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A major theme in this play is respect. Either respecting traditions, or respecting a person, respect is a major theme found throughout the play. At the very beginning of the play Ahn, the daughter of Tieng-Bin says, “You forget – I am Chinese Christian. Best of east, best of west.” (pg. 7.), she stated after her son Andrew tells her she cant be real because she is dead, and also a Christian, continuing by implying that Christians don’t come back from the dead. Ahn’s meaning behind those words are words which shows she has not lost her past, though a converted Christian.

Ahn’s attitude toward her son Andrew is very stern and aggressive, as her mother and aunties were to her. The respect shown by Ahn to her mother and Aunties was respect from pain and suffering, as well as mercy. Ahn was the first of the new generation; Andrew did not know what suffering Ahn and her family went through during the conversion to the Christian religion, and the struggle which was placed upon her after her mother’s death.

The change from one way of living, the life of the master, and the slave by the traditions of his ancestors, Tieng-Bin, he wants to change the way of his life, by so changing the lives of his wives. Ahn, who was, at the time, a small child was affected, one instance was the foot bindings being removed and approved by her father Tieng-Bin. For hundreds if not thousands of years, the tradition of keeping young women’s feet bound to mold them into a certain size and shape was kept in Tieng-Bin’s family. This transformation of the feet was unbounded by Tieng-bin, as were his family’s life being unbounded from the regular transformation to Chinese traditions. A new transformation, a transformation to a life with more choice with a western outlook was in place.

Reverend Baines was a Christian missionary who communicates in Chinese with the Eng Family and does well enough to convert Tieng-Bin to Christian. Baines tells Tieng-Bin how you must love someone who is also a Christian, then you may marry. Tieng-Bin sees his life a duty to his ancestors, though he has the utmost respect for his ancestors, he feels he needs change, he wants true love in his life. The death of Eling, the woman Tieng-Bin loved died during labor, after this tragedy, Tieng-Bin shortly got baptized and began his journey as a Christian. This is also the start of a new life for Ahn, who had later promised her father that she will carry on the great stories of the conversion to her son. Tieng-Bin does not yet see how much of a change he’s made for Ahn, Ahn is no longer bound, she is can get educated and not have to follow a strict tradition of assigned marriage. Ahn is later sent to America and able to attend school and choose her own husband. At the end of the play, Andrew understands that he must keep the legacy and stories in the family. Andrew must tell the struggle that occurred in his family to become Christian, especially how important traditions in his family.

This play covers a variety of themes, all themes which can be related to anyone, people of different cultures, and likes genders. This play demonstrates how some people cannot change, as with the first wife, they could not be molded again to a new way of life. The transformation in this play made by Tieng-Bin was an earthquake that was still felt generations down his line.]]> Drama]]> Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:19:54 -0500 http://www.readourpapers.com/drama/death-of-a-sales-man-review.html This theatre I attended looked sort of like a coffee shop from the outside, but when you walked in it was transformed into a theater, with the elevated seating and a stage in the back of the building. The walls were painted black and there were many doors all around the set to make it easier for the actors to get from scene to scene. There was one table in the middle of the room, which was for the kitchen, along with stairs leading up to the bedrooms. There was a door leading down to the basement, which was where the water heater was, they had a light emitting red light to signify danger as well as the water heater’s furnace.
The play is about the Loman family, this family lies to themselves about what’s really going on in their lives. Willy Loman, who is played by Keith Phillips is the father of two men and a husband of his wife Linda. Willy is a salesman; he doesn’t know what exactly to do with his life. Throughout the play a man named Ben, played by Hal Savage, helps point Willy in the right direction. Willy believes the source of happiness would be from seeing his sons become successful by becoming rich and famous, holding high pride. Willy’s pride is his demise by the end of the play. Willy loves sons, particularly the most, Biff, played by Carl Miller. Biff is the older of the two sons, who is a football star, although a football star, he had failed his math course, which kept him from graduating high school and continuing his football career at University of Virginia. His dreams are diminished when he finds his father is nothing but a liar and cheater. He finds his father with another woman in a hotel, he was seeking his father’s guidance after he found out he was failed from his math course, but little did he find his father with another woman, and still holding pride, wanting to beat him for questioning his father. Ever since that day, Biff and Willy did not get along well. The father only wanted excellence, and money from his son’s mouths, the songs manufactured those thoughts and dreams to his father by lying about what is going on in their lives. After biff moves away, his father feels the guilt from Biff because after Biff lost confidence in his father, lost confidence in himself, he was lost, and making nothing of himself. Willy only wanted to know his son was making a living and making a good name for himself.
Biff’s brother was a womanizer, who only seemed care for getting in bed with women, and the finest at that. He followed his father’s foot-steps by only taking the best and not taking crap from anyone. Not having the ability to put up with a manger is tough, only creates a barrier between you and your boss, and leaving you at a lower position than you’d be at if you would have kissed some ass. Biff’s brother, Happy, played by Tim Meehan doesn’t get as much attention as his older brother, and even looks up to his older brother. Both the sons are brought up to believe nerds are un-liked, and to be liked you must go for the goal, and make friends. Which by doing so, you’re unable to pay mortgage and work a dead end job, doing things you don’t even enjoy, which is what Biff realizes.
The father is near the end of his life and after being with a company for 35 years is laid off, without any compensation and relief. The only end to this salesman’s life is death, which his death will leave a handsome $20,000 to his family by his life insurance. Willy was not forgiven by his son Biff, Biff knew that it was selfish and that there were other ways out. This salesman could no longer sell himself, not even to his family, which was the end of what Willy was to himself.
The high expectations of Willy demonstrated this play of his Sons and he is a platform of life that is in many cultures. As greatness is expected in the Chinese culture, only excellence is expected, with no excuse to be found. This American dream that Willy kept in his mind is something many immigrates see and come to America for their chance. Willy was the hero, but he was also the protagonist of the play. He was just a regular man, trying to make his regular life so much greater.]]> Drama]]> Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:11:45 -0500 http://www.readourpapers.com/drama/multicultural-plays.html One playwright who has contributed a mountain of work to this multicultural genre is David Hwang, who graduated from Stanford and won his first Obie Award in 1981 for his play FOB (Fresh Off the Boat). David Henry Hwang also attended Yale, during which time he worked on plays that were based on issues that immigrants face when living in a new and unfamiliar culture. A theme of assimilation combined with internal conflicts the characters experience is seen in his play Golden Child. Released in 1999, many claim that this is one of his greatest work to date. The true stories of Golden Child were told by his grandmother about the experiences of his ancestors as they underwent a life change. Moving from one way of living to another is sometimes too much for a person to handle, a universal truth that many can identify with. It can be difficult for a person who has become accustomed to a certain way of living to be asked to leave all that they have become familiar with behind for something unknown.
One can expect that their transition may not always be a smooth one, they may resist or come up against circumstances that are out of their control. Such was the case for Siu-Yong, the first wife of the master of the house, Tieng-Bin Eng. Siu-Yong was followed by two other wives, making her feel less appreciated and as if she were the old tyrant of the wives. The change is too much for her, and she begins using opium as a crutch for her loss of love, questioning if she had ever known true love in the first place. Siu-Yong kills herself by overdosing on opium, coming to the decision that it is her only way out. Converting to Christianity was an unrealistic option, she would gain something but lose everything. Siu-Yong does not want change in the only life she has known, nor does she want others to benefit by making the changes that she herself was unable to. As she says to Luan, the second wife, “Stay away from the preacher. If you try to show me up by becoming Christian, I’ll see to it that you’re demoted to a common concubine” (pg 20).
Another work that involves multicultural conflicts is “Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe. This piece presented its conflicts in a more satirical light, bringing an insightful look into the life of an African American. A quote by “Man” puts forth a suggestion of how to face the struggles that all people endure. “The climate is changing, Kid, and either you adjust or you end up extinct. …. King Kong would have made it to the top if only he had taken the elevator. Instead he brought attention to his struggle and ended up dead.” Such was the fate of Siu-Yong, unable to change with the times, she saw suicide as her only option. This advice is not specific to one culture or another, for all must adjust or become extinct with the changing times. Whether these changes are new technology, new demands, or a new population. Change must be embraced in order to be overcome.Throughout the play, the characters are losing their identities, not claiming their true selves. A passage that discusses this issue is the closing statement made by Miss Pat, “Before exiting, check the overhead as any baggage you don’t claim, we trash,” reminding audience members not to forget their true selves. If ones does not claim who he or she really is, they are nothing, trash.
In the play Zoot Suit, by Luis Valdez, a group of men known as “Zoot Suiters” are discriminated against because of their clothing. These young men are being put into the spotlight, and made to look horrible. The Zoot Suiters were used as a scapegoat during the WWII era, blamed for things they had no hand in. These Mexican American Zoot Suitors were easily recognized and could be easily found and placed in detention. Though this was a play, the real Zoot Suit riots took place in the 1943s, which during this time, many Mexican Americans arrested just for wearing the wrong form of clothing at the wrong time. This play demonstrates the discrimination in today’s and yesterday’s society, as with any culture, there are the abnormal looking people. These people cane either be seen as dangerous or, simply outcasts, and in some cases both. The Zoot Suit was an act of freedom to which they can wear what they want, no matter what the effect on them was. Which can be tied to claiming who you are, and never to lose your identity and any cost.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, follows the internal struggles of an African American family who must decide how to cope with its economic hardships. The oldest son Walter must fill the position of man of the house after their father passes away, bringing responsibilities he is not accustomed to. A life insurance check arrives in the mail, money that can provide a fresh start for the family, but at the expense of their father’s life. The mother sees that her children are still growing, and that they need room to continue doing so. More conflicts occur when the family is set to purchase a house in a white neighborhood; a representative of the neighborhood comes to visit and offers to purchase the house back from them. The neighborhood believes that if a black family moves into the neighborhood it might bring more problems for them. Walter decides to purchase the house in that neighborhood despite the confrontation and create some changes in his family’s lives.
This same theme of claiming one’s identity can be connected with what is demonstrated in The Colored Museum. The family may choose to stay in the house they currently live in, or take a risk by changing their situation. By selling the house back to the neighborhood, they would be conforming to a social pressure that is unjust and racist. Bending to the will of the neighborhood would not improve their situation, something their father would not have wanted for them. By purchasing the house and doing so without apologizing for who they are might cause problems, but the possible reward is much greater.
The Migrant Farmworker’s Son by Silvia Gonzalez involves issues of respect. The father seeks respect from his son Henry, but does so in all the wrong ways.
He feels that he deserves his son’s respect because he is a father who works hard in order to provide for his child. Henry is unable to have respect for his father after all he has had experienced, from the physical abuse of his father, to the way he sees his father work all day but for barely enough to make a living. The son has dreams of becoming something that will bring him more prosperous earnings and a better lifestyle. Behind his rough exterior, the father wrestles with his conscience over the death of his daughter, believing that he is the reason for her passing. Henry is unaware of what troubles his father, seeing only the differences that prevent them from relating to one another.
All of the joy his father once had faded away and was replaced by guilt after watching his daughter taken away by the river. He finds an escape from this guilt in drinking, going so far as nearly killing himself in the process. The father has almost completely forgotten that he has a son, but realizes that he has driven his son away, and that his daughter is gone. Gonzalez’s play can be related back to Golden Child, in that both involve a character who is set in their ways and unable to change with their surroundings. The father is from Mexico, accustomed to its traditions and not those that face him in America, a land with a different language and way of life. Similar to Siu-Yong, he turns to drugs to escape the challenges of change, rather than facing them head-on. He would rather live in Mexico, just as she would prefer to go back to being her husband’s only wife, but the decisions have been made for them.
The plays that we have read and seen in this past semester are stories of struggle, the characters trying to build better lives for themselves and their families. Simply by reading a multicultural play one can see this ongoing struggle within and between cultures. Immigrants in particular had to undergo a lot of change in order to make a home for themselves in a new environment, and while changes usually involved struggles, there were rewards to be had as well. In some cases, changes come about because of the natural state of the world, while others are brought on by our actions. The characters in these plays either overcome the struggle and keep their identity or fall pretty to the hardships of the world, demonstrate qualities and flaws that can be related to worldwide.]]> Drama]]> Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:47:52 -0500 http://www.readourpapers.com/drama/how-to-read-a-play.html Drama]]> Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:23:17 -0500 http://www.readourpapers.com/drama/my-analysis-of-our-town.html It was surprising to me that the actors greeted everyone at the beginning of the play, along with a greet after the play. A greeting before the play really loosened up the audience. The actors were “in the zone” as I call it, they performed excellent. The theatre was not full, not even half full, and they still performed to the best of their ability. The play used the line “They don’t understand” several times throughout the play, which was referring to the people who were alive. Another thing that I noticed was the lighting when the two kids were in their rooms studying; it created a good connection between the two.
After watching this play, I plan on making an effort to support local plays, and open my eyes to the theatre.]]> Drama]]> Wed, 11 Oct 2006 03:08:13 -0400