How I Learned To Drive Response

The Greek Chorus used by Vogel seemed really effective to me. The focus of the play was on the relationship between Uncle Peck and Lil Bit, and if Vogel would have created separate actors for each one of the extraneous characters, there would have been a chance that the audience would have been slightly distracted. I know that, when I'm seeing a play, I try to notice every character on the stage. However, by use of the Greek Chorus (or modern, twisted version of it), we only have three voices and bodies to get used to, which gives the audience a chance to focus more on the interaction between Uncle Peck and Lil Bit. Where extraneous characters could have been added, by seeing a familiar face on screen, we can notice the little details between their interactions, such as the smiles and intense looks, which I often find myself looking for if I'm not needing to look at other characters to see how their reacting.

Vogel chooses not to show us the interaction with Bobby and Uncle Peck on stage, which could have shown insight into whether this was a common thing for Peck, or if it had just been with Lil Bit. We also don't see a character on stage with Peck, we only hear him speaking to Bobby as if he's right there. But what it does show us is how he would act when around someone else, despite that other person not being on stage. We also see the way Peck's emotions work, and how he doesn't want anyone else to know about the things he does with the younger family members. He says it's okay to cry when no one else is around, which he may be justifying for himself.

The Conduct of Life Response

As people, when we interact with others, we only get part of the story. We're not always blessed enough to understand another person to the fullest extent, and Fornes makes that very apparent with her writing style.

By giving us only the bare minimum, she forces us to think fast about what we're seeing. With the rawness and painfulness of this play, it's like having to make a snap decision in a crisis situation like a mugging or rape (which is a huge part of this play). Victims of violence and rape don't have a lot of time to think about their situation, and Fornes seems to want to put us in that same state of hurriedness and panic.

I think also that, if Fornes were to give us back stories on all the characters, it would change the entire meaning of the play. We do get a bit of back story for Nena, but if we were to get one on Orlando, our entire view of him would possibly shift, and maybe we would feel more concerned after Leticia shoots him. Fornes is painting a specific picture about her characters with these small snapshots into their lives. If it were to be altered, this play would take on a different meaning that may not be as impactful and difficult to watch.

The scenes that she does choose to show us are for a reason as well. We could have seen Orlando killing the man from headquarters, but instead we get to hear him describe it and get more detail than if we were to just see it. We also hear about the investigation going on about him, more information than we would have gotten if we'd just seen the killing. She gives us very specific information to keep with her painting of the characters. Fornes truly tries to make us feel a certain way about the characters that she paints for us with her abrupt and specific scenes.