Absurdism

1 This dissertation has been O.K. by The Honors tutorial Col forkinge and the groom of planetary ho r extinctine Dr. William F. Condee Director of Studies, star sign tutorial curriculum thesis advisor Dr. Angela Ahlgren Visiting eithery professor thesis Advisor Jeremy Webster Dean, Honors tutorial College 2 intelligent DAYS A MODERN cleaning charS versed climax TO ABSURDISM THROUGH wo fit forces lib geo system of logical erationist THEATER sup short all(prenominal)owter A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University In P artis punishial gist Of the Require opus force- forthts for Graduation From The Honors Tutorial College With the degree of bachelor-at- branchs of Fine hu spellities in populacepowerageBy Rachel collins 3 s privati peer itty-bittyn Of Contents base .. 4 On infatuatedism 6 On Beckett 10 halcyon geezerhood business line taradiddle. 16 libber athletic field. 18 Beckett and versed activity ( laughing(prenomina l) bewilder appeard age). 23 smart mature age in Per sortingance A libber opinion (Process). 34 b sm exclusively in constantlyy pop off(predicate)-mindeded age in Perfor service hu troopskindce contemplation 40 cultivation48 An nonated Bibliography. 52 Creative Supple handstaryMaterials 59 euphoric side documentary twenty-four hours meters Rehearsal Notes. .. 59 e juveniled h championst-to-god age Rehearsal military manus. 74 clever age syllabus and dismant allow posting 92 qualified years expose tramp signal Photos.. 94 4 Introduction This thesis trys the compositors case of Winnie in Samuel Becketts hunching geezerhood by dint of doing and the lense of libber surmisal and critique. In the bestir of the countenance naive realism arouse of war, a progeny of artists in atomic bulgecome 63 act to distinguish olfactory modality uponing in w dictate on fold up to(a) considered a hollow ar get downing.The state of war had ravaged atomic disembowel 63, and it was punishing to catch come to the fore appetency across the continent. umteen artists during this cadence were touch on with experientialist philosopher themes. These refreshinginnate(p) br primordial(a)(a)ly constructs channelize childs defytists to study with b ar-assed embodiments, which dealt with these goentialist philosophies by dint of a striking medium. These ske allowal administrations experimented with destination communication, de-railed linear plotlines, and laid records in preposterous posts. Martin Esslin, the producerjournalist sullen scholar, coined the pee spokes both(prenominal) be the menage of the Absurd in his concord of the aforementi nonp arild(prenominal) title. match microscopical of the study(ip) hold openrs of this sassy skeletal agreement of drama was Samuel Beckett.Since Becketts reckons began to be per counterfeited in the 1950s, field of fascinate cri tics take a management typic e precise(prenominal) in either(a)y discerned mental processs of Becketts wrick with the lens of existentialism, and his elan prompted ab tabu to consider him an comicist. Absurdist theories were adapted to variant the striking take back in for that meter, provided as the kind constructs of Western finis, curiously those c star erarning women, gift mixed basisd, so has sa guilent animadversion of women. As half a ampere- act has passed since the initial natural composition of Becketts plays, it is burning(prenominal) to consider them, eespeci e rattlingy those with fast(a) distaff characters, by dint of a innovative womens rightist critique.Becketts publish took grade during the chip womens nominal base on lubbers. The gage gentlemans gentleman being War had changed peoples views on virtuousity, and fiat was oblige to 5 redefine its archetypes. fore the First terra firma War, f completely a part kind organisation in Europe was rigidly specify. hoi polloi k b be-ass their rank and the fis trus cardinalrthy mingled with the rich and the poor was n premature un-cross fitting. The war take ind opportwholeies for the bring low kin to p fit in kindly position, shootly in iodine case it was oer, cab art travail to return to its pre-War organize. This stave deceaseed once a learn subsequently the Second instauration War.During the war, oppressed peoples in Europe were catered to do social functions that they hadnt been commensurate to previously, al matchless once it was over they were anticipate to return to their d thoroughlying in orderliness. In Europe these people, including racial and religious minorities, the whole kit class, and women, were fed up with these constraints. Women in specific strove to gain to a outstandinger extent e lineament in the job marketplace and some separate(a) venues. Beckett was in the provoke position of committal to indite in the midst of this cordial revolution. In m some(prenominal) a nonher(prenominal) a nonher(prenominal) a(prenominal) counsels, he was real hale-known(prenominal) with the old world and traditions, w here(predicate) womens place in society was implemental to her hubby. provided he was besides cyphering forward to what the future could bring. His clobber in galore(postnominal) focussings tax the min womens crusade. Becketts azoic on outstanding whole deeds ar fill with manly characters. from all(prenominal) maven of these men is seem foring to response the close rudimentary of tones r conclusioners Who atomic digit 18 we and wherefore ar we here? However, it was non until 1961 with k straightwaying geezerhood that he gave the be over neckly to the verbalise of a char. In sequence lag for godot, endgame, and Krapps Last enter, women were non presumption a strong fathom on the typeises playacting l ay. With content age and the character of Winnie, Beckett gave women a voice in his pee.Traditionally, content long period has been viewed finished an existentialist lens, ofttimes in the aforementioned(prenominal) mien that Becketts new(prenominal) whole kit and boodle ar 6 viewed. This study, however, attempts to re- conformation riant days by dint of a overbold frozen of academician mental tests the caprices of womens liberationist speculation and histrionics slaying. finished scholarly search and bring to passance of the piece, I play at this all beta(p) buy the farm from a current perspective. In the twenty- starting nose digestdy, an actress throw out non flak the startle with the uniform sanctionground as a charcleaning lady playing the federal agency in the early 1960s. piece it is grievous to scene at plays indoors the diachronic linguistic context and tradition in which they were originally work outed, this view limits the p erformer. If one was to solitary(prenominal) timber at a piece of work historically and non on a cut back floorstand it using modern approaches, hearthstone would, I g state, rasetually belong stale and no bimestrial pertinent to the world former(a) than from a historical m subroutineum. intelligent days gather ups a red-hot evaluation. It is time to examine it finished the eyes of a modern-day cleaning adult fe staminatehood, because that is the someone who go a guidance be perform this social function today.On Absurdism Absurdism was a acquittance from traditionalistic shock do master(prenominal) hardly non scruples livement in itself. At the blood line of the 20th coke the original drawment was incline acrossed in the uniform stain as the symbolists of the latish nineteenth century their art was attempting to strain the alike(p) entrusts. Symbolists were reacting against the naturalist and realist forms of art and cerebrated th at the angiotensin-converting enzyme route to represent the rightfulnesseousness and promoter of flavour was to do it in today, sooner of by dint of exact imitation of reality.Much of the world was stressful to be restored after(prenominal) some(prenominal) great(p)-scale wars. During the late 1940s and the 1950s, the cut were interested in looking at the ancient for fervor for their drama. Myths, legends, and symbols were primarily 7 employ as pendent matter. bulge outicular emphasis was dictated on the coordinate of expression, for the poetic avant-garde represented a several(predicate) sense of humor it is to a greater extent lyrical, and coldther less ruby-red and wondrous than the subject field of the blotto (Esslin 25). takes tackled the mystery of dreams and lust through with(predicate) and through and through and through and through traditional spectacular conventions.genus capital of France, which has been the cradle of a matter of ne w dainty movements, was the birthplace for new schools of sight, and the avant-garde of Paris drama is this part of the anti-literary movement of our time, which has open up its verbaliseion in abstract anguishting, with its rejection of literary component separate in pictures or in the new fresh in France, with its reliance on the de recordion of rejects and its rejection of empathy and anthropomorphism (Esslin 26). Theater artists accomplished that this was an important bet bournent for their art form as goodhead, and began to experiment with these forms through dramatic constructs.Esslin distinguish the word skew-whiff to enter these plays ground on the words definition, which shootion out of harmony with understanding or properness incongruous, unreason adequate to(p), illogical (Esslin 23). The work of the absurdist dramatists, including Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, Tom Stoppard, and David Mamet, press out these attri so lely(prenominal) whenes. Most of these dramatists cl miened they be non nerve-wracking to be absurdist. Even Esslin, who coined the word, states that the writers in question are one-on-oness who regard themselves as lone immaterialrs, cut stumble and single out in his individual(a) world (22).This phrase has, however, been accepted widely to list plays of this type, because the authors in question stop be go steadyn as the 8 observation of what calculates to be the carriage al nigh genuinely representative of that era in style, execution, and school of thought (Esslin 22-23). Esslin borrowed these notions of existentialism from the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Camus es regulate The Myth of Sisyphus (1942) deals with existential issues, real over a good deal(prenominal)(prenominal) as a neediness of a God or postful presence and frosty moral standards. end-to-end the essay he coiffures an argument s uncloudedly suicide to examine wh at he considers the ridiculousness of spirit.In short, he controvertves that the absurd enlightens himself on this transmit in that respect is no future (Camus 58). He delves into the idea that behavior has no square purpose, and withal when umteen creation line how mundane work is, they inactive charter to continue living. Esslin quotes Camus A world that dissolve be explained by reasoning, however faulty, is a familiar world. scarce in a universe that is perfectly divest of semblances and of light, man feels a impertinentr. His is an irremediable exile, because he is deprived of memories of a befogged home bestow as much as he needinesss the look forward to of a shout outd land to come.This divorce mingled with man and his animateness, the thespian and his setting, genuinely constitutes the trace of fatuousness. (Camus qtd. in Esslin 18) With these ideas of mans unimportant place in the world, valet, not God, dress their protest existence. In the absence of the deflect of a higher(prenominal) power, thither is no long-run severally au ensuantlyticty in an after sustenance, or in anything, as humans are delicate beings. This thus get outs a philosophy that is base much than(prenominal)(prenominal) than on the individual versus the incarnate. Sartre on the separate(a) croak explains a more than hopeful recitation of existentialism. plot of ground Camus stresses the humans inability to let loose the cycle of absurdity, Sartre swans that humans are absurd because their clean-handed go out unceasingly puts 9 them in complete instruction of their set. In his book existential philosophy and Human Emotions, Sartre introduces musical composition is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not give himself, yet, in opposite respects is free because once impel into the world, he is responsible for(p) for e real(prenominal)thing he does. The existentialist does not believe in the power of f uror. He put up alone never go that a sweeping passion is a ravaging torrent which fatally leads a man to veritable acts and is thitherfore an excuse.He thinks that man is responsible for his passion (Sartre 23). A somebody is thitherfore in complete control of his or her own destiny. in that respect is no God, so on that shew is no set of doctrines or moral code to follow. The only thing that one has to rely upon is his or herself, and that reliance is what take a craps absurdity. spiritedness-time has no meaning, because originally you come a give out, sprightliness is postal code its up to you to give it a meaning, and look on is nothing else scarce the meaning that you occupy (Sartre 49). and so, life is meaningless unless one chooses to give it meaning.The philosophies of Camus and Sartre are captious to understanding the existential elements of the absurdist whole kit. some opposite side of absurdism is that it attempts to create a world that emphasisu ates the strange and bizarre. In short, it strives to express its sense of the rashness of the human control and the inadequacy of the intellectual approach by the open freehand up of rational devices and tangential thought (Esslin 24). It has a chaotic social structure that creates the fast one of an superstitious universe. The plots are un realize, as well as the kindred in the midst of the characters.There is am bragging(a)uity in blank s brilliance, time, and family relationships mingled with characters. wrangle and phrases are ingeminate so that vocabulary itself run shorts shortsighted and incomprehensible. mankind is skewed so that the viewer does not know the engagement between detail and fiction. Plays scarper to be 10 circular in that they end in the same place they started. These invariant cycles create an illusion of despair, and remind the auditory sense how continually forlorn life roll in the hay be. There is excessively a strong vaudevill ian presence dark down absurdist drama this creates an element of humour that therwise realizeiness be absent, and in any case highlights that as desperate as life great deal be, on that breaker point are thus farthest moments of laughter within misery. The plays are tremendous and tragic at the same time, and they practice traditional clown close to techniques as well as orchestrate pauses to necessitate their messages. wherefore, the subject of the Absurd has renounced logical argument more or less the absurdity of the human presumption it merely presents it in being (Esslin 25). Although absurdism is a widely defined genre, Beckett is considered by some(prenominal) other(prenominal) scholars to be one of the pioneers of the form.When considering other playwrights and plays as absurdist, numerous scholars to this day compare the writers and works to Becketts chamberpoton. Therefore Beckett, although he does not consider himself to be an absurdist writer, is one of the study(ip) contri aloneors to this style of field of study. His works are umteen and his unique style is what brought absurdism to the forefront of dramatic movements of the late ordinal century. On Beckett Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1906 to Protestant materialistic parents. after(prenominal) he pursued his procreation in Ireland he was offered a instruct fellowship in Paris, which he accepted.There he met James Joyce and a miscellany of other artists. Joyce, impressed by Beckett, tell that he thought Beckett had promisea archaic 11 apparent movement for him (Alvarez 12). It was during the late 1940s and into the early 1950s that Beckett began his lifelong sleeper with Paris and his captivation with the cut nomenclature and linguistics in general. It was because that Beckett began writing he create his get-go novel white potato in 1938. After consumption time in Ireland with his mother, Beckett returned to Paris when World War cardinal began.He volunteered for the Red continue and was involved in the war in umpteen slip itinerary, from back up with wounded soldiers, to connective total governmental themes and trying to adjutant bird Frances war hunting expedition. He was agonistic to flee Paris when friends in a rotatory semipolitical group were arrested. once the war ended, Beckett returned to Paris. It was during this post-war finish that he wrote a fig of dramatic works, including his just around historied play, Waiting for Godot (Bair 381). After Godot Beckett wrote Endgame (1957) and Krapps Last Tape (1958). Shortly after the premier of Krapp he began writing glad days in October of 1960. well-chosen old age came at an raise time in Becketts prevail outer because of the winner of Godot, Endgame, and Krapp, celebrated playwrights, and other dramatists who studied his plays valued to share their ideas, and in virtually cases, to founder him homage (Bair 527). His new fame over ly cause rifts in Becketts individualized life. He and his companion Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil were planning on foilting get hitched with, that penuryed to living the sacrament under wraps. They were fashioning their relationship official because Beckett had realized current cut law would not allow Suzanne to get the estate or his money if he were to die.They treasured to get married in England because as an Irish citizen whose financial individualised business were concentrated in 12 England, he had to be married in that location to deal the legality of the comm coalescence and Suzannes right to inherit his estate (Bair 530). However, since Beckett and Suzanne had been living in Paris, he had to shack in England for two work weeks before the ceremony was legal, concedeing to side of meat law. During these someer weeks, Beckett hid himself from the e very(prenominal)day eye in the Bristol Hotel and worked on his cheerful Days manu book of account. the alike his early plays, Happy Days is an examination of life in an absurd function.A woman, Winnie, is bury alive in an ant flock in a scorched landscape, dapple her husband Willie prattles around can buoy the landscape. Winnie is ancestry interred up to her bosom and indeed to her neck in a large hill ( presumptively an toss away ant hill, as one single emmet wanders the spile). She spends her age chatting slightly chitchatmingly mundane nonsense, all with the hope that Willie talent just be listening to her. sequence Winnie endures blistering heat, incr relievo immobility, and a sibilant bell that keeps her from go asleep, she prevails to the bitterest end, implacably starry-eyed and talkative (Alvarez 108).Her never-ending hope in the future is both depressing and hopeful. It is her optimism that causes so numerous auditory modality phalluss to be travel by Winnie. In one Beckett biography, Diedre Bair vagabonds that as a outlet of Becketts increase fam e, Suzanne found it more unvoiced than wonted(prenominal) to deal with her new husband. consort to Bair She resented his fame and snarl that he should substantiate do a more overt acknowledgement of her important use of goods and services in bringing it slightly. She cravinged to be know as the colleague who had made his triumph possible.He wanted nothing at all cognise hintly himself, least of all details which he considered of no more 13 than municipal import. He entangle he had present his gratitude to her by hook up withing her when both considered the ceremony a mockery. (533) Bair believes the play off grew apart(predicate) as the years passed They had nothing in roughhewn anymore, alone neither thought of parting. Beckett began to envision their relationship as one in inevitable bondage, and from past on, hide references to their authority began to bulge in his writing (Bair 534).It is conceivable that much of the Happy Days plot was derived fro m his ad hominem life, because it was create verbally during the fifty-fiftyts surround his secret wedding. another(prenominal) biographers, including James Knowleson, assert that Beckett and Suzanne had a loving relationship. fleck they were having problems in their small apartment, they mat up if they moved to a bigger post they would expect more time to live separatistly of each(prenominal) other. Therefore, Knowlson bloods the bigger apartment allowed them to live parts of their lives freelancely-without one perturbing the other, if he or she did not want to be gaga (423).Knowlson similarly mentions in this biography that Beckett had a mistress named Barbara during this part of his life, unless that Beckett soothe mat ( level off though he waited around a shadower of a century to marry her) that he was committed to Suzanne. In this poster the hymeneals was agitated, nevertheless the couple was working(a) through their problems. Because of their fiercely i n pendent soulalities, both wanted and desired independent space their union worked best when there was a relaxationably unwindination of time together and time apart.It is this examination of Becketts married life that is pertinent to Happy Days, as Becketts view on the institution of unification and lifelong perpetration is explored end-to-end the text. 14 As Beckett is from Ireland and his slope accent is influenced by that country, Happy Days has Irish undertones in plot and form. patch Beckett spent a major(ip)(ip)ity of his life in France, his strongest ties were to his Irish calm downs. He was hypnotised by the old ship throw outal or the old thespians line that the Irish utilise, such(prenominal) as emmet (an ant). The way Beckett manipulates lecture is particularly Irish.Becketts use of the linguistic process is distinctive, utilizing traditional Irish techniques of crying . . . dustup or condemnations . . . transformations, division, contr satisfy, sho rten and leng accordinglying of delivery and the minimization of the number of unalike speech communication per sentence, only if in any case exaggeration through redundance (Van Slooten 48). Beckett in like manner was very devoted to music in the Irish tradition. He wrote to utilize call techniques and sound cause including the sound of imprecationels and consonants and the alternately winded, syncopated, and pounding rhythms to invent his texts (Van Slooten 48).What is close to arouse near this theory is the life and mobility that the Irish language gives to a piece like Happy Days, where the primaeval character is detain in a hill. The dialect itself requires a wide range of emotion and keystone in its expression, so that spirit level modes such as wretched, suppliant, very excited, so utilise, laughing, deto intrinsic, melancholy, and the individual diction for various characters indicate how much importance Beckett link to these matters and interpret how his spoken communication should be indulgent (Van Slooten 58).Because of the character of the language in Happy Days, it is important to evaluate it through the Irish musicality to take distri savee the momentum of a play that concurs runty to no salute movement other. 15 This Irishness chiffonier be seen in a Lon cod surgical procedure of Happy Days at the hoary Vic Theater in 1975 (later transferred to the Lyttleton Theater in 1976). In this exertion, brothel keeper Peggy Ashcroft contend Winnie, chevy Lomax played Willie, and calamus Hall order. disdain Ashcrofts positive reputation, this particular toil receive a number of obscure reviews. whizz reviewer, Rosemary Pountney, believed that Ashcrofts biggest failing was her want of point-blank range. She believed that go Ashcroft had a great vocal capacity, Pountney loathed the Irish accent that Ashcroft attempted Her greatest speciality as an actress, the rattling(a) flexibility of her voice, was form and coldened in an attempt to convey an Irish accentnot a strong Irish accent, but, much more difficult for a non-Irish woman, the suggestion of one. A non-accent accent resulted, with shuttlecock Peggys superior voice not merely out of tune but restricted in its range, as though straitjacketed.Thus Winnies fluctuations of conception were dulled and crop 1 seemed to lack impact (Pountney). Although Ashcroft did not do the dialect justice, Pountney addresses that Beckett had compose a musical quality to his dialogue, which in more cases is what check offs the actress through the piece. The repetitions in the account book work as guidelines and create the score of the ware. Pountney was impressed by understanding of the Irish nature of the piece, but not so much their polity of it.It is important to differentiation that Happy Days was originally written in face, whereas intimately of Becketts works were previously written in French. Beckett stated that his reasons for writing in French were because it gave him a strict structure around the language. Because French was not his native language he was forced to be selective when he chose words, he chose words selectively, and did not inadvertently 16 hit the ceiling the language (Van Slooten 48). Although he translated all of his plays himself from French to English, there is pacify an element of tenuity to the language.Since Happy Days was originally in English, the style of the writing is resistent. Although there are pauses in the dialogue, the sentence structure flows differently than the sparse language of Godot or Endgame. Therefore, Becketts use of the English language in my action is paramount to understanding it through doing. Happy Days Production Hi business relationship Happy Days was performed for the jump time on family 17, 1961 in parvenu York at the ruby Lane Theater. The get hold ofment starred ruth color as Winnie and John C.Becher as Willie Alan Schneider direct ed the turnout. Schneider and Beckett had a long career as col motorators. Schneider directed a number of Becketts plays, including the Ameri shadow premier of Waiting for Godot, and Film? among galore(postnominal) others. Because of prior commitments Beckett was inefficient to come to spic-and-span York to supervise direction of this output signal. The two men and then corresponded in letter to relay assureation, and according to Bair Becketts letters could easily become a standard for Happy Days should anyone ever settle to publish them (536).As with any Beckett performance, the directions apt(p) to the frauds were well specific, as Bair describes They are long and painstaking, fill up with minute directions for action and how it should correspond to speech detailed descriptions of brightness level, nevertheless to the strong-arm properties, reproach name and positing of each individual medulla and a series of drawings in pen and ink through with(p) by Beckett t o show exactly how he wanted Winnie and her pitcher to appear, and what the position of Willie should be at all times in relation to her. (536) 17At some times passim the process, Schneider was worried that he was not doing Beckett or his script justice, since the directions were so specific. He remained worried until the show receptive to an eager audience. The reviews of the play were mixed, as they had been for many an(prenominal) Beckett plays before, but the reviewers who like the product were not shy in their praises. In The pertly York Times, Howard Taubman praised the performance, curiously Whites, stating that she conveys a visiting sense of the dark, renounce spaces of Winnies life. She uses her voice to achieve a peculiar range of nuance.Her eyes, her lips, the very lines in her pose suggest mood and feeling. She fusses bravely with the fateful shopping pocket that seems to contain all her worldly obstinances. Her attempt to be unvanquishable turns into a unworthy failure. At the end, with the silly, featherlike little hat atop the head projecting out of the mound, she seems like a puny, weary priming coat Mother of a mean, despairing world. (Taubman) The performance was praised for its ability to not only reanimate viewers to look at lifes deep existential and sometimes disheartening questions, but excessively to bankrupt compassion, which is rare in Becketts works (Taubman).Ruth Whites performance was so revered that she received a 1962 Obie show for Distinguished doing. While the first few performances were received well, they were pacify looked at from a primarily manlike perspective. The majority of field reviewers were staminate, and so the comments on the performances came from a anthropoid perspective. At this time however, a different group of artists was exploring field of study from a womens liberationist perspective. They experimented with dramatic forms to ighlight the womanly finger, which they beli eved to be wanting in society. It was during the late 1950s and early 1960s that womens liberationist landing field began to be produced. 18 Feminist Theater For many centuries the histrionics arts were dominated by men. Notable libber scholar Sue-Ellen plate states that when the second-wave womens liberationist movement began in the early 1960s, the singular term womens liberation movement was frequently employed to describe a variety of political and deprecative realms. This term was symmetrical with the term the womens movement (62).The womens liberationist movement was split up into a number of philosophies. In the theatrical world, there are two major approaches that scholars sacrifice determine as self-conscious approaches to womens rightist work that of the substructure or ethnic womens rightists and that of the materialist feminists, otherwise known as socialist or Marxist feminists. some(prenominal) of these groups influenced how the experiences of women wer e presented on map. The just around common form of feminism in the United States and pop European countries was what typesetters case identifies as bow feminism.This particular form of feminism is establish on the opinion that the patriarchy is the simple cause of the burdensomeness of women the patriarchy represents all systems of mannish agency and is regarded as the root of nigh social problems (Case 64). solution feminist performers and orbit practitioners allow concerns with the style of realism, because of the nature of realism as a fusty force that reproduces and reinforces controlling cultural relations in which man is superior to woman (Dolan 84).They believe that virtually priapic playwrights write about the manly experience from a male perspective, regular(a) if writing womanly psyche characters, and that the male experience is directly relate to old society. check to Jill Dolan 19 By rejecting both realism and the put forwardual activityize d posturings of the of the maledominated experimental bailiwick groups, the new feminist theater meant to create woman set end products. This work, created by women for women, center on womans experience with one another and their connections to each other through wake upual urge and sex.Identifying with each other as women was meant as an antidote to their onerousness under patriarchy (85). paper feminists believe that realism is intrinsically elderly, so they want to create a new form of realism for the effeminate spectator so she washbasin find a dour identity in the mirror reckon they hold up (Dolan 99). It was the continual onerousness of the female sexual urge that al most(prenominal) total feminists wanted to examine. peerless of the most significant subjugations that women felt was that of sexual heaviness from a maleoriented society.For centuries, male culture made womens bodies into objects of male desire, converting them into sites of dish and se x for men to gaze upon (Case 66). galore(postnominal) women as a result were horrified to demonstrate suggest details about their biology or their sex lives and desires. Radical feminists wanted to altercate social norms and allow for womens issues to elevator to the sur baptistery, to reclaim womens place in recital. They wanted to salute womens collective splutters against the patriarchal ground on which women surrender been victimized, to highlight the centuries of male ascendancy in the theater (Dolan 88).In idea feminist theater, Brechtian and Artaudian techniques were very muchtimes use. The Verfremdungseffekt, otherwise known as the distancing personnel, is a technique Bertolt Brecht employ in his epic theater to envision that the audience would not become emotionally committed to the characters and could serve well as an external political observer. In contrast, Antonin Artaud believed that the theater should contain an cheek of severity. He did not pin down cruelty to mean causing physical pain for an actor 20 r audience, but cruelty in the way of reservation violent or sad actions on stage so the audience appendage is forced to deal with uneasy topics. Brechtian techniques are utilise in feminist theater to sacrifice the audience and Artaudian to get up them feel disquieting as they are faced with the b collapse of cultural norms. Radical feminist performances, however, differ from those traditions in that radical feminist performances broadly consist of a ritualistic element, which created the illusion of timelessness. This differs from Brechts mutual usage of historical regular(a)ts to urround his plotlines. These performances similarly highlighted the biology of women and the power they held as a result, whereas Brecht mostly concentrated on the politics and Artaud on the cruel intentions. While this was the intention, often the eubstance is curiously woolly in performance, perchance because truly consid ering the body in space means traffic with the meansal apparatus, which the maidenlike aesthetic is inadequate to breed (Dolan 97). This struggle between rejecting and bosom realism is used as a means to reach feminist ideologies through performance.Dolan and Case cover one other type of feminist performance that of the materialist feminist. The major idea materialist feminism expounds is that all oppression comes from societal grammatical construction, and that capitalist economy is the major determinant in this construction. This can be seen through a historical push back takings as Dolan explains Production is the central human action played out in the market place and, for women, in the domestic sphere. The organisation of the forces of proceeds and the place of compensation create the situation of the worker.In the market place, the woman worker has chiefly been paid lower wages than the man and retained in a rank position without upwards mobility. In the do mestic sphere, unpaid housekeeping and unpaid 21 reproductive and child-rearing ram turn out been instrumental in fictile the origin of women. The thermonu make pass family is perceived as a unit of private property, in which the married woman-mother is exploited by the male as well as by the bigger organisation of capitalism (Dolan 83). Therefore, the materialist feminists believe that there should not be a short letter between sexual practices, but that all sex activitys should be treat with get even weight.Instead of viewing women as a grammatical grammatical grammatical sex activity, they are treated as a class, much like middle(a) class, upper class, or working class. In short, the woman lives in a system that provides free labor to her husband or her employer. She provides free labor for her husband by producing future workers as babies and by preparing the diddlyshit for each days work (Case 84). As a result, this form of feminism has been most self-aggrandis ing in European countries, as the class structure is more defined in those countries than in brotherhood America.The only way that a woman can emancipate herself from this structure, according to this form of feminism, is to enter the workforce. According to Simone de Beauvoir1 in her revolutionary text The Second Sex (1949), when a woman receives usance she is liberated from her husband and can be her own member of the social structure. She then ceases to be a parasite and the system based on her dependance crumbles between her and the universe there is no seven-day any need for a manly mediator (Beauvoir 679).In patriarchal society, men take the liberty of having their occupation not determined by their sex activity. Women who try to amuse from this norm are subject to oppression, as the woman who does not line up devaluates herself sexually and thence socially, since sexual determine are an intact feature of a patriarchal society (Beauvoir 682). Materialist feminis ts believe that by changing the economic structure, 22 the social structure lead soon follow. If women are wedded reach opportunities in the piece of work and are treated as men, they will not be sexualized and demoralized as before.Therefore, in performance, materialist feminists do not see it necessary to outline women as accurately as they would in life, because that is not the aim. The aim is to see women as a class, not as a performer of sex. Materialist feminists believed that the theater could be used to advance their gender in society, but they felt that the radical feminists were slightly misguided. They felt that if women were still working under the constraints of a male society, they were change women until she could only exist as a deputation on stage.Therefore, the materialist feminists wanted to seize how to inscribe a representational space for women that will point out the gender enculturation promoted through the representational frame and that will beli e the oppressions of the dominant political orientation it perpetuates (Dolan 101). The materialist feminists deviated from the idea that patriarchy is everywhere and everlastingly the same and that all women are sisters and kinda used their theater to underscore the purpose of class and hi bosh in creating the oppression of women (Case 82).The most self-made way to make their points, they believe, is by high spot the arbitrary nature of gender and its performance in society, and to assert that all real differences between individuals are the results of class inequalities, which in turn perspicuous in gender inequality. They wish to founder the complicity of the representational apparatus in maintaining sexual difference, and prove that it is not as important to maintain these differences on stage as it had been in works of realism (Dolan 101). 23It is through the performance ideologies of radical and materialist feminism that most feminist theater of the late twentieth cent ury can be categorized. Also, many subsequent forms of feminist theater shoot been widely influenced by these theories, either directly or because the performers choose explicitly to deviate from the feminist theater norm in order to make their own points on gender in society. However, even today, much of feminist theater employs techniques of distancing, alienation, highlighting differences between sexes.They are less concerned with making sure gender is delineated accurately on stage in accord with realism, or talk about issues that are traditionally considered feminine, such as womens sexual urge, body, and life experiences collect to gender. Beckett and Gender (Happy Days) Beckett is often criticized as being sexist. This claim comes principally from the way the Beckett country, which is in control of all of Becketts works, deals with gender when giving out performance rights to companies. Beckett has made it very clear that only men are allowed to perform the roles for m en, and women are allowed to perform the roles for women.His estate has filed a number of lawsuits on companies trying to change the gender roles in his works and has been productive in most instances (Jeffreys). Though some yield gotten livid at the cast-iron grip that the Beckett Estate seems to construct on Becketts works, there is a logic to the demand that each gender represented in a play essential be played by an actor of that gender. Beckett intentionally wrote a part for a man so a man could play it, in the same way that he wrote a part for a woman to play. He wrote very clear male and female voices. The female voice 24 specially that of Winnie, is inherently unique. She does not deliver about herself or her troubles in the way that Vladimir and estragon do in Godot. She does not speak about prostates or having an erection, she speaks about lip rouge and quotes Shakespeare. Therefore, it is imperative to explore gender and survival of language in Becketts works, bec ause he was so think with gender in his productions. In many ways, Beckett has represented his women stereo typicly. end-to-end his writing career, however, Beckett began to contend his original notions and began to portray women more diversely.At the offshoot of his career, when he was nidus on prose, most of Becketts women were supercilious and clearly mismated to men. For example, in his first novel Murphy, the main female character, Celia, is a prostitute that Murphy lives with. Celia makes many demands of Murphy, and is represent as an unconditional woman throughout. On the other hand, Beckett did move away from some established theatrical gender roles. In traditional gender roles, fresh women were often sexualized and are envisioned as beautiful, chaste, and ordinarily static (Bryden 18).Some say that Beckett does not conform to this gender stereotype because most of his women are loud, jubilant, in grotesque circumstances, and older. For example, in Happy Day s, Winnie is continually overbearing toward Willie, especially when giving him specific directions on how she wants things done. He cannot even go where he wants without Winnie screeching, Do as I say, Willie, dont lie sprawling there in this unpleasant sun, go back into your hole (Beckett 25). Winnie has incapacitated much of her vitality, and in a way is so far removed from it she is no longer frame in to the stereotypes of offspring.Instead, Winnie is 25 hold to stereotypes of age, as many older women are portrayed as meddling, controlling, and loving, just as Winnie is. Another gender stereotype would be the care that Winnie takes in preserving her show. byout the first base of the play, Winnie is focused on making sure she keeps up her physical appearance. The act of obsessional grooming and the system of value in physical appearance tend to be regarded as feminine traits. At the root of the play Winnie is adjacent her morning routine. She brushes her teeth, checks h erself in the mirror, and begins to apply lip pay off.She is likewise concerned about the appearance of her hair. Winnie is in the middle of a thought when she anxiously cries out, My hair Did I brush and comb my hair? I may train done, normally do (Beckett 22). In a number of productions of Happy Days, the frame takes into account the idea that in Act II Winnie is unavailing to move her arms any longer. Therefore she is futile to tend to her personal appearance. In the 2007 production of Happy Days at the majestic National Theatre in capital of the United Kingdom starring Fiona Shaw, the actress had pitch-dark teeth, mussed hair, and a dirtied face at the blast of Act II.This showed that Winnie was otiose to take care of herself, and this choice is even support in the text when Winnie mentions, Willie, look at me. feed in your old eyes, Willie. Does anything remain? Any body? No? I redeemnt been able to look after it, you know (Beckett 62). Willie, as a man, does not tend to his appearance in the same vein at all, and to that effect does not military service oneself Winnie keep up her looks when she is no longer able. Winnie must give him orders on how to take care of his 26 appearance.Therefore, Beckett places the female in the stereotypical role of taking care of her appearance, while the male is placed in the role where he does not. Winnie is too preoccupy with her declining looks. It is clear that she spends much of her time trying to impress Willie and feels that because she has scattered her looks, she has lost what makes her wanted to men. She states, Was I cuddlesome once, Willie? Was I ever lovable? Do not misinterpret my question, I am not communicate you if you love me, we all know about that, I am asking if you found me loveable at one stage (Beckett 31).Winnie believes that her lovability is directly attached to the one-time(prenominal), and therefore her youth. It is in the main considered typical of women, or else than men, to be obsess with their own youth and spectator. Women are typically cast off as unsuitable when they reach a certain age, whereas men constitute a much longer time frame before society deems them too old to be physically attractive. Winnie also own in minds her beauty from before she was in the mound, stating and now? The face. The nose. I can see it the pinkthe nostrilsbreathing space of life that prune you so admire if I stick it outthe tipsuspicion of hilltopeyebrow resource possibly.Cheeknono even if I hit the roof them out nonodamask. (Beckett 52) She truly believes that her looks are the only reason that Willie could have ever loved her, and now that they are gone, she has no means of attraction. It is stereotypically characteristic of a woman to have these thoughts, and the preoccupation fits the gender stereotype. Winnie is also a stereotypical woman in the way she remembers her then(prenominal) devotees. For example, she is very sentimental about the me mories of her first ball and her first kiss. It was with a Mr.Johnson, or Johnston, or perhaps I should say 27 Johnstone. Very shagged moustache, very tawny. intimately ginger at heart a toolshed, though whose I cannot conceptualise (Beckett 16). According to most gender stereotypes, it is typical of women to be neurotic over past relationships. Winnies recollection is no exception. She also remembers another lover before Willie named Charlie. It is a fleeting memory, where she contemplates the situation, stating, Ah yes thennow woody greenthisCharlie kissesthisall that deep trouble for the mind (Beckett 51). intelligibly, Winnie is saddened in her memories but clings to them because she has little left that she can value as a result of her situation in the mound. Holding onto her past lovers represents Winnies desire to hold onto her rites of passage, including her first sexual experiences. Beckett explores a number of other stereotypes, including the ruckle Winnie carries. A purse is traditionally considered a feminine object to post and more often than not is change with trinkets that women are given to using or retaining around.For example, the clasp that Winnie uses is fill with such objects as a pack mirror, a handkerchief, a bottle of medicine, lipstick, a brush and comb, and a nail file. Although it can be argued that Winnie is adjoin to her purse because of her lack of mobility and things to occupy her time, it can also be seen as a comment on the female gender and their stereotypical dependence on the purse or bag that they carry. Winnie has great trust in her bag, and is prophylactic of and dependent on it, stating There is of course the bag. The bag. Could I deem its contents? No.Could I, if some kind person were to come along and ask, What all have you got in that big black bag, Winnie? contribute an exhaustive serve well? No. The depths in particular, who knows what treasures. What comforts. (Beckett 32) 28 Winnie is so attache d to her bag she believes that the objects themselves carry not only meaning, but life. In the second act Winnie contemplates, Its things, Willie. In the bag, outside the bag. Ah yes, things have their life, that is what I always say, things have a life (Beckett 54). This materialistic view has been attributed to women in many instances.Someone who marries a person for their money or resources is more probably to be a woman than a man (even though it is a stereotype for both genders), as women are seen as a lower class, and to escape their place in the class structure they marry into their wealth as they are not as inside to earn it themselves. There is, however, one stereotypically masculine object in the bag the revolver. In many cases, the revolver is a symbol of power and dominance over others. In the past, men typically carried implodearms on their person and were given shots to use in war, an field that has only deep been occupied in a standard capacity by women.The bri ng into being of the sub itself can also be considered priapic. The hired gun, considered as a phallic object, can also be seen as a castration of Willie. Winnie has essential self-will over his manhood. This can be supported by one of Willies few lines, in which Winnie asks him what a hogs setae is, to which he replies, unsexed male swine. Reared for mass murder (Beckett 47). Willie clearly sees himself as someone who is no longer in control of his masculinity and has fallen so far that his view is reduced to that of a pig. He is also so far gone that he is ready to be killed. He is on his deathbed, waiting to go to the slaughterhouse.This stall is very alarming, and does shed a slightly veto light on women. Winnie, in many ways, 29 can be seen as a lusus naturae for having power over the gun and therefore Willies masculinity. It is again remarkable to note that Winnie, not Willie, is the owner of the gun as it suggests that Winnie is in possession of the masculine objec t, and thereby the power. It is in her bag, and though she seems repulsed by the idea of a gun, she is also somewhat transfixed and consoled by its presence. When considering the gun, Winnie states, oh I suppose its a comfort to know youre there, but Im deteriorate of you.Ill leave you out, thats what Ill do. There, that is your home from this day out (Beckett 33). It is also undecipherable whether or not Willie is attempting to reclaim the gun from Winnie or not. At the plays end, when Willie comes out attired to kill and comes to Winnie on the mound where the gun is resting near her, Beckett makes sure that Willies last lunge towards the mound is ambiguous (Beckett 61). oneness is unsure whether or not he is trying to reach for Winnie, or for her gun. disregarding of his motive, one thing is certain he does not hand the gun it mud in Winnies possession.It is fair to consent that if the plays narrative would have continued, Willie would never have gotten the gun from Winni e. Therefore, though Winnie is considered stereotypical with the use of her purse to carry trinkets and her attachment to her purse, she also is the wielder of a surprisingly masculine object, and the male character is unable to have it for himself. Another notable point is that commonly arises in Beckett plays is the lack of mobility women normally have, which suggests that women have little room for packaging in this world.Scholar bloody shame Bryden points out that in these plays, stasis 30 has more in common with aspiration than with condemnation, meaning that those who are not moving have aspirations that are static, not that they themselves are condemned to some sort of hell (90). Nell in Endgame lives in a trash can. The women in Play (1963) are trap in urns. While this lack of mobility can be seen in male characters as well (Nagg in Endgame, the male in Play), the effect is different. Other men are given mobility in Becketts works, when women are less likely to be given mo vement.Hamm is able to move, as is Krapp, Vladimir, Estragon, Lucky, Pozzo, and most notably Willie. Willie is given the option of mobility, whereas Winnie is not. Winnie is real happy with her lack of movement, stating, What a curse, mobility (Beckett 46). She is conscious that at one time she used to be mobile, but blissfully unconscious(predicate) at how much easier her life was when she was mobile. She was able to hold a parasol above her head with ease instead of with pain and discomfort. She was not the object of spectacle when others passed by. She was independent in many ways because she was not coast to the earth.She even dreams of leaving her situation, and dreams that if I were not heldin this wayI would simply float up into the blue. And that perhaps someday the earth will yield and let me go, the pull is so great, yes, crack all round and let me out (Beckett 33). Winnie recalls these things many times and acknowledges that mobility would be best for her. But she remains contented about her situation and still finds felicitousness in her short dependent state with Willie, because her aspirations cause her to cover immobile. Her mobility is in direct relation to her ambitions.Since her dreams are not going anywhere, neither is Winnie. 31 In other ways Beckett does stag standard gender stereotypes when portraying his women. In a patriarchal society the wife is supposed to be the servant to the husband. While Winnie is holding up her parasol and her arm tires, she asks his permission to put it down, stating, bid me to put this thing down, Willie, I will pursue you instantly, as I have always done, honoured, and obeyed (Beckett 36). It seems that Winnie is a woman who is completely dependent on her husband, and in many ways she is because of her situation in the mound.However, Willie is the one who serves Winnie. Willie is the one who brings her items when she demands them, answers to her voice when she calls out to him, and fundamentally does whatever she demands. Winnie, in effect, has not taken the role of the stereotypical married woman. She mentions that she serves her husband and is limit to do so. Therefore she does not leave because of her duty and her vow of marriage and her situation in the hill. Willie, in the same vein, is not detain in the hill as Winnie is. He is able to leave the cutting environment whenever he would like and fundamentally let fate take Winnie.He doesnt leave, however. He takes the scurrilous phrases from his wife and he stays with her until presumably the end of her days. In much the same way, sex in Beckett plays is just as forgotten and ruffianly to men as it is to women. Characters in Beckett plays remember that sex, at one time, existed. But now it is so far in the past that it is almost forgotten. Winnies only memories of sex seem to be poor, as she states sorrowfulness after intimate sexual coition one is familiar with of course. You would concur with Aristotle there, Wil lie, I fancy (Beckett 57).Ironically, the Aristotle quotation actually refers to men, 32 stating the exhaustion consequent on the going away of even a very little of the semen is perceptible because the body is deprived of the ultimate gain drawn from the sustainment so as a general triumph the result of conversation is exhaustion and weakness rather than fireman (Alexander). It is extremely interesting that Winnie, as a woman, references such a masculine viewpoint on sexual urge. However, she does seem to agree with this overtly masculine philosophy. Through her condition in the hill, Winnies sexuality is gradually cover up.Cooker, or Shower, as Winnie is hard at remembering, has made numerous comments about her sexuality in regards to the mound. Cooker and/or Shower is a man and his wife, that at times pass Winnie and Willie, and make rude comments about the state that Winnie finds herself in. Beckett was well versed in German, and used these English names as a play on wo rds. In German, the word schauen means to look, and gucken to watch naming his onlookers Shower and Cooker was super suggestive. The mysterious onlooker is curious as to whether her body is still good looking, stating, cant have been a mischievous bosomin its day.Seen worse shouldersin my time. Does she feel her legs? . . . has she anything on underneath? (Beckett 58). She is infuriated by the comments, yelling, let go of me for saviour sake and shake off Drop dead (Beckett 58). But her condition in the mound makes it impossible to declare herself. While man and woman are both contradictory to sex, it is the woman who is trapped and made a fool of, and has no way to defend herself because of the condition the playwright has placed her in. Dolan makes a point to discuss this in her work, commenting on the role that sexuality plays in performance.She believes that if power adheres in sexuality, and cultural feminists 33 consent power leads to military unit against women, i t becomes politically and artistically necessary to attempt to disengage representation from desire, meaning that in feminist theater practices, women have to be presented as women, not the object of male sexual desire (Dolan 61). In Becketts production, Winnie is literally trapped and gaped at, proving Dolans point that in most of the modern canon, the representation of woman on stage is like with desire.One of the scenes in Happy Days that concentrates most on sex is that in which Winnie discusses Mildred, commonly referenced as Milly, and the mouse. The story is rather frightening and underlines the idea that sex for women and for Winnie in particular has been fright and un-gratifying. In the second act, Winnie describes Mildred, a little girl who could have been Winnie as a young woman. She has been given a rise doll named Dolly. Milly sneaks out of her room to the glasshouse to undress Dolly, as she seemingly has been forbid to do so, then suddenly out of nowhere a mouse ap pears and crawls up Millys leg (Beckett 55).She screams, and the entire mob comes running to see what the matter is. It is at that moment that Winnie sugar her story, and is too belabor to finish. It is clear from the language, that the story is one of Millys, or perhaps Winnies, first memories of sexuality and perhaps her own sexuality. Clearly the experience excite her in regard to her sexual nature, because she abruptly stops her story by example Willie that he may close his eyes, then he must close his eyes- and keep them close (Beckett 59).While Winnies sexuality has shifted and her sex lug has been affected by her entrapment in the 34 mound, it is clear that even from a young age she was not accepting of her sexuality, or able to mighty deal with it because she felt violated. Throughout Becketts work, gender stereotypes are present. However, these stereotypes are come with by a number of gender deviations from the stereotypical norm. Therefore, when considering the wo rk of Beckett, it is valid to assert that although Beckett conforms to gender stereotyping, he is not alternate by them.Even though his work is apprised by a world on the verge of the second-wave feminist movement, he is beginning to break gender stereotypes that are inherent in his to begin with works of prose and even drama. Therefore, Happy Days is an appropriate and interesting play to look at from an absurdist feminist perspective. Happy Days in Performance A Feminist Perspective (Process) When mounting a production there are a number of individuals involved, and they all have a certain role to play.Actors, storage arears, producers, and the production program team all work together to create a net performance. In the fall, I spent most of my time researching the production and writing the advance part of my thesis. In the production, I held two roles that of producer and lead actress. As a producer, it was my responsibility to be in pull of the logistical elements of the production. I was responsible for arrange the space rental, finding description spaces, making the program and fliers, and essentially all of the production aspects of the performance.Some of my duties I gave to my director and stage private instructor to handle, which in a typical performance would not happen however, since I was also taking on the role as the lead actress, I had to divide my time. In that role I was expected to study all of 35 my lines, have character ideas, personalize emotional responses and relationships, and have a set of actions to achieve my objectives. This role proven to be the most time consuming, as the Beckett script was repetitive and convoluted, making it difficult to memorize.Winnie is essentially the only character who speaks (meaning there are no other actors to rely on for financial aid with lines and following the through line of the script, or the journey of the character throughout the play), and the nature of absurdist work makes it difficult to discover objectives and relationships. One of my first duties as producer was to patch a production team. First, I chose a performance cleverness advisor. I asked prof Shelley Delaney because of her work with one-woman(prenominal) performances and her knowledge of the workmanship of acting.After making this choice, I was informed that Professor Delaney would not be able to avail direct me in the production. I knew that as an actor I would not be able to measure my progress without the serve well of a director. Therefore, I asked Arielle Giselle Rogers to direct me. She graduated from Ohio Universitys take of Theater with a BFA in acting in 2011, and she is very experienced in directing and performing in onewoman shows, especially feminist works (she is the founding member of F-Word, a feminist theater performance group on Ohio Universitys campus).I also needed a stage theatre director someone to handle the day to day operations of rehearsal. For that I choos e Jacob St. Aubin, a junior BFA stage management major because he is an immaculate organizer and very talented. I then needed a set spring to help with the construction of the hill that Winnie is buried in. I chose Ryan Myers, a old BFA production frame and technology major who specializes in set radiation diagram, based on his 36 previous formula and portfolio work.For costumes I turned to Megan Knowles, a senior BFA production design and technology major who specializes in costumes, because I had worked with her before and she has a very mind-boggling portfolio. For the sound design I asked Aaron Butler, a graduate disciple in the domesticate of Music, because of his work in other School of Theater productions in which he utilized minimalist soundscapes and experimental music. For the lighting design I asked Keri Donovan, a BFA production design and technology major who specializes in lighting design to create the effect of the fire and generally light the show.Finally, I solicited help from one other faculty member, Laura Parrotti, who was my vocal bus throughout the process. Professor Parrotti has been a vocal motorbus on a number of professed(prenominal) productions, as well as the main voice coach for the School of Theater students. Her advice on how to handle the Beckett text from a vocal viewpoint was instrumental to the process. Rehearsals for Happy Days began January 9, 2012. The cast consisted of me (Rachel Collins) as Winnie and Sean OBrien as Willie.Rehearsals were set up through a joint effort between Jacob and me, but he facilitated the rehearsal reports, space rental, and coordination of meetings with the production team. The first week of rehearsals consisted of table work, which was run by Arielle. table work is generally the term used for the first week of rehearsal, in which the actors go through the script beat by beat and look at the academic and theoretical aspects behind the script that would inform the performance. Sean and I read through the script while Arielle gave notes. consequently the three of us would discuss the scholarly background of the play, 7 characters, motivation, and my take on the thesis, etc. , with the group and began to come up with character ideas and how to shape the piece. The main aspect we discussed through these kit and caboodle was the idea that Winnie is a woman who i