How I Learned to Drive

Too Much Too Soon

The metaphor of learning how to drive in this play was extremely powerful and relevant to the chara cter Li’l Bit. This metaphor highlights Li’l Bit’s process of growing up. Each bolded title regarding driving, pertains to specific events in her life. The titles such as Shifting Forward from First to Second Gear, Idling in the Neutral Gear, and Vehicle Failure all represent different changes or phases Li’l Bit goes through.

I think that the most important of these titles was the one describing defensive driving. It ends with the phrase: Good defensive driving involves mental and physical preparation. Were you prepared? This pertains to how Li’l Bit was not properly prepared for the things that happened to her. At age 11 she was not ready for sexual activity to be thrust upon her by her uncle. At age 14 she was not ready for the bodily changes that she experienced. At age 18 she was not ready for college. Her entire life has consisted of growing up to fast and having to catch up to the things happening in her life. The interesting aspect of this is however, that much of the play consists of people trying to educate Li’l Bit. Much of the interaction between Li’l Bit and Peck is when he is teaching her how to drive or trying to prepare her for life situations. Similarly, much of her interaction with her mother and grandmother deals with them educating her about men and sex. You would think that with all of these people attempting to prepare her for life that she would be a little more ready for it when it happens to her. It seems as though this advice was just too little, too late or that her life experiences were too much, too soon.

Top Girls

Women in a Man's World

While reading the play Top Girls, I couldn't help but get caught up at first amidst the random characters and family drama. After allowing myself to process the play for a little while I realized that there is a lot more going on then just the random groups of people and conversations. The main theme of this play, as can be derived from simply the title, is women surviving in a man's world. All of the woman in Act I represent a different time period and therefore present different views and experiences on women's roles in their respective societies. Everything that they discuss about their successes and failures revolves around the men in their lives. I found it interesting when their attitudes did not blend together. When Griselda spoke of her relationship with her husband and how he tested her obedience by taking her children from her, none of them women understood her reasoning, apart from Nijo who was born as property of the emperor.

The different perspectives of these women lead up to the present time of Marlene and her recent promotion. Marlene has finally found success in the man’s world but it was not without immense sacrifice. The end of the play reveals that Marlene left her daughter behind when she moved away from home and it was because of this that she was able to find a job and be successful. This raises the issue of what is more important in women’s roles. Is career advancement more important than raising a child? If you asked Nijo, Griselda or even Gret who had ten children they would say that the women’s job is to raise the kids and serve their husbands. Marlene represents a changing of times but how much does change is too much?

Fences

"That shadow wasn't nothing but you growing into yourself. You either got to grow into it or cut it down to fit you."

Family is an interesting concept in many different respects. August Wilson uses his play, Fences, to explore certain relationships involved in the family unit. I think the most important relationship involved in this play was the father-son relationship. The quote above describes the idea of the cyclic patterns involved in fathers and sons. It says that the son has two choices. The first is to become their fathers. They can fall into the same tendencies and habits as their fathers and lead similar lives and have similar relationships. The other option that they have is to create their own way, or “cut it down to fit you”. This means that they can break away and become their own person and have different relationships. Troy speaks of his father once during the play. He spoke of how he was scared always scared of his father and his physical and verbal abuse. The experience that Troy describes tells of how he finally stood up to his father and lashed out in hatred against him. He leaves his father in hopes of avoiding the negative relationship. It is very apparent that Troy was not able to create his own life and he let himself slip into his father’s shadow. He had induced the same type of fear in his own children and created the same negative relationships. In the final scenes of the play, Cory is faced with the same decision to either let the shadow overcome him and abandon his father at his funeral, or to create a new way and pay his respects. I thought it was interesting that it was his family that convinced him to reject the shadow of his father and attend the funeral. The very thing that pushed him away was now the driving force that brought Cory back.

Over the Hill

Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape is overshadowed by the ominous theme of going “over the hill”. Krapp describes in his recording from his 39th birthday that he has reached the "crest of the wave" (334). This is quite possibly one of the most depressing topics in existence. The idea that your best days are behind you and that everything is downhill from that point leaves one with no motivation or drive to try in life. Krapp accepts this notion and it seems to dictate the rest of his life. It appears as though he has let the past 30 years go by without meaning. He lived his life as though he was over the hill and that no matter what he did, things would never be as good as they were. This leaves him feeling trapped in a life that’s going nowhere.

There is another aspect of the “over the hill” concept involved in this play. When people use the term “over the hill” they almost always use it in a humorous way. I think that this is true for parts of Krapp’s Last Tape. We see comedic breaks in the storyline in moments like Krapp searching for the tape, when he knocks over the box of tapes, and when he talks into the recorder while its off. I think that these moments lighten up the mood just enough to keep the audience from wanting to give up on the performance, just like Krapp has given up on his life.

The Cherry Orchard

Comedy or Tragedy?

I think that the most interesting part of The Cherry Orchard is the debate over whether or not it is a comedy or a tragedy. Not many plays are so complex that they can be classified on both ends of the spectrum. While reading the play, I was under the impression that it was a comedy. I simply could not take the characters seriously. There were so many times when I felt as though the characters were being so ridiculous that there was no way that they themselves were even affected by the tragic events that were unfolding. For example when Pischik is talking to Liubov about Lopakhin and also asking her for money, he falls asleep for a second in mid-conversation. Also the character Gayev was very comical. I don’t believe that they ever mentioned his age but it is assumed that he is rather old, and yet throughout the play he acts as if he is a child. The way he is treated by and responds to the butler Firs makes the reader believe that he is still a young boy living in his parents’ home. There is even a part where his own nieces have to scold him about his behavior. These comic elements took the focus away from the more serious events that were occurring in the play. I think that Anton Chekhov could have possibly done this on purpose to send a message to the audience to not take life so seriously. He wants the audience to see the tragedy but ultimately feel a sense of lightheartedness.

The Importance of Being Earnest

I enjoyed reading The Importance of Being Earnest. I admit that at times it was a bit "fluffy", as some critics have said, but I think that a little lighthearted comedy is important every now and then. Plays are meant to entertain and I think that this one would be very entertaining to see on stage.

One aspect that I found to be particularly comical was the fast moving plot. Both of the marriage proposals seemed completely out of nowhere and based off of nothing solid. The two characters met, one proposed, the other said yes and that was that. I understand that in a play, there isn’t enough time to give an entire background story of a developing relationship, however, especially in the case of Algernon and Cecily, they had only actually known each other for what seemed like a matter of minutes before they were declaring their love for each other. I think that this is a very important comedic element because especially in modern times, events like these would never happen. The fast pace of this play keeps the audience on their toes and although it isn’t an action play, the unlikely plot twists keep them entertained throughout.

I also found it amusing that I was relating to Lady Bracknell when she said, “I do not know whether there is anything peculiarly exciting in the air of this particular part of Herfordshire, but the number of engagements that go on seems to me considerably above the proper average that statistics have laid down for our guidance.” (273). Being a young adult, I would expect to feel more of a connection to Cecily or one of the other younger characters, however Lady Bracknell’s sarcasm and disbelief stated in this line dictated a lot of my same reactions. It is comical because I felt as though I could have taken on the role of the cranky old lady who is spoiling the fun of the younger foolish kids.

Modern Day Othello

In Phillip Kolin's interview of Kent Thompson, an interesting comparison was made between Othello and O. J. Simpson. Thompson talked about his first production of Othello and how it coincided with the O. J. Simpson murder trials. He said that this event attracted large amounts of people to the theatre because "they wanted to see a similar story written 400 years earlier." It is interesting to see a modern comparison to a historical story like Othello. Assuming that Simpson did indeed murder his wife and her friend, it makes you wonder if O. J. Simpson acted out in jealousy. Did he believe that there was a romantic relationship between his wife and this man? Also was there an "Iago" type figure in his life, trying to manipulate his emotions and spark jealous violence? In modern times this figure could have been the influence of drugs or alcohol. Just like Iago, these things tend to make people see things in different ways and imagine things that aren't reality. Perhaps, while under the influence, Simpson could have viewed an interaction between his wife and the other man as intimate or more than just a casual occurrence just as Othello did with Cassio and Desdemona briefly holding hands. These emotions could have lead to a similar violent end as in Othello.

This comparison raised a lot of the same racial issues that are present in Othello as well. In the case of O.J. Simpson, it was a black man being accused of murdering a white woman. This matches up exactly to the plot of Othello. This real life event seems to be evidence to the topics created by William Shakespeare 400 years ago.