One of the differences between fiction and theatre or writing for theatre is as one student put it in the freewrite, the dialogue. Almost everything happens between what is said and what is left out of the verbal discourse. Language is very important in all writing, and crucial in theatre.
Writers are told often to "show not tell;" however in theatre, one has to show because they audience won't be able to read the play afterward, even if he or she wanted to. Theatre is an immediate experience. The audience and the cast are creating meaning with each other. It is real time, you are a participant as is the elements like weather if it is an outdoor theatre (Ashland in Oregon, Bruns in Orinda).
So for this essay, think about the literary devices Lynn Nottage uses so well to grab and hold audiences. Look at her characters and how what they say both surprises and captivates you. Writing about themes is an easy way to write about literature. Writing about character and showing how language shapes character and how this language drives story and plot, might be harder to write, but you can try your hand at it (smile).
Essay 3 is due by Sunday, July 10, 2011, 12 noon. Be sure to attach and paste the entire portfolio which includes: The first draft written in class today, the completed draft with peer comments and the final draft with planning (Initial Planning Sheet and Outline). It is okay if the planning changed between today's draft and the final draft. Write a note for me.
Everyone should also have a bibliography including your book review and author profile.
The essay should be about 750 words or three pages. The fourth page is the works cited and the fifth page is the bibliography.
For this essay I will be looking at risk taking (smile). I will also continue to look at interpretation of major themes and motifs in the text and how well students integrate the text into such analysis.
I am still seeing too much plot summary. Give a brief synopsis and then tell us what you have discovered; what excites you about this particular piece of literature.
War is a hard topic to write about. Ruined is an exploration of war from the inside.
How does Nottage do this? Who and what are the weapons? Who and what are the casualties? Does war have anything to do with winners and losers? If not, why are there so many wars? What do all wars have in common?
Is this a universal story? How?
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6 comments:
Michelle Kith
Ricardo Chavarria
Ramel George Jr.
Wanda Sabir
English 1B
7 July 2011
The play “Ruined” explores the effects of war on the individuals in the play. The play focuses more on the topic of women and how some of them are “ruined” because they were raped. Lynn Nottage focuses on these women to give the play a more human and vulnerable feeling. The main weapon used is rape and the victims are the women who become undesirable to their husbands and shunned by their villages. In the civil war of Congo there are no winners, one way or another most people lose land, dignity, family members, and their own lives. There are no good guys in the war, the rebels who supposedly fight for the people commit atrocious acts against the innocent and the government soldiers are no better. One thing all wars have in common is death.
War is a difficult topic to write about. It would seem very difficult to write a play based on guns, and the action of war itself, and probably a little boring to watch, it is highly predictable. However, Nottage uses rape as a weapon, and the women in brothels as casualties. War seems to have nothing to do with a final winner, but both sides take a toll. Even if there seems to be an external winner, they may suffer internally, thus still losing this battle.
This is not a universal story because of the things that happen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While rape and abuse happen in most wars, it is nowhere near as prevalent as it has been in the Congo. In the Congo, acts of sexual violence have been described as the worst in the world. In this civil war, rape and kidnapping are constantly used as an instrument of violence to terrorize innocent people more so than any other war. The situation in the Congo and in “Ruined” is vey unique to the country.
Nottage, Lynn. Ruined. Dramatists Play Service Inc. 2010
Rebecca Ramos
Trang Tran
Guorong Li
Jeffery To
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
7 July 2011
Ruined Free Write
When discussing the differences between plays and fictions, plays allow their audience to engage more with their imagination and the elements of drama. The dialogue in plays is richer and is one of the biggest differences between plays and fiction. The diction that the writer chooses allows readers to develop the characters in their mind. The reader has to be much more engaged with their imagination as they develop the story, setting, and characters in their mind. In fiction the narrator or point of view of the novel is more present than in plays. Although there is a narrator in most plays the characters in the play have a more essential role through out the play.
In the play Ruined by Lynn Nottage, the author uses language and diction that add to the development of the characters. In addition she focuses on themes through out the play, one being the main theme of ruined followed by the search for security. Also the idea of war and its impact on human beings actions is extremely prevalent. In the play, war is the catalyst for many of the characters actions. For example, because of the war many of the soldiers acted out of their normal character and instead they acted like ravage dogs that raped many women. After their actions they caused many women to be “ruined” just like the main female characters in the story. Their lives were changed due to the war. They were looked down upon and forced to leave their family because of the fact that they were raped and ruined.
Furthermore, the war did not have many winners. However many of the characters were able to overcome the labels many people put on them and they were able to find happiness and safety in whatever they could find. Towards the end of the play the love interest of Mama Nadi, Christian has a line where he tells Mama Nadi “God, I don’t know what those men did to you, but I’m sorry for it. I may be an idiot for saying so, but I think we, and I speak as a man, can do better” (Nottage, 67). This line sums up the message Nottage was trying to convey. War causes people to bring out the worst in themselves, and many times they are blinded by greed that they lose sight of what is right and what is wrong. The men who caused the women of the play to be ruined could have done a lot better and could have had more respect towards their female counterparts; however because of the war they acted inhumane.
Nottage, Lynn. Ruined. Dramatists Play Service Inc. 2010
Daniel Lu, Virgil Gamble, Branson Phu, Gerardo Guzman
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
07 July 2011
In Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined”, many of the characters hold surprising facets to their personality and actions. For example, Josephine, a prostitute working at Mama Nadi’s brothel, has an arrogant and superior attitude despite the lowly nature of her profession. She holds herself above others prostitutes, claiming status as the first born child of a chief who is no longer in power. She throws taunts and jibes towards Sophie and Salima, her words filled with distain fitting a queen. Her attitude is apparent in the insult laden exchange between her and Salima:
I don’t? All right. Digger! I’m stupid! I don’t! You are smarter than all of us. Yeah? That’s what you think, huh? Kiwele wele. [Dummy.] You wait, girl. I’ll forgive you, I will, when you say ‘Josephine you were so right.’. . . . I’m sorry, but let me say what we all know, you are something worse than a whore (Nottage 25).
Even though Josephine acknowledges that she is a whore she still finds a way to elevate herself far above the other whores, whether it is through past status, insults, or her relationship with Mr.Harari. Her strong willed nature and desire for status despite her position in life is her most captivating feature, pulling in the audience with her personality.
The change in Mama Nadi’s personality is also an interesting development, a gradual change that leads the audience through the entirety of the story. In the beginning of the play, Mama Nadi seems more about business, seeing her workers as faceless entities instead of individuals. Profits were the only thing on her mind. But as the story progresses, Mama Nadi undergoes a metamorphosis, changing from a modern day business woman to a mother figure, protecting the girls under her as if they were her children. Heavily influenced by Christian and Sophie, Mama Nadi changes for the better, her heart softening through their persistence. The Mama Nadi who says “I have ten girls here. What will I do with them? Is there enough room for all of us in the car. No. I can’t go [without them]” is a far cry from the Mama in the beginning who itemizes human beings.
In addition to character, the theme of war is able to capture the audience’s interest. The play is set in a bar/brothel in the midst of a civil war. Ironically, Mama Nadi’s place is a site of refuge and respite from the war between the government and rebels. Soldiers from both forces frequent the bar including their leaders Osembenga and Kisembe, respectively. Mama Nadi does not distinguish between either side since she is only interested in their business. As long as she can maintain good relations between the two, their war is meaningless. Nottage is using Mama Nadi’s stance to comment on the frivolousness of war. Resources and territory constantly change hands, governments are formed and toppled from day to day, and in the end the country is worse off. Mr. Harari complains to Mama Nadi about the difficulties of dealing with the opposing sides. He argues, “Militias form overnight and suddenly a drunken foot-soldier with a tribal vendetta is a rebel leader and in possession of half of the enriched land, but you can’t reason with him, because he’s only thinking as far as his next drink” (Nottage 59). Africa may be the origin of the human species, but it is by far the poorest and most war-ravaged continent. For all of its beauty and resource rich land, there is not much to show due to the greediness of man and an obsession with war.
Deborah James
Sharron Dawkins
Shipra Pathak
Jennah Makalai
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
7 July 2011
Christian appears as a protagonist in the play in that he keeps Mama informed about what is going on in the war and life outside the brothel during his frequent visits to Mama Nadi’s Place. Chrisian also, unlike the other men in the play appears to have at least a superficial concern for the women’s well being. He brings them to Mama because he knows that their lives will be much easier there than being left to die.
Christian seems to have some ambivalence about what he knows happens at Mama Nadi’s place. Christian witnesses the distress of the girls when approached by vulgar patrons and admonishes Mama when she forces Sophe to engage Commander Osembenga.
Christian also tells Mama that they could remain together and make a legitimate business. Christian is not dissuaded even upon finding out that Mama is “ruined.” This declaration of love and hope by Christian is exceptional.
Stephanie Chan, Joanna Louie, Alex Lam, Daniela Myovich, Raymond Ye
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
7 July 2011
In the Life of an Actor
Theatre and its audiences immediately connect through dialogue and language. The way that actors portray their roles brings life to the character’s personality. In Lynn Nottage’s dramatic play, “Ruined”, Mama Nadi expresses her strictness and authority to others, yet is truly caring for her employees. She finds it in her heart to accept Sophie; both share a common, shameful history of rape and violence. At first, Mama Nadi feels skeptical to allow Sophie into her establishment. But overtime, Mama Nadi sympathizes for Sophie and gives her the opportunity to redeem herself from what their society would judge of her reprehensible past. Mama Nadi pays for Sophie’s operation and does not “want the other women to know” (Nottage 61). In Act One, Mama Nadi’s tone is more serious and intense as she talks to her employees and customers. Yet, in Act Two, she begins to express her softer side as she connects emotionally with Sophie.
In comparison to Mama Nadi, Sophie is a much quieter and reserved character. She does not have any authority in her life. First she was taken by a soldier and now lives under Mama Nadi’s rules along with the other women employees. In contrast with the other employees, Sophie is a performer and shows her talent and expresses her feelings through song lyrics. Her lyrics are subliminal and tells men:
Yes, have another beer, my friend/ Wipe away the angry tears, my friend/ Get drunk and foolish on the moment/ Brush aside the day’s heavy judgment/ ‘Cuz you come here to forget,/ You say drive away all regret./ And dance like it’s the ending/ The ending of the war./ The ending of the war./ The ending of the war. (Nottage 17).
Because of Sophie’s gentle personality and attractive looks, she catches the men’s eyes and brings in more business. She does not have to sell herself physically to ultimately survive.
Works Cited
Nottage, Lynn. Ruined. Dramatists Play Service Inc. 2010. Print.
I really liked Daniel Lu, Virgil Gamble, Branson Phu, Gerardo Guzman's and Deborah James,Sharron Dawkins, Shipra Pathak, Jennah Makalai's analysis of character, theme and plot.
Use literary language when writing about literature. I hope in writing these next essays, students take chances. Use the essay in the chapter on Writing about Plays, as a model for yours. These freewrite short essays noted are good models as well.
In the first example, I would suggest when using a citation, provide background so that it makes sense. The quote doesn't work, because there is no context.
I need to get out of here. I have been at the college almost 12 hours straight without a break.
WS
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