In the Next Room, or the vibrator play written by Sarah Ruhl premiered at the Berkley Repertory Theatre in February 2009, and later premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center in November of 2009. Taking place at the dawn of the age of electricity around 1880 in a wealthy spa town on the skirts of New York City, this play follows the events taking place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Givings. Mr. Givings is a scientist and a doctor, treating women for hysteria out of his home by using a clinical vibrating machine to induce paroxysms, or what we know today as orgasms. These induced paroxysms are strictly scientific, and are believed to release any congestion in the female womb, which is understood to be the cause of these hysterical symptoms. His wife, Mrs. Givings, quickly becomes curious about her husbands work, which remains under lock and key, in the next room. As Catherine follows her innocent instincts and her undying thirst for knowledge and human connection, she realizes her desire to find true intimacy with her husband. The result of her investigative work to find this intimacy is her first experience with the vibrating machine. It causes her whole world to shift upside down. Sarah Ruhl exposes the play’s thematic issues through this shift in Catherine’s world, and the experiences of her other characters. Through repeating her theme of lightness and darkness, in various manners and forms, visually and textually, Ruhl paints a metaphor for the prevailing struggle of moving forward, embracing social practices and new technology, and preserving current practices. Through this identified struggle, questions arise about the importance of the child in the home and the child’s influence on the structure of marriage, the sep...
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...timately is that they go “Away from the machine. In the garden” (Ruhl 141). Mr. and Mrs. Givings must actually leave the house, with all its structure and confinement, in order to gain access to their own intimate experience. The characters stimulation and desire to explore and pioneer these intimate concepts is what makes In the Next Room so relatable Catherine and Dr. Givings finally begin to overcome distances and explore each other’s natural and healthy desires to intertwine love and sexuality. The last moment of the play, becomes an enactment of the marriages of comfort, growth, purity, exploration, and intimacy, all ideas opposite in nature but consistent with the plays prevailing theme: the struggle of moving forward to embrace human intimacy, while simultaneously embracing social practices and new technology and preserving current or traditional practice
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
There are many policy issues that affect families in today’s society. Hunger is a hidden epidemic and one major issue that American’s still face. It is hard to believe that in this vast, ever growing country, families are still starving. As stated in the book Growing Up Empty, hunger is running wild through urban, rural, and even suburban communities. This paper will explore the differing perspectives of the concerned camp, sanguine camp, and impatient camp. In addition, each camps view, policy agenda, and values that underlie their argument on hunger will be discussed.
The nineteenth century was truly a different time for women and what their assumed roles in life would be. Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” is an examination into those assumed roles and a challenge to them. It was a time of obedience and inequality and in the first act each character is shown to portray these qualities. However, the characters in this play have multiple layers that get peeled back as the story progresses. As each new layer is revealed the audience is shown that even with the nineteenth century ideals, the true nature of each character is not quite what they appeared to be initially.
Peter Howitt’s Sliding Doors (1998) is a film that explores the events that unfold in Helen’s (Gwyneth Paltrow) life after she simultaneously makes and misses her train. Throughout the film, sliding doors appear as a motif and signify that an important event is about to occur or has occurred in Helen’s life. By manipulating the range of story information and mise-en-scene, Howitt is able to juxtapose Helen and James (John Hannah) with Gerry (John Lynch) and Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) to ultimately create a stronger allegiance between the audience and Helen and James.
...ve been suffering mental abuse by their husband. This play presents the voice of feminism and tries to illustrate that the power of women is slightly different, but can be strong enough to influence the male dominated society. Although all women are being oppressed in the patriarchal society at that time, Glaspell uses this play as a feminist glory in a witty way to win over men. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters solve the crime by reflecting on Minnie Wright’s unhappy marriage that leads her to murdering. Using the relationship between female and male characters throughout the play, Glaspell speaks up to emphasize how the patriarchal society underestimated women’s rights and restricted women’s desires.
You know how they say never to judge a book by its cover? Well, that is what I find myself doing before most books I read. Whether it is an assigned book as a class, or a choice book we have to read on our own. I usually look forward to books with a catchy cover or an interesting title, and those are the books I look forward to reading. Books with a boring cover or a title I don't find interesting are usually the books I dread reading the most. I don't know why I do this, I guess I just can't really help myself, but most of the time my opinion and views on the book change before I finish it. This happened to be the case for A Face in Every Window by Han Nolan.
We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story but give significance as well. The Point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side with conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Kate Balland is a sixth grade student at Martha Brown Middle School. She is a dedicated and committed author of Stepsister Twisted. She had a lot of fun writing this story thanks to her wonderful English teacher, Mrs. Smith. For example, Kate enjoyed adding the dialogue to give the characters some real life and meaning. She thinks that it gives them a real meaning to their role that they play in the story.
Being excluded is something each and every person has been through in this world. It can be for many reasons such as race, color, class, school, jobs, colleges, and sometime just for being who you are. It’s the ugly truth about this world, that people get disliked and excluded because of their choices they make for themselves and for being who they are. People are against gay marriages and are against people, the thing I don’t understand is why, what difference does it make in your life?
The Glass Menagerie - Amanda Wingfield If there is a signature character type that marks Tennessee -Williams’s dramatic work, it is undeniably that of the faded Southern belle. Amanda is a clear representative of this type. In general, a Tennessee Williams faded belle is from a prominent Southern family, has received a traditional upbringing, and has suffered a reversal of economic and social fortune at some point in her life. Like Amanda, these women all have a hard time coming to terms with their new status in society—and indeed, with modern society in general, which disregards the social distinctions that they were taught to value.
Communication is a vital component of everyday relationships in all of mankind. In plays, there are many usual staging and dialogue techniques that directors use to achieve the attention of the audience. However, in the play, “Post-its (Notes on a Marriage)”, the authors Paul Dooley and Winnie Holzman use both staging and conversation in order to convey the struggles of modern relationships. The play is unconventional in how it attempts to have the audience react in a unique way. The authors use staging and conversation to portray to the audience that there are complex problems with communication in modern relationships.
In this paper we will be look at the book called “Lying on the Couch”. I will be going over what I saw as the biggest ethical issues that I read about in this book, I will also go over my thoughts on this book and the ethical problems that I saw for Dr. Lash, Carol and Marshal Streider. I will explain my personal opinion regarding self-care and my reasoning as to why it is so important to maintaining clear boundaries.
The old and new attitudes toward sexuality and the proper behavior of women is very apparent in the play called A Doll House. The play shows how each woman has sacrificed who they were for the men and the other people in their lives. The play also shows how men see women in general. Several characters give up who they thought they were meant to be, because of the social aspect in their lives. Society has always placed a burden on women as who they are supposed to be as wives, mothers, and as adult women. Women were seen as the inferior sex in the past and in the present. Things have changed over the years as women earn more and more freedom and rights that men have had for a very long time. The sacrifices that are made in this play speak to how things work for women in society. Women give up their right to happiness because they feel obligated to change who they are to help someone else.
Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations once stated,“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” Since the beginning of time, tension results when an individual does not want to live within the confines of their culture or society. Citizens struggle to be a part their community when other residents are intolerant of their way of thinking. Mavericks who feel restrained by tradition and rules are eventually compelled to act.