Responses

http://lysdexic2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/glass-of-water-response.html?showComment=1365881526748#c4540273079066541555

http://lysdexic2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/noises-off-response.html?showComment=1365882043097#c1445061503269456436

http://frequentingplays.blogspot.com/2013/04/burying-child.html?showComment=1365885418121

http://korn2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/water-by-spoonful.html?showComment=1365887142919#c4163189956657544498

http://korn2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/detroit.html?showComment=1365887948831#c3500459633718040306

http://frequentingplays.blogspot.com/2013/04/detroiting.html?showComment=1365888567322

Detroit

It appears to me that Lisa D’Amour may have given her play a specific setting with the title being Detroit, but she aimed for her play to be able to inhibit any city.  This theory is not a new idea to literature dramatic or otherwise.  This concept immediately reminded me of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.  The name of Hugo’s main character Jean ValJean is roughly translated to mean ‘any John.’  Hugo wrote his story to compel, what researchers believe was his life goal, his insistence of the inherent good and people and forgiveness even of criminals.  His point was that goodness and sorrow could happen to anyone so D’Amour’s perception of this story happening in any city and not just Detroit is very relatable.  D’Amour’s story also reminds me sharply of Scott F. Fitzgerald’s common theme of the destruction of the ‘American Dream.’  The ‘American Dream’ is frequently referred to the ideal that people, Americans, can achieve social progress and monetary comfort through personal hard work.  Although Fitzgerald’s most known work is his novel The Great Gatsby I see a more direct collation to his shorty story “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.”  The language of D’Amour’s characters reflects those in Fitzgerald’s short story.  Even amongst the destruction of their ‘American Dream’ the characters do not seem to grasp the reality of their situation in the aftermath of the demolition of the dream and it is an outside character that struggles to help them realize the severity of their situation.  For this reason perhaps D’Amour’s reasoning for picking Detroit as her title bears meaning as it is one of the few modern examples today if the destruction of the ‘American Dream.’  The riots of Detroit began in 1967 and utterly paralyzed the city as an example of success in terms of the ‘American Dream.’  D’Amour’s story and setting note "not necessarily Detroit," reminds us that although this destruction of the 'American Dream' happened in Detroit it could happen to any city and the circumstances of these characters could happen to any person.