The Wonder
Summary
substance monition : Drug use and self - harm
Warning ! SPOILERS forThe Wonder !
ThroughoutThe Wonder , Elizabeth " Lib " Wright drink a unknown liquid every night before continue to try out her own blood , but inThe Wonderwhat drug is the nurse taking ? Directed by Sebastián Lelio and star Florence Pugh , The Wonderis an atmospherical moving picture built around a primal whodunit about a young girl who does n’t eat . set up in Ireland in 1862,The Wonderis on the background of the Crimean War and the Irish Potato Famine , and this bleak historical period is at the heart of Lib ’s strange ritual . Prior to the event ofThe Wonder , Lib serve as a nanny in the war , which visit the death of over 450,000 the great unwashed , and had suffer several personal tragedy .
The Wondermight be chiefly a mystery , but it is also an examination of how multitude contend with trauma , from a subject to a personal level . Many ofThe Wonder ’s charactershave mislay family members and Lib herself loses both a babe and a husband before the starting line of the film . While the community and the O’Donnells find consolation in their faith , Lib has a more concrete coping mechanism , have many to wonder inWonderwhat drug is the nurse submit ? To provide some solace , Lib ingests laudanum ( an opioid that was common at the time ) and performs the nightly rite of cock up herself in a form of self - harm .
Why Lib Takes Opioids In The Wonder
The nurse take a spoonful of the opiate laudanum inThe Wonderas a make out chemical mechanism that appears to have become an dependance . During the 19th century , the drug tincture of opium was commonly dictate for a mixture of reason , whether as a botheration medicament or to aid in sleep , so it ’s not unusual that Lib would have access to the drug . Lib is depicted as a very hard-nosed , driven person throughout the film , and she ’s had to be .
Her duties during the Crimean War would have been grueling , and the film subsequently uncover that the nurse lose her kid scarce three weeks after give nascence , with Lib ’s husband go away soon after . Lib has put on a tough exterior and survive these losses , but has never been able to process them . The menstruum when Lib is high on tincture of opium , the answer to " inThe Wonderwhat drug is the nursemaid taking ? " , may be the only meter she can get at her grief for her family , with her use of Laudanum being an escape to a stead where she can really sense that personnel casualty .
Why Lib Pricks Her Finger & Tastes Her Blood
InThe Wonderwhat drug is the nurse engage is well-heeled enough to sympathize in context , though her habit of pricking her finger while mellow might seem a little more peculiar . However , her self - harm likely had the same origin and purpose as her drug use . While Lib never discusses this recitation specifically , it ’s potential that pricking her fingers was a build of punishment that she visit on herself for losing her small fry and her husband leaving her , even if she does not consciously fault herself . The self - arousal of inflicting pain can also serve as a reminder to Lib that she is still alive , even if so many others are gone .
Meanwhile , Lib ’s suck of her own stock beforeThe curiosity ’s endinglikely serves as an endeavour to wipe off any signs of her hurt . Either way of life , the ritualistic fashion Lib retell these actions suggests that they ’ve become a way for her to treat her emotion and work through , or numb , her grief . The Wonderuses heartbreak to show how Lib is more exchangeable to Anna than she first recollect , with the nurse and the girl using insalubrious glom mechanism to deal with their trauma . finally , both can find more solace in a found family with each other , allowingThe Wonderto give Lib freedom from her rite of tincture of opium and blood .
Is There A Real Lib Wright & Was She Taking Opioids?
While many question , " inThe Wonderwhat drug is the nanny taking ? " , the film has also brought into interrogative whetherThe Wonderis based on a true storyand if the actual - liveliness Lib was also taking opioids . The film is ground on a novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue , and it is n’t based on any one person . However , The Wonderdoes draw aspiration from a phenomenon know as " the fasting young lady , " date as far back as the 1500s . Fasting girlfriend were have a go at it to abstain from intellectual nourishment for lengthy periods for any number of reasons , and Donoghue ’s narrative is a combination of many fasting lady friend tales from the Victorian geological era .
However , one glaring difference betweenThe Wonderbook and the pic is that Lib does n’t have an opioid dependance in the novel . It ’s indecipherable whyThe Wondersaw fit to add this struggle to Lib ’s character , as she ’s already decease through so much , and it was n’t present in the book . Presumably , Lib ’s laudanum dependency was added to show the emotional system of weights of her brokenheartedness in a tangible path , though Pugh is talented enough she could ’ve displayed that without receive to add the interrogative , " inThe Wonderwhat drug is the nursemaid take ? " . However , the tote up theatrical role element did foster a further connection between Lib and Anna ’s coping mechanisms inThe curiosity .
