Homesick for everywhere but here: character and place in the plays of Lillian Hellman

Resumo

Lillian Hellman's plays present a close interaction between character and setting. Few characters, if any, find happiness at home. Although rooted some place, they dream of some place else - unreal worlds and far away lands their own fanciful hopes. Four out of her eight plays interpret the Southern way of life. The other four focus on the North. The action comprises a series of events showing the characters' psychological needs and their often unsuccessful attempts to escape their land and background. There are three main forms of escape. Two are unreal: 1) to run away from either place or time or both. 2) To attack through physical violence or emotional aggression. The third form is real. lt is to return to the objective world left behind. Besides the escape theme, but still in relation to it, Miss Hellman's plays treat the universal conflict between good and evil, the dangers of naïveté and inaction, the exploitation of man and land, the relationship between the negro servant and the white master, and the results of social injustice and religious fanaticism. One conclusion emerges. The best resolution to these conflicts is to face reality and to act upon it.