America's Pastime

Images of Baseball:

The play Fences incorporates multiple images of baseball throughout its three acts.  For instance, Troy’s speech often integrates baseball lingo into his discourse about life.  Notably, baseball jargon structures the metaphorical explanation offered by the main character justifying his affair.  Furthermore, Troy also uses baseball terminology to explain his take on life as being one all important match against death.  In another instance of this textual echo, the baseball bat fuctions as an important prop in the play, especially as it is the weapon the father and son use in the angry brawl described in the second act.

My Interpretation:

Given Troy’s history as a gifted athlete who was unjustly excluded from baseball because of racism, the repetitive images of the sport are clearly significant.  I argue that the baseball laden imagery of Fences can be interpreted as critical race allegory, eluding to the discriminatory nature of American society, which keeps blacks confined to mediocrity and denies them access to the American Dream.  Despite his talent, the racist structure of United States kept Troy from participating in the national pastime because of the color of his skin, and restricted him to Negro leagues.  Along this interpretation, even the environment of baseball diamonds can be seen as a metaphorical reference to American political culture, as the field is surrounded by a fence, a symbol of unrelenting significance of race in determining an individuals life chances.

This Play is Bananas

            In Krapp’s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett makes several references to bananas, which may seem a little unorthodox, however I propose the following two reasons that Beckett may have included these fruity references in his play.

1.) Youthfulness- Now I may be misinterpreting this, but in Valparaiso there are also several references to eating overly ripe bananas, which I understood to be related to a fleeting sense of youthfulness.  I think that the same sort of interpretation may be appropriate here, as Krapp’s youth is clearly gone, despite his efforts to lock it away.

2.) Digestion- Another interpretation of the significance of bananas may also be constructed if one buys into the interpretation offered in lecture about Krapp and his problematic and constant state of constipation, as bananas are supposed to be good for regulating your digestive system.

            In reality, one, both, or neither of these interpretations may apply to the play.  To be quite honest, I did have some trouble following what was going on.

The Cherry Orchard

            It is hard to imagine that The Cherry Orchard was intended to a comedy originally, as it is overall quite sad.  While I noticed that there were some ironic parts in the play, they were very subtle and vastly out numbered by tragedy.  I felt especially bad for Firs, I can’t believe that the family left him behind, to die alone at the play’s conclusion, the self-absorbed aristocracy were too concerned with their own affairs to take care of the old man who had taken care of them for so many years. 

            One could argue that Firs’ sad and solitary death symbolizes more than just the death of an individual, but also of an era and class.  Firs’ had been with the Gayev family since before the serfs were freed, but stayed with the estate, having already secured a higher-ranking position.  An 87 year-old man, Firs was a clear link to the cherry orchard’s and the Gayev family’s prosperous past.

            Indeed, when Firs dies, the cherry orchard is not the only entity that is a shell of its former self; the Gayev family has truly fallen from their once prominent status.  Broke, homeless, unmarried, and all on the brink of mental breakdowns, the Gayev family is not the aristocracy it once was.  As Firs takes his dying breath, as does the cherry orchard, and (in some ways) the old aristocracy, as they leave the land that had given the family power for generations.