American Notes is fundamentally a play about home and homelessness. When the Mayor meets Chuckles at the beginning of the play and sees that he has no fixed destination, he tells him to “stay or leave” (753). This is the fundamental question for many characters in American Notes. The motel where Pauline works is the center of much of this tension—its motto is “We’re easy to get to but hard to leave,” and while a motel is designed to be a temporary place to stay the aimlessness of many of the play’s characters causes them to stay indefinitely. Pauline can’t decide whether or not to leave her small town, Karen is perpetually waiting for the Reporter, and Faber has been staying at the motel for a week and says that he would consider living there “forever” (766). Many of the play’s other characters are also aimless: Tim and Linda live at a hotel, sing at a bar “for the hell of it,” and don’t have any real occupations (764). Due to this job, the Pitchman is always traveling, his only true connection with a dead alligator. Because Chuckles is constantly leaving, he embodies the confusion and lack of direction that the other characters feel. Throughout the play, Chuckles participates in several aspects of American life in his search for direction, and never finds any guidance. He ends the play exactly where he began, alone and confused. In American Notes, Americans are only connected to each other by their inability to find a place for themselves. This is what draws people together—Pauline and Faber, Karen and the Reporter, Tim and Linda, and the Pitchman and Bonecrusher. While at the end of the play some of the connections are intact and some are broken, Chuckles’ solitary ending demonstrates that no one in the play has ultimately found a purpose from these connections.
Questions: What is the purpose of the poem that Pauline recites on pg. 773? What does American Notes say about life in America? What purpose does Chuckles serve in the play? Is there any hope in American Notes? How are the characters connected (besides the presence of Chuckles)?
A Blog for reading responses and general discussion pertaining to the work generated in our Playwriting II class at Brown University in the Fall of 2007.
Playwriting II - LITR 0210 C
The official and utterly awesome blog for Playwriting II at Brown University in the Autumn of the year 2007.
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American Notes is fundamentally a play about home and homelessness. When the Mayor meets Chuckles at the beginning of the play and sees that he has no fixed destination, he tells him to “stay or leave” (753). This is the fundamental question for many characters in American Notes. The motel where Pauline works is the center of much of this tension—its motto is “We’re easy to get to but hard to leave,” and while a motel is designed to be a temporary place to stay the aimlessness of many of the play’s characters causes them to stay indefinitely. Pauline can’t decide whether or not to leave her small town, Karen is perpetually waiting for the Reporter, and Faber has been staying at the motel for a week and says that he would consider living there “forever” (766). Many of the play’s other characters are also aimless: Tim and Linda live at a hotel, sing at a bar “for the hell of it,” and don’t have any real occupations (764). Due to this job, the Pitchman is always traveling, his only true connection with a dead alligator.
Because Chuckles is constantly leaving, he embodies the confusion and lack of direction that the other characters feel. Throughout the play, Chuckles participates in several aspects of American life in his search for direction, and never finds any guidance. He ends the play exactly where he began, alone and confused. In American Notes, Americans are only connected to each other by their inability to find a place for themselves. This is what draws people together—Pauline and Faber, Karen and the Reporter, Tim and Linda, and the Pitchman and Bonecrusher. While at the end of the play some of the connections are intact and some are broken, Chuckles’ solitary ending demonstrates that no one in the play has ultimately found a purpose from these connections.
Questions:
What is the purpose of the poem that Pauline recites on pg. 773?
What does American Notes say about life in America?
What purpose does Chuckles serve in the play?
Is there any hope in American Notes?
How are the characters connected (besides the presence of Chuckles)?
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