I've determined August Wilson's writing style is a bit of a weird experience for me. On the one hand, I often find myself unable to put the play(August:Osage County or the Fences that we are reading now) down, but on the other hand, I don't feel like I should connect with it, since many of the experiences that the families in the plays have are very different from any experience i've ever had. Maybe that's the point, however, of his writing. Despite the fact that we are not all suppressed minorities and we don't all have this many problems in our family life(let's hope not, at least) we still enjoy his work.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Wilson's writing was his unique use of exposition. Instead of revealing it all to the audience at once-- Troy bought the house with Gabe's money, he is actually having an affair with Alberta, etc-- Wilson gives you hints before he actually reveals it to you. I like this. I feel like it keeps us reading, and acts as a sort of theatrical "forward" that prompts us to be surprised at the fact that Troy is actually having an affair even though he says he isn't.
But, there's another layer to what Wilson does that I think works well. Are we really surprised by the revelations during the play? If we were to observe closely and follow the mantra of "the author doesn't write even one word for no reason" we could see it coming. There are hints that all of this "hard work" Troy put in in the house never actually gets done, or that it isn't his hard work that got them living in a house. There are hints(given by Bono, mostly) that he is actually having an affair with Alberta. However, we may skip over those as a fact of everyday conversation. Wilson, using the technique of "realness", puts the answers to our questions right in front of our faces. We are just so used to lying in everyday conversation--more or less known as joking around about certain things that obviously aren't true-- that we tend to miss these things and attribute them to men having a good time and joking around.
The way he writes his characters allows for them to be simultaneously loved and hated. We appreciate Troy's Horatio Alger mentality: he works for his money, and gets it. He rose up from nothing to something, however little that something is. Yet, he's unaccountably mean and nasty, too busy complaining about things not getting done when he himself never actually seems to do anything. It's the same with Cory. We appreciate his vigor and wish to grow beyond what his father has, but then we find out he doesn't want to go to his Dad's funeral, and that, in actuality, he's alot like his Dad. I think this shows the true realism of the characters. No one is completely liked or hated, but each express their frustration and anger with their lives in certain, unique ways.
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Okay, so first off, August: Osage County isn't August Wilson. Second, an interesting question for you as a reader and next as a writer is do you prefer plays where characters and situations seem like you or very foreign? And then a bit deeper: what makes a play feel like you or foreign? For instance, you relate to Lear never mind you aren't a king, have both eyes, possess zero knights, fools, or daughters, etc.
ReplyDeletePlanting seeds is indeed quite effective here, and, in fact, I think you'll find it in most of the good plays (and narratives of all kinds) you read. Once you start to notice them, you'll see them everywhere. Here, they do a beautiful job keeping our attention, moving us along, foreshadowing, warning, leading us astray, and bringing us back again. It seems awfully clever and well done (it is well done), but I also think it's pretty easily accomplished especially since it's so easily inserted after the fact. It's simple enough to go back through and insert small moments and lines with hints about what's to come once you yourself have figured out what's to come and what's significant and interesting.
I find it interesting that you mention that Wilson foreshadows certain events, but not so much that we aren't surprised when things happen. I kind fo disagreed. I felt that like the hints at his affair with Alberta were very obvious, that I figured out from the first mention of her that something was going to happen. I don't necessarily think they were too much, perhaps August Wilson wanted us to figure it out early on, but I definitely wasn't surprised. I think what was more surprising was the lengths he took to keep it secret, but then how suddenly he admitted it to Rose.
ReplyDeleteThe dual character is a really interesting thing in this play. You're right that the audience is conflicted in how much they like the characters throughout the play. I found myself WANTING to like Troy because he was the protagonist, but as the play continued, I seemed to lose that feeling more and more. It's an interesting tool to use as a way of engaging your audience.
Tagging along to the conversation about the hints Wilson drops about upcoming revelations/the foreshadowing...what does this say about Troy? What does it mean that Bono is the one dropping most of these hints? In a literature class I guess we'd question the reliability of the narrator and I think we can do a similiar thing here...what does this say about Troy as a character, the main character no less, and his stories of his past? How much can the audience believe? Do you like this technique of character development?
ReplyDeleteI think part of the audience's love/hate indeciveness for Troy is directly related to how much the audience is willing to empathize with his situation...and then understand the choices he makes in this situation. I think its a commentary on the American Dream (the man who works up but is so bitter by the end), although its hard to say how much Troy would have been able to work his way up when hes so FENCEd in by America's racism. Keeping the audience conflicted in how they feel about Troy, however, is a good way to mantain interest in a nearly plot-less play.