Sure Thing! I'll Do a Special Post for 12/9

For my post I chose a short play that we read at the very beginning of the semester, Sure Thing by David Ives.

1) What is the play about? The two main characters in this play are Betty and Bill. They are both in their late twenties and happen to meet at a cafe. Bill comes over looking for a place to sit and asks Betty if he can sit at the table with her. Every time either of them says something that won't lead them down the path of "marital bliss" (if you wish to call it that). The bell rings when they talk about sitting down, a book, college, Bill's motive for sitting down, etc. etc. etc. It doesn't seem very promising but, at the end of the play and after many ringing bells, they end up headed down that path of "bliss" and promising to love each other forever.

2) Why does this need to be interpreted? Well, I think it may be difficult to understand why the author might want to write this play in the first place. I know that I had to read it more that once to get ideas. I think that, the more you read it, the more plausible explanations you come up with. I'm not saying that I have the answers, there are probably very few who do. The author, God, and maybe a couple more actually know why the author wrote this play. I am just here to give my personal interpretation of it.

3) What is my interpretation? Due to the number of times the characters cause the bell to go off, I think that the author might be laughing at the complexity of relationships. You say one thing wrong and ding! the bell goes off and they start over. And it isn't just what is said wrong, it is also about what someone may have done "wrong" in the past. I went to Oral Roberts University ding! I didn't go to college, I partied ding! I went to Harvard. Correct answer! And now we move on to the next topic in which something can go wrong. Some people might think that it would be nice to have a bell that goes off when you mess up, starting things over. They might say it could be useful. I think it would be horrible! ding! I think I can see why they would think that, but it could undo everything you are as a person. It could undo your relationship status. It might undo where you went to college. Those things make up YOU. I don't think ding! I would never want to trade who I am just because one person isn't impressed with me. While I read this play again, I realized that there could also a positive side to this story. It might help you see how lucky you are to have found that person in your life that accepts you for you. They wouldn't make a bell ding! to change you. If you haven't found that person, maybe you'll know what to hope for. But, for those who have, you have beaten the odds! You got through to the end of the play, that time of happiness with a hopeful future stretched out before you, without having to go back because of a ding! and redo it all again. Sure, sometimes maybe we wish we could but where is the fun in that?

4) What from the text supports this? Well, concerning the laughing-at-relationships bit, I think the whole play is proof. It is a comical play about relationships and all of the things that could go wrong. When it comes to the changing-a-person thing there is a lot of support. On the third page of the play, Bill changes college status twice times to please Betty. On the fourth page, Betty changes the place she lives from Pakistan to wherever this cafe is. Betty changes relationship statuses a few times, she was even married once and gay once. Bill changes his pick-up lines. And the lucky-in-love thing? I think the proof for that is how many times that bell went off before things worked out. We don't have that bell.

5) Why does my interpretation matter? Um, I think I pretty much covered that in number three but I'll see what I can do. As I said, I believe that it can help us appreciate our ability to go through life without the use of a bell to help us out. In fact, by not using the bell we learn from our mistakes anyway and we grow from that. If we had those bells, I don't think anybody would ever make any progress in life. We would always be busy trying to figure out, "Could I have said that better?" or "Could I have done that more efficiently?". Yes? ding! Let's try this again! It seems like it would be an obnoxious, unproductive, and never-ending process. So, what? You messed up. Big deal. We all do it. We need to just appreciate who we are and where we come from. It has made you who you are today. And somebody, now or sometime in the future, will appreciate you too. And you will appreciate them. Sometimes you would want to make the bell ding! for them, but you wouldn't actually do it. It is those times when you wish you had the bell but then think and say, "Nope!" when you get stronger. It could make a relationship stronger. Or maybe just make you stronger. Either way, I think we can get a lot out this play. It was definitely more than I had expected. But, I am sure there is even more that I didn't catch.

And So the Miraculous Becomes the Despised

Before I get into talking about the actual text, there is one thing I noticed about the story right away. It is a translation. I was kind of annoyed by this. Usually translations aren't as good or as meaningful as the original. Some meanings get lost in translation due to the lack of a proper substitute for a word. Other problems are differences in culture. Something in the story could be significant to the author's culture and have no meaning to use. Look at the Bible, for a perfect example. That is just something I needed to express. Now to the good stuff.

In her blog, Victoria says "When you think you’ve read the most intriguing, confusing, weird story ever written.. Professor Corrigan assigns another one." Well, I couldn't agree more. This story was just... odd. I am not even sure if I liked it. You can tell there is a lot of meaning to this story. I just can't figure out what it is. And it says "A Tale for Children". Are you kidding me? This might scare a kid. Maybe the author is talking about someone with the mind of a child, one that is open and accepting.

In this world, it seems like they are used to seeing the "miraculous". People flock to it, stand in awe of it, question it, mock it, and then move on to the next big thing. This angel (an angel!) is found on a beach after a storm and they put it in a chicken coop, just like an animal. They charge admission for people to come and see him. There were two reactions to the angel (other than that of the family who found him) that I found very interesting. The old woman's was the first. She knew immediately what he was and what he was probably there for. She thought he was there to take the sick child. If I understand correctly, she was also the one who said to club him to death. How tempting would that have been for the family, knowing that the angel was there to take the child? The second reaction was that of the priest. He didn't think the old man could possibly be an angel. The old man was dirty, had garbage in his wings, was decrepit, and the language he spoke was not the language that the religious of this world had deemed as the heavenly language. I also couldn't believe that the family who found him despised him! The woman was so happy that the "annoyance in her life" was gone!

What is this story supposed to communicate? Is the author somehow talking about our own world? Many people hear of the miraculous and flock to it, stand in awe of it, question it, mock it, and then move on to the next big thing. Sound familiar? But do we despise it as the family who found the angel did? Or is that just the next step in the direction some people are headed?