True West: Transformation, Essay Example

The Importance of Human Connections in Overcoming Life’s Hardships

The modernist movement was a revitalizing time of reinvented art and literature. Melodramas that had previously dominated the scope of theater were now being replaced by realistic works. These modernist plays and novels emphasized everything that melodramas lacked; this new era of literature swept away the idea of right or wrong, evil or good, black or white; characters and conflicts fell into a grey area, where the audience was given the freedom to decipher them and draw conclusions themselves. Stories of lovers and friends no longer concluded with a happily ever after; instead, these stories bore the obstacles and tragedies encountered in real life. In Eugene O’Neill’s play Bound East for Cardiff and Susan Glaspell’s play Suppressed Desires, the characters are faced with the undeniable reality of hardship and misfortune. Friendships are torn apart due to illness and death, and marriages struggle to prevail over conflicting interests between husband and wife. However, both of these works share a common theme: the importance of relationships with others. In Bound East for Cardiff, the strong bond of friendship between Yank and Driscoll provides Yank with comfort in his last moments of life. In Suppressed Desires, Stephen’s love for his wife trumps the fate presented to him by psychoanalysis. Although these works express the obstacles that people face in life, they shed some light on the strength of love and relationships, both between lovers and between friends. Amidst tragic plots, O’Neill and Glaspell trigger the audience’s emotions with emphasis on the connections between characters in their works; these connections suggest that relationships have a profound effect on the ability to prevail over life’s hardships, encouraging the audience to savor these relationships while they last.