'Mama!' -Review

Beautiful. Yet this very term deems inadequate for such an experience. Extraordinaire? Close, yet still is lacking. “Mama I want to sing” a stage classic in its own right as it records the very life of Harlem’s own Doris Winter –a preacher’s kid, with an unrelenting passion to sing!

This whole story is a perfect animation of the life of a young, maturing Doris Winter. Both young and old Doris alike is re-enacted by Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson, a charming character through and through. As Doris goes through life; acceptance on the adult choir, the tragic death of her father, the reassurance given to her from those around her, the pursuing of her dream, the fear of having to face her mother, (who as many mothers do and will remind their children –“brought [them] into this world and can take [them out!”) –and the final course her young life takes when her dream is fulfilled; she keeps her Daddy’s song in her heart, the voice of God in her mind, and the strong passion for song in her soul. Such a perfect epitome of a role model for young stars today. Don’t allow the world to hinder your joy, your passion; but rather with God’s help, keep moving on strong and take firm hold of your dream.

Bravo! Brava! Encore! Five Stars!!!!!

You may ask if I would go see it again. I consider that a rhetorical question, because based on my above statements, you already have the answer!

The leading characters

Conflict

The leading character in Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman wanted to attain the American Dream, success, love and respect from everyone. In King Lear, the King himself wanted the love of all three of his daughters.

The main obstacle for both characters was his own tragic personality flaw; flattery in King Lear’s case and a misconstrued vision of how to attain wealth and respect in the case of Willy Loman. There were, however, secondary obstacles such as their families and companions. The environment played hardly any hindrance in King Lear, whilst in Death of a Salesman it seemed to negatively affect Willy’s frame of mind when he was constantly met each day with the reminder of his dismal circumstances. Willy’s family, comprising of his wife Linda and two sons, Biff and Happy indirectly helped to send Willy over the edge completely. While he was teetering they didn’t realize the importance of their pulling him back, Linda more so than the sons. For King Lear, his eldest daughters and their allies (along with his own folly) set the stage for his ultimate demise. These two drama texts are tragic in that they illustrate the tragic flaws of their main characters as the cause of their deaths thus ending the plays.

The high point in the Shakespearean play, King Lear is when both of Lear’s elder daughters showed their true colours and their covetousness and attempted to destroy their father. In the American play, Death of a Salesman the events leading up to Willy’s untimely demise created suspence until it reached a climax.

Character Analysis

The characters of both plays are “true to life”; the protagonists especially. In the American play Willy can be seen as a static character –unchanging; whilst in Shakespeare’s play Lear is dynamic, he changes due to various conflict and circumstance that he encounters.

The character of Willy Loman is revealed mainly throughout his flashbacks and how he speaks to his counterparts. King Lear’s character is revealed earlier than Willy’s when he has gathered his children together to divide the kingdom amongst them.

The driving force behind of Willy Loman is his misconception of the ‘American Dream’ and even his wife, Linda. For King Lear it is a mixture of the passion within his personality and the anger and hurt that he feels because of his children’s behaviour towards him.

Only King Lear’s character changed. How it came about and the results are very convincing thus making it “true to life”. His realization and then change from one stage to the other is genuine and happens in reality, it is not an unrealistic or impossible.

Setting

Yes, the sets are appropriate as they capture the era of the plot and emphasize what is occurring at the time.

Many of these sets are unattractive, however, they fulfill their purpose to illustrate what is occurring throughout the plot.

No, not all of the settings are authentic. Some of them look very phony as they aim to replicate the original.

Critical standards useful for drama, novel, motion pictures

The chief emphasis is on the characters; the atmosphere and environment play a secondary part to both plays.

The purpose is to entertain the audience.

These two plays capture real life in most aspects and so can be deemed as realistic, there is no romance found anywhere within the two.

Life is registered in both its real sense and in a distorted manner throughout the Shakespearean play and the American play.

In both plays there are many problems with human relationships present. In Death of a Salesman, for instance, there is conflict between the protagonist, Willy and his family, neighbour, employer. These actually occur in life, nothing is perfect, however, it is possible that these perspectives were a bit over-exaggerated. In King Lear Lear had relationship problems with his eldest daughters, those daughters had problems with their little sister and their husbands; Gloucester's sons had issues among themselves. Yet there were characters who did have optimistic relationships, which could still be called realistic.

Neither of the two plays present a glamorized life or a happy ending that can be called artificial, for there is no happy ending.

The theme of hurt in 'Clear Light of Day'

In the novel, Clear Light of Day, hurt is the underlying theme and issue everyone seems to revolve around yet try to hide or ignore. According to C. S. Lewis, "those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more".

In this novel there is physical hurt as well as psychological hurt. These two differ in contrast. The psychological hurt is more detrimental to the human being than the physical, and goes through a longer process in healing. With hurt comes resentment, pain and bitterness towards the cause of pain, and even other innocent people. The protagonist, Bim is the sole victim of (psychological) hurt and so is seemingly bitter and is resentful towards her brother, Raja. However, she takes out this anger and frustration on other people who just happen to be in her 'line of fire'. Tara, also suffers from silent hurting, but not as explosive as Bim's. Along with the hurt, Tara feels guilt.

Almost every character in this novel had gotten their own dose of hurt: the Das mother, felt hurt when she had to have insulin injected into her blood daily; Bim when she was "betrayed" by Raja; Raja in the instance when his father ignored and refused to understand him and his requests, when he was ill and when the Hyder Alis had left without notice; Tara, when she could not fit in with her older siblings and was mocked and tricked; Aunt Mira felt hurt when her husband died, when she was mistreated and when everyone "abandoned" her.

Baba's place in 'Clear Light of Day'

Baba, the fourth and last child of the Das family, little brother to the protagonist, is a peculiar and estranged child when compared to his family. He, when born went from the object of amazement and attention to the object of disappointment and a burden to his parents, mainly his mother, who had to "suffer" by babysitting him and in turn missed her card games and going out. He wasn't a disappointment in physical terms, only how long his period of development took -in other, he was a "slow" baby.

With his classic white hair and smooth, pink-turned-pale complexion, Baba was set apart fom his entire family it seems in not only his complexion but his demeanor as well. He seemed to grow physically but mentally remained a child. If not for Aunt Mira's help, love and attention he might have been worse off than he was, (thus bringing disgrace to the Das family, especially the mother). ForAunt Mira is the one, who moved him from milk sops and spoon to small pieces of bread which she allowed him to put into his mouth himself, much to everyone's amazement. She taught him how to button his shirt and she and his siblings would congratulate him when he succeeded in this feat.

As he got older he still posed a problem with regards to speech. Only upon occassion would he utter a word or two, but never a complete sentence or phrase and could not be pressed to say more. Eventually his family seemed to accept him for who he was, and soon no longer noticed his silence, "his manner of communication seemed full and rich enough to them".

Playing with his collection of smooth worn pebbles was a personal delight to him it seems. It is possible that because this was the first game he learned to play he had grown an attachment to it. Aunt Mira had taught him this and even the game of marbles when he was a child so that he could learn to use his hands. He also, liked to listen to his records on the gramophone, for his own listening pleasure no doubt. However this same listening pleasure of his seemed to be an annoyance to everyone else in the household.

Baba can be said to be quiet, thoughtfully passive and curious. There was an instance when Baba actually ventured pass the walls of his home. Various sights he viewed at this time included the dirty, almost dry river, the dusty road, whose dust blinded him momentarily and few people and trees. After his little adventure he came to the conclusion that the world outside his home was a dangerous one indeed and very active. Although he did not have as many adventures as his older siblings nor was as active he seemed content to be left alone and enjoyed his own company; whilst Raja and Bim were the other's companion and Tara found company in Aunt Mira.

"I'm a dime a dozen"

In this video clip on Death of a Salesman, the character of Willy is attacked verbally and manhandled by Biff, who is like a raving, estranged caged animal, as he tries to make Willy understand that they are both only, "a dime a dozen".

Biff has had the blinding wool of the unrealistic American Dream removed from his eyes and is trying to tell his father that he has realized what was the cause of his failure and that his father needs to open his eyes also and face reality before someone is hurt. This is ironic because soon after Willy ends up dead.

Biff not only tries to open his father's eyes verbally, but also lays it all out before him, literally, when he puts the hose down on the table. Come to think of it the unknown amounts of carbon monoxide that he(Willy) was inhaling might also have been a contributor to his apparent brain damage. It also indicates that Biff was the only one in the family with a spine. Why didn't Linda as soon as she'd found out what Willy was doing take off the hose? Was it because she wanted Willy to be 'man' enough to remove it himself? This reason would have been ludacris because she would have been helping him kill himself (abetting and aiding).

And what is Happy's excuse? He was in his mind protecting his father from the rage of his brother, but in essence he was protecting Willy from the harsh truth. He and Linda were treating Willy as a child when really he needed to face the facts, no matter how harsh and cruel they seemed. They would have done him more good than evil.

Willy's family is the cause of his demise!

The question whether Willy Loman's family was the cause of his demise can be answered in the affirmative. They each contributed to this in one way or other, with Linda probably being the most likely contributor. Linda, though very supportive of Willy always encouraged him. This might appear completely harmless at one point until one realizes that it fed his over-sized yet unstable ego. Linda's words of encouragement were meant for good, but really ended up defeating their purpose. Willy who was already unstable due to guilt, fear,insecurity and not being able to support his family was someone who hung unto every good word of praise he received; and by getting lots of praise and encouragement from Linda, he was not able to see who he really was nor reflect on his actions -actions of an unsuccessful character.

Linda constantly "bigged him up" by saying things like, "You're the handsomest man in the world Willy" and these words like poison slowly intoxicated his mind, until (with one more little push from Ben) he snapped.

Benjamin or "Uncle Ben" as he is known in the play is Willy's big brother and appears only in Willy's flashbacks, otherwise he is a ghost or figment of Willy's vivid estranged imagination. Ben seems to play the guilt trip on Willy in one flashback where he implores upon Willy to join him on his journeys as he enriches himself. Linda, (the irritable miserable woman) however, interrupted and so persuaded Willy to stay put, assuring him they will " make good" and are quite content with where they were.

As a result of Linda's interference, Willy gave up on one aspect of his American Dream. It is probably because of this very same reason why he now shuts her up whenever she interjects in his conversations. Additionally, it is "Ben" who convinces Willy to "go" so that Biff would have money and have a chance in life, to become "successful".

Biff and Happy, don't really do ,much to lead to their father's death, aside from the pressure they placed on him. Happy's contribution was that he did not help his family enough financially, according to Linda. Biff now was an emotional and mental case for Willy; emotional because Willy still bore the guilt of the affair he knows that Biff witnessed, and mental because Biff did not become the superstar success that Willy wanted him to be.

Tragic hero or just tragic character?

A man with outstanding quality, whose own destruction is for a greater cause or purpose is known as a tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the hero's misfortune is not wholly deserved. The punishment exceeds the crime. The fall [of the hero] is not pure loss; there is some increase in awareness, some gain of self-knowledge, some discovery on the part of the tragic hero.

In the American play, Death of a Salesman, the protagonist, Willy Loman can be seen as a tragic hero. He is clearly misunderstood and his own delusional flaws lead to his own demise. The Shakespearean play King Lear also has a tragic hero, the king himself. King Lear may not be misunderstood, only underhanded, but he is the cause of the plots against him. This is so because of his own delusions on flattery which he made his two elder daughters use against him. Lear in himself was not a bad person, only prone to harsh and passionate reasoning and conclusions. Both Willy and Lear were blinded by their flawed perspectives and became victimized by those flaws and the other characters around them.

Referring to the definition noted earlier, Willy left Biff a large sum of money which will end up helping his whole family for quite a long time. This could be an advantage of Willy's suicidal act. Nonetheless, does this act make him a hero to his son or even more of a fool? Lear is looked at as someone who has suffered greatly, moving from being kicked out and mistreated by his two elder daughters, to losing his sanity, to losing his beloved daughter and his life. He only looks like a tragic character because there is no one to reap from his great feat. All his daughters are dead and he has no heir, everything basically falls to one of his son in laws. However with Lear being who the story is about he is a tragic hero, even when he has done nothing heroic.