CGLVietnam

Gordon Lucas Dr. Farley 26 October, 2010 2100H __Vietnamization of New Jersey__ Essay Question The __Vietnamization of New Jersey__ and __The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild__ are both comedies that are related to the war in Vietnam. These two farce comedies share similarities and differences in how the playwrights approach the influence of the family on the behavior of children. One major similarity in these plays deals with the upbringing of the characters Et and Tulsa. Both of these characters grew up in households where they were missing a major factor of love in their lives. They were in families where a piece of something was missing. That something was love. The differences come into play because of the different ways the playwrights chose to demonstrate this lack of nurture that both Et and Tulsa grew up with. In Et's case Christopher Durang chose to make the absence of caring parents in his life much more blunt and obvious than that of Tulsa's situation. In the opening act when Et asks, "When's Davey coming home," his mom and dad, Ozzie and Harry, both fail to acknowledge his question. They overlook what Et has to say and instead mock him, yell at him, and make fun of his mumbling. During this scene his parents are also constantly arguing and fighting over trivial things instead caring for their son and answering his question. From this first act it is obvious that Et is missing love in his life and because of this he is influenced in a negative way. This influence is seen when Et immaturely pours cereal down his pants. If he had loving and patient parents who took the time to teach him how to become a mature young man then he would not be influenced in such a negative manor. In contrast, Tulsa's lack of love and nourishment as a child was brought upon in a totally different way. Her father was killed in the Vietnam war and her mother was forced to marry a man in order to support Tulsa financially. As a result of this, Tulsa grew up with no true father figure and her mother was only able to provide limited love due to her commitment to keep Tulsa's stepdad content. Therefore, like Et, Tulsa missed out on a major component of love and parenthood while growing up as a child. The result of missing out on good parenting was that she grew up to be an unconfident women who had no loved one and was not sure what to do with her life. Luckily for her this was turned around with the death of her mother and the road trip she took to Arizona. In conclusion, while the two playwrights both demonstrated similar influences of the lack of loving parents in the main characters' childhoods in their respective plays, they showed these influences in totally different ways. Durang was much more blunt in clearing showing how Ozzie and Harry ignored and mocked young Et, and Owens, on the other hand, was more subtle in making the audience interpret how the death of Tulsa's biological father and the situation her mother was put in to keep the family financially stable influenced Tulsa as a child and as a young adult.