As the least highlighted character in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, Honey is deliberately the most overlooked. Albee initially describes her as a “rather plain”, “petite blonde girl” who is about twenty-six years old. Unlike any other hair color, blonde locks have a distinct stereotypical association: the lack of intelligence. Though seemingly unimportant, this description is essential to the audience’s understanding of Honey. Her stage directions are the most simplistic of the four, revealing a parallel in that of her mental nature. She is also described as “plain”. This specific adjective demonstrates both her ordinary appearance as well as how her thoughts and actions are easily perceived by others. Edward Albee discloses such an abridged …show more content…
This classification is ascertained through her insufficient dialogue, which reveals Honey’s quintessentially feminine tendencies. Because her father was a fervent preacher in her childhood, she blossomed into a wealthy, uneducated individual, constantly dependent on the men in her life. Stereotypically, she fits into the mold of the ideal woman of the mid-1900s. However, the only, yet considerably significant, cliché that she lacks is the essence of femininity: motherhood. Albee exposes her vulnerability as a woman through her perpetual wrongdoing. She states in act three, “I want a child. I want a baby. (236)”; however, Honey has an irrational fear of childbirth and therefore goes to significant lengths to prevent them. It is implied that Honey uses some form of early birth control, information that remains undisclosed to Nick. She fears childbirth profusely, but ironically resorts to child-like behaviors as a drunk. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is the embodiment of illusion. Every character is infused with their own, with Honey’s being her internal conflict concerning motherhood. She is not ready to rid herself of her personal illusions, maintaining an overabundant happiness within the dreary, drunken evening. Honey wished for things, such as her marriage and maternal desires, to appear pleasant, although the truth behind this woman is far from
Prejudice is something everyone has inside themselves. It can be buried deep or right beneath the surface, intentional or unintentional, big or small. A person’s surroundings are a big factor in determining prejudice, but in the end, letting that prejudice cloud their vision is up to them. The Secret Life of Bees delves deeper into this problem. The book takes place in the 1960’s, a time where racism against blacks runs rampant throughout America. The main character, Lily, is a young white girl who grew up in South Carolina. The book captures her journey of overcoming her own prejudices with the help of her friends and family. She was unknowingly prejudiced due to living in a town where racism against blacks was normal, but realized the truth and changes after living with the Boatwright sisters. In The Secret Life Bees, Sue Monk Kidd uses the character of Lily to illustrate that even though prejudice may be ingrained in one’s mind for their whole life, it can be overcome through enough time and learning.
“Her conscience told her that she would respect herself all the more if she bore her suffering alone and did what she believed to be right.” Jane had been introduced to love, yet chose fear again, as she had done in her early life. Jane was fearful of the suffering of not marrying him yet still being with him. This fear drove her to leave Thornfield for a year. During her mid-life, Jane was offered the chance to leave her fear behind, yet she still held on to it, driving her away from the ones she loved and hurting the ones who loved her. Yet in her later life, she did not make this mistake
During World War One, many societal norms became disrupted and thrown aside. Everything became displaced, including gender roles. People stopped fretting about a woman’s place in the kitchen when people were dying in the trenches everyday. World War One was a time of progressive change–however, it was only temporary. Both One of Ours, written by Willa Cather, and Mrs. Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf, take place around World War One. Despite taking place around World War One, a time associated with progress, there is not a stark contrast in the roles that women were expected to fulfill. Examining these novels, it becomes apparent that the roles of women did not change as a result of the war. In fact, Enid, in One of Ours, and Mrs.
During Virginia Woolf’s time, women are seen to be inferior to men. She uses education as a way to highlight the differences. Woolf partakes in a luncheon at each college. The meals are metaphorical devices that she uses to describe the poverty women’s colleges have and in comparison to the lavishness of a men’s.
Virginia Woolf explains that life for both sexes is difficult and requires one to believe in oneself. She then states that the easiest way to generate self confidence is to create inferiors, and consider oneself superior. By stating this, she generates a reason for the discrimination against women, and part of the reason women, particularly women of lower classes, do not write. It also softens possible critiques from men, she paints their discrimination, not as something done out of malicious intent, but as something that simply made it easier for men to survive and function to the best of their ability. This idea consequently supports her idea of the genius women, or only Shakespeare’s sisters being the only ones that need rooms of their
A Place in the Sun by George Stevens and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Mike Nichols are two great representatives of the American lifestyle, values and myths is Hollywood film industry. The appearance of the characters and surrounding, which are parts of the mese en scene affected the way audience identify to the characters and view their relationships and showed the American society’s values. An example of the mise en scene is the rain and the dim light while George and Alice the poor factory girl were meeting in and walking together. That atmosphere shows intimacy and tight bond and relationships as two lovers facing life together. Angela’s persona showed that she is a loving, sincere partner that was willing to give everything
During World War One, many societal norms were disrupted and thrown aside. Everything was displaced, including gender roles.With people dying in trenches everyday, a woman’s place in the kitchen became a secondary concern. World War One was a time of progressive change–however, this change was only temporary. Both One of Ours, written by Willa Cather, and Mrs. Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf, take place during this era. Despite being set during a time of supposed progress for women’s rights, the roles that women are expected to fulfill in these texts are still oppressive.Examining these novels, it becomes apparent that the roles of women did not change as a result of the war. In fact, Enid, in One of Ours, and Mrs. Dalloway, in Mrs.
In Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a wild fast paced play, Honey is a plain character. She undergoes internal conflicts that are externalized quickly with the addition of alcohol and mind games. An in depth analysis of Honey can be better understood through the different viewpoints of the playwright, Honey as a character, and the perspectives of the other characters within the play.
I never thought I would be stuck twelve feet deep in the cold and wet pits along the Western Front, but there I was. If the bullets didn’t eat away at you, the disease and grey weather would. I looked around as my lifeless comrades staggering in the mud. After five months there I somehow only recognised a few people. It seemed like I knew fewer each day. Every sense had become effusively betrothed to the ugliness of war as the abominable stench of blood grew stronger each day.
Plays operate on a fine line between the imaginary world in which the play takes place, but also in reality as effects and the actors all have to follow the real world rules. Edward Albee blurs the lines of illusion and reality in his play 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' through the dynamic of the two couples in the story. Martha and George are in a failing marriage that is played off of by the couple Nick and Honey. The latter couple has a successful relationship despite Honey's lack of intelligence and Nick's superior looks and personality. Martha and George on the other hand are constantly fighting and if one simply took at face value what this couple said to each other, they would think they hated one another. This is one of the
1. Considering the title, it's no surprise that bees are a fundamental part of this novel. I like to think that in the beginning of the novel, when Lily captures a bee in the jar, the bee represents her mother, Deborah. Later in the novel, we learn that Deborah falls in love with T-Ray, which could be the part where the jar traps the bee inside. When Lily opens the jar so the bee could leave, the bee doesn't, which could represent Deborah when she could have left T-Ray but she didn't because she was pregnant. When the bees finally left the jar, it represents how Deborah finally escapes and ran off to Tiburon. Of course, this is not the only reason the bees are important in the novel. When Lily runs away from home with Rosaleen, they come
Everyday life throughout the 1960s was consumed by the notion that a perfect and happy family was a basic requirement to having the finest and most satisfying life. Sitcoms were seen to be the model of American life and values, particularly how a family should act, both in public and in private. A textbook marriage of a modern suburban family was centered upon the husband going to the office providing for his household, while the wife remained at home with their children. Many television shows, such as sitcoms, based the plot of the program on this traditional belief, focusing on the
Virginia Woolf, a notable English writer, presented an exceptional essay, A Room of One’s Own, which focuses on women straying away from tradition and focusing on their independence. With Woolf’s creative ways of thinking, her essay also correlates with Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” and Alice Munro’s short story “The Office.” A Room of One’s Own emphasizes three major points, creating an image for women: gender inequality, a woman having money and a room to herself and the countless interruptions that can distract a woman in society. The two short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “The Office” illustrate the three central point’s Virginia Woolf makes in her essay A Room of One’s Own.
Growing up is a process most people must experience. It is not always easy and most the time it can become overwhelming. In The Secret Life of Bees, the main character Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old white girl living in the 1960s, finds herself running away from home and an abusive father, later taken in by colored women. As she lives in the household with the women she is seen growing up and slowly becoming burdened with many heavy truths. Sue Monk Kidd communicates to the reader the difficulties of growing up and love via Lily’s actions and time spent away from home.
Morality and value are the second themes that can find in Albee’s plays. According to Adams (1985: 1-2) in 1960s the United States suffered enough with African-American issues and the SSSR and Albee, and his followers wrote some plays in response to the existing situation and American values. In his famous work Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Albee critically examined institutions and values that Americans held dear – family, marriage, success and glory, for instance – and proposed they might have taken as shelter to escape from reality (Adams1985: 2). Through his plays, Albee struggles enough to prove his skillful as a dramatist; the play was also considered controversial, as it challenged traditional American values and used offensive language Both Adams (20) and