Laura Aliste Domínguez

Group A-2

Twentieth Century North American Theater

Twentieth century North American theater is characterized mainly by a sharp social criticism in each of the

plays, these authors try to break the so-called "American Dream", gloss over the society and making us

aware of how everything around affect characters.

The topics covered in this American drama revolves around the characters, so we can see how the

society isolates characters in plays like "The Children's Hour", where two teachers are accused of lesbianism,

the pressure they receive from the society completely collapses making their lives changed forever:

“Tomorrow? That´s a funny word. Karen, we would have had to invent a new language, as children do,

without words like tomorrow” (72). In this play, a mere rumor that comes from the mouth of a little girl,

makes that the personal stability of the two young teachers comes down, however, there is also a special

bond between them, they support each other and get to against all who have been neglected, although it is too

late for Martha, who, overwhelmed by all that has befallen them, commits suicide.

The pressure of society is also very present in "Twelve Angry Men", where a jury has to decide

whether a youth is guilty or innocent. In this play, all men of the jury vote which is easier, they vote what the

majority of them vote: “Seven or eight hands go up immediately. Several others go up more slowly.

Everyone looks around the table as the FOREMAN rises and begins to count hands.”(11), so we can see the

enormous influence they have on each other when deciding something as important as the life of a young

man.

The company also has an important role in the play "M. Butterfly", where a married man falls for

a singer of Peking Opera, a man dressed as a woman. He questioned established ideas in society which are

very committed because gender is an element that completely divided society, demolishing patterns, Hwang

perfectly manufactures a range of social standards “In public, I have continued to deny that Song Liling is a

man” (92).
 In the play "The Goat or Who is Sylvia" the pressure of society is represented by the protagonist's

family, Albee, a man who falls in love with a goat. In this play, we can see that the protagonist suffers

discrimination by his wife, his son and his friend, they do not try to understand or help him, they just say he

's crazy “Martin: You don´t understand. Stevie: The fucking of animals! No, that´s one thing you haven´t

thought about, one thing you´ve overlooked as a byway on the road of life, as the old soap has it.” (60).

Following this line of the pressure exerted by the family, we see in "Desire Under the Elms", Eben is

pressured by his family, they are greedy and he wants to go with his heart although, he commits incest.

Family also leads to the destruction of Jessie in "'night, Mother", she is cornered by his family, nobody has

ever treated her with respect and therefore, she decides to commit suicide.

In contrast to these plays, we find "Flying" West", the play of Cleage introduces us to a

community of black women who, together, have managed to form a united family that supports and protects

themselves: “The day I need somebody else to defend my family is the day that somebody´s name will be on

the deed.” (77). Minnie, the youngest of the sisters, is being abused by her husband as her sisters decide to

kill him and protect his sister: “A man that will hit a woman once will hit her again.” (70).

With this quote, we approached the issue of abuse, a topic so much present in several of the plays.

In “A Streetcar Named Desire” the abuse is present throughout the play, the protagonist, Stella, is completely

tied to her husband so she is unable to leave him until the end of the play. In this work we also found the

character of Blanche, she is a woman who lives in her world of fantasy and alcohol, she is happier in this

world of imagination than in the real world where the reality is so much rude. This fantasy world is not

unique in "A Streetcar Named Desire" in the play "M. Butterfly", the main character, Rene Gallimard, lives

wrapped in a lie, on the other hand, the Asian woman, Song, who is actually a man, lives his entire life lying,

but he is able to construct a fantasy world in which he and Rene are happy together.

This point is also something to consider, and may also define the aspects of twentieth-century

American theater, sexual identity. In this play, “M. Butterfly”, Song tells Gallimard that what gender you

have does not matter, what really matters is that he loves him; “I´m your butterfly. Under the robes, beneath

everything, it was always me.” (89), Hwang attempts to end sex laws set by society, Gallimard still loves

Song after his confession; but his honor will not let him to look beyond gender; “Death with honor/ Is better

than life/ Life with dishonor” (15, 92). As we said before, in "The Goat or Who is Sylvia", a man is in love

with a goat, so sexual identity is also latent in this play. Martin is in love with the goat and therefore not
supported by society, including his son Billy, who is gay, he goes also against him: ”At least what I do is

with...persons!” (48).

In the play "Angels in America", we will also meet with the problem of sexual identity; one of the

protagonists do not accept his homosexuality because it conflicts with his religious beliefs. In this work, we

also find the fear of some people cope with terminal illness, one of the protagonists are unable to accept the

illness of his boyfriend, so he left him lying in the hospital.

Linking this aspect of death, we can notice another important point that appears in all plays, is

death in all its manifestations. In "Desire Under the Elms", Abbie, in desperation, she kills her son because

Ephraim pretends to believe that the child is his own son. On the other hand, in “The Children´s Hour”, here,

death appears as the endpoint of an injustice that Martha can not support, so she decides to commit suicide.

With “Twelve Angry Men”, Reginald Rose makes us think about how the decision of a group of men could

affect to the life of a young man, initially all of them take it lightly, but the juror number 8 makes that the rest

think and think again about the decision. In “M. Butterfly”, Gallimard's suicide, dressed as an Asian woman,

shows that the issue of gender is an innate biological phenomenon is a social construct, no matter whether

you are male or female, what matters is the essence of the person, who you love. In “´night Mother”, death is

also a way of escape from all family problems and of everything that she has been carrying during her life.

With "Flying West", death appears as a symbol of unity against oppression of whites and of owners. And

finally, in "The Goat or Who is Sylvia" Sylvia Stevie kills in despair that her husband loves her: “She loved

you...you say. As much as I do.” (110).

In conclusion, we notice that the twentieth-century American theater has a wide variety of topics

and issues, using techniques such as symbolism and language, these authors get that we identify ourselves

with each of the characters of the plays, seeing them well reflected in our own lives and personal

experiences.