In Amy Herzog’s 4000
Miles, I noticed a consistent pattern of misunderstanding. There is a
good amount of overlapping dialogue, indicated by a slash (/) in the script.
This overlapping dialogue often seems to happen when tension is high and there is
some sort of disagreement, misunderstanding, or miscommunication. In my
opinion, there can’t be any kind of true understanding when each person can’t
hear what the other person is saying. Take this part of Scene 3, page 68, for example:
Vera: She
said in the beginning of the summer, when you were home for a little while in St./Paul—
Leo: Oh my God, she’s/still—
Vera: That
you tried to kiss your sister.
Leo and Vera have very different perceptions of Leo’s kiss
with his sister, Lily. Leo thinks that they did nothing wrong. On page 68, Leo says that it was “a
kiss expressing real mutual love” while Vera sees the reality that it sent Lily
into therapy. Later in Scene 9, when Leo and Lily talk via Skype, the Wi-Fi
connection makes it hard for them to understand each other. The literal
misunderstanding in the Skype call mirrors the deeper misunderstanding of the
kiss.
Even Vera and Ginny’s relationship seems to have
misunderstanding. The last time we hear them interact before Ginny’s death,
Vera is angry with Ginny for giving her a wrong address. Ginny hangs up on her,
then Vera calls her to say that they don’t need to call each other anymore. Leo
then points out that Vera could simply knock on Ginny’s door. I think that
face-to-face communication could have reduced the amount of miscommunication in
their relationship. However, Vera refuses, and Ginny dies in the next scene.
There seems to be a slight progress in understanding toward
the end of the play, although not a definite improvement. For example, in the last
scene, Bec and Vera seem to come to an understanding about Bec’s sadness. Then
Leo comes in, “unaware of what he is interrupting,” according to the stage
directions on page 77. While Leo still misses the boat, Bec and Vera seem to improve even
though they do not always see eye to eye.
I noticed a similar pattern when reading 400 miles, I like how you pointed out that even the lack of connective internet can be seen as miscommunication. I think that it is very smart to start realizing the parallels between the objects in the world of the play and how that reflects the characters in it as well. This also reminds us that everything the playwright writes is on purpose and has been thought about before being written.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this choice, very much. The example of overlapping lines and its correlation to misunderstanding was something that I overlooked as a novice dramaturgy student. Misunderstanding is very prevalent in the text not only in the examples you listed, but others too. In fact, I find all Leo's deflections of accusations and justifications for his actions to be misunderstandings. Most of the time on his part.
ReplyDeleteI can see how misunderstanding continues throughout the play. I never noticed this before. Even when you mention that the Skype call was another example of how they experienced misunderstanding.
ReplyDelete