Sunday, February 20, 2011

Antagonist?

This play's scope of character's and setting is relatively small. The entire play is situated in the apartment by the fire escape and only 4 characters are involved. But when trying to think of who the protaganists and the antagonists are, it is a tough call. In the first 5 scenes, it almost seems like Amanda is the antagonist as she is always nagging on her children, especially Tom. Because of her he labels his own house a a coffin/grave. This would make Tom the protagonist during these scenes. However, as the play progresses, Tom tells Jim how he didn't pay the electric bill and instead put the money towards money for some other organization so that he could escape. He doesn't care about leaving his sister and mother without lights and this part really portrays his selfishness. I could be quick to label him the antagonist in this case, but maybe it was his own mother that made him this way. Maybe it was his mother that also drove her husband away as well. So after thinking about these factors as well, I would remain with my first opinion of Amanda being the protaganist. She really just nags and insults her children through the whole play and it would be so annoying to live with her!! Also, Laura and Jim are definitely foil characters because during their conversation, Jim is very outspoken and we know Laura to be very shy.

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