So I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one who feels that Miller gets pretty predictable after a while. I mean, the first play of his I read, "Death of a Salesman," threw me for a loop despite the ending being given away by the title. Just when it seems like everything's going to be okay and Willie will wake up and deal with reality, boom! Dead. And with "The Crucible," when Proctor seems ready to sell himself out in order to live, he gives us that powerful "leave me my name" speech, one that has apparently stuck with me.
But honestly? While reading "All My Sons," I knew for a fact that Larry was dead and Joe was at fault for the bad parts being sent out. The ending, while mildly surprising, wasn't nearly as shocking as "Salesman." My first reaction to the gunshot was, "Wait, what?" followed by "Jeez, not again."
However, I do admit that Miller has a talent for writing characters who have an unusual talent for avoiding reality. In fact, the characters are what make Miller's plays truly unique. Yes, all plays are character-driven. What makes these plays amazing is the fact that, while you grow attached to Miller's characters, they repay this with a betrayal of sorts. In "All My Sons," for example, the audience does not want to believe that honest Joe, as opposed to lying Steve, could have caused the deaths of 21 pilots. His denial is so emphatic that the audience begins to believe it in spite of themselves. This makes the revelation of his lie that much more bitter for the viewers as well as his own family.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Patron Saint of Youth
http://www.catholic-pages.com/saints/st_aloysius.asp A blurb on the life of Saint Aloysius, if anyone is interested. Apparently, he was the eldest son in his family, and therefore expected to carry on the family name. The fact that he didn't says a lot about his apparent devotion to the Church. Being the patron saint of youth, the parallel to Sister Aloysius is rather obvious.
In our group discussion last class, my group's conversation drifted to the subject of Sister Aloysius and her motives. It seemed to us that she cares more about the children than Sister James, no matter how much Sister James wants to show her love for them. In the end, she wants nothing more than to bury her head in the sand, pretend that the situation with Donald Muller and Father Flynn does not exist. When she speaks to Father Flynn, she grasps eagerly at his story because she doesn't want to deal with the potential reality of a horrible situation. Sister Aloysius, on the other hand, is willing to break protocol in order to protect the children in her charge, and is willing to lose her place in the church if she can keep her children safe.
She reminds me a lot of Joan Cusack's character in School of Rock (though I wouldn't choose to cast the actress as this character). Both care personally about the children, but find themselves unable to relate to them or to be soft with them due to the need for structure in the children's lives, and due to their position as principal. Joan Cusack's character has a monologue about this:
Intimidated? They hate me. Yes, they do. They sure do. I can see. I wasn't always like this. I wasn't always wound this tight. There was a time when I was fun. I was funny. I was. But you can't be funny and be the principal of a prep school. No, you cannot, because when it comes to their kids, these parents, they have no sense of humor. If anything goes wrong, it's my head. It's my head in the smasher. These parents will come down on me like a nuclear bomb. I can't make a mistake. I gotta be perfect. And that pressure has turned me into one thing that I never wanted to be. A bitch.
In our group discussion last class, my group's conversation drifted to the subject of Sister Aloysius and her motives. It seemed to us that she cares more about the children than Sister James, no matter how much Sister James wants to show her love for them. In the end, she wants nothing more than to bury her head in the sand, pretend that the situation with Donald Muller and Father Flynn does not exist. When she speaks to Father Flynn, she grasps eagerly at his story because she doesn't want to deal with the potential reality of a horrible situation. Sister Aloysius, on the other hand, is willing to break protocol in order to protect the children in her charge, and is willing to lose her place in the church if she can keep her children safe.
She reminds me a lot of Joan Cusack's character in School of Rock (though I wouldn't choose to cast the actress as this character). Both care personally about the children, but find themselves unable to relate to them or to be soft with them due to the need for structure in the children's lives, and due to their position as principal. Joan Cusack's character has a monologue about this:
Intimidated? They hate me. Yes, they do. They sure do. I can see. I wasn't always like this. I wasn't always wound this tight. There was a time when I was fun. I was funny. I was. But you can't be funny and be the principal of a prep school. No, you cannot, because when it comes to their kids, these parents, they have no sense of humor. If anything goes wrong, it's my head. It's my head in the smasher. These parents will come down on me like a nuclear bomb. I can't make a mistake. I gotta be perfect. And that pressure has turned me into one thing that I never wanted to be. A bitch.
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