Curse of the starving class

Today as I was going through the play "Curse of a Starving Class" by Sam Shepard few thoughts swirled in my mind. This play touches upon various aspects of the themes found in American plays.

Firstly, this play talks about the idea of the American dream. Even in the most struggling phase, every member of the Tate family has their dreams waiting to be fulfilled. All their dream comes to an intersection at the idea of living a better life.

Secondly, we find a broken family struggling to make ends meet. The father, Weston who is supposed to lead and guide the family is stuck in debt and is an aggressive drunkard. The mother Ella is left to fend for herself. We see how there is no emotional connection between the parents and the children. The lack of communication confused the plans and caused a disruption leading to chaos. As the plays move forward we find how the parents refuse to take responsibility and the children are left to fend for themselves. Emma has to choose to provide sexual favours to save herself from a situation. She even chooses the path of crime as it earns a lot of money, and the lack of parental guidance leads to such a choice. We slowly find the downfall of every character eventually.

Thirdly, we find the idea of alienation very prominent. Even though the Tate family is a member of four everyone is living individually. Family is just a term without any emotional pillar. The lack of warmth is one reason for the choice made by each individual. There is also the concept of identity crisis which is depicted through the character of Wesley. We find that as Weston looks at himself he feels as if he lost a part of himself and is slowly turning to be like Weston. This becomes more evident when the mother, Ella addresses him as Weston instead of Wesley.

Fourthly, the use of animal imagery is very significant. There is a story of an eagle being mentioned we find it as a foreshadowing that further happens in the play. The lamb is also seen as a symbolic representation of the family. It looks very lean and malnutrition just like the family members who lack even proper food to feed themselves. The lamb is sacrificed in the end just like the slow impact on each family member.

This play is a real depiction of a society that is very unstable and lacks warmth. The lack of meaning in the word "family" is one reason for the loss of individuals physically, mentally and spiritually.