywood. To begin with, Hollywood is a neighborhood located in Los Angeles, California and

it is very well known for the entertainment business. History.com describes Hollywood in their

article, “Hollywood” to be, “synonymous with glamour, money, and power of the entertainment

industry...as the show business capital of the world.” What the editors in this article meant by

that was that Hollywood is the place where films get created, records are produced, and where

stars are made. People who want to be in the entertainment business come to Hollywood to
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pursue their dreams as an artist. When Maria came to Hollywood, she married Carter Lang who

was a director and included her in short films and pictures. This opened the doors for Maria into

the Hollywood lifestyle. Maria ended up getting divorced and as a result had sexual encounters

with men in the entertainment industry as well. This is however expected in Hollywood. Didion

also wanted to showcase the social stigma that is believed to be Hollywood. Many people see

Hollywood as glam and fame. On the other hand, there is a dark side of Hollywood that people

do not see until they become part of Hollywood. In this case, Maria was introduced to many

people in the industry and ended up losing her true identity, by sleeping with many of the men

who she encountered, since she thought it would fill up the empty space she would often feel.

As one can see the environment in which one person lives can contribute in shaping their

identity. Maria grew up in Nevada, moved to New York, and ended up In Hollywood. Maria was

introduced to the Hollywood lifestyle, unfortunately she went through very painful events that

lead her to be hospitalized in a neuropsychiatric hospital. The Hollywood lifestyle she lived lead

her to an existential crisis, losing control of her life and losing her identity. This novel showcased

Maria’s life as it slowly collapsed.

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Works Cited

Didion, Joan. Play It As It Lays. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970. Print.

“Hollywood.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 27 Mar. 2018,

www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/hollywood​. ​Accessed Date, 19 Nov. 2018

Meindl, Anthony, director. ​YouTube.​ ​YouTube​, YouTube, 15 Nov. 2015,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M49io6yettA​. Accessed Date, 19 Nov. 2018

Schwartz, Allan. “The Existential Crisis, Depression, Anxiety And Mortality.” ​Mental Help

Early Childhood Cognitive Development Language Development Comments,​

www.mentalhelp.net/articles/the-existential-crisis-depression-anxiety-and-mortality/​.

Accessed Date 19 Nov. 2018