How I Learned to Drive

Reading Paula Vogel’s play How I Learned to Drive was an interesting experience and at many times disturbing. Although, I did not enjoy the non-linear structure of Top Girls I enjoyed it in this play. It was somewhat startling to begin the play with Uncle Peck molesting Li’L Bit, but I enjoyed the piece meal memory flashbacks. It was interesting to piece together Li’L Bit’s relationship with Uncle Peck and throughout the majority of the play I was wondering if they were going to reveal the first time he molested her.

I found the relationship between Uncle Peck and Li’L Bit to be extremely confusing. After watching my fair share of Law and Order: SVU I have seen how many children who have been molested act towards their attacker or how it shapes the rest of their life. But I have never seen any story line where a victim has acted the way Li’L Bit has. She clearly was uncomfortable the first time Uncle Peck touched her in the car ride back from the beach, but then she welcomed the touching and inappropriate relationship until she left for college. She never understood how wrong it was until she went away to school. However, on multiple occasions she acknowledged that he was married and that perhaps it was mean to her Aunt, but she never felt it was wrong for any other reason. I also found this case of pedophilia to be out of the ordinary because other than the first time Uncle Peck molested Li’L Bit he never really forced himself upon her, and even in the scene they say good-bye he doesn’t try to have sex with her.

Top Girls

Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls was a play unlike any other I have read or seen. It was a unique way of portraying the hardships women encounter in the working world. While reading the preface to the play I anticipated that I was really going to enjoy it. Unfortunately, after completing the play I found myself disappointed. There were a few reasons I didn’t enjoy the show.

First I thought the non-linear structure of the play was very confusing. After reading two acts that took place one right after another it was difficult to remember that Act 3 took place a year before. I had to continuously remind myself that it took place before the other two acts. Perhaps it would have been easier to remember this if I were to see the show rather than read it.

I also found Churchill’s writing technique to be unusual and make it difficult to follow the plot. The constant interruption and overlapping dialogue was very distracting. I kept focusing on if I had understood the symbols to follow the order of the dialogue rather than focusing on what the characters were saying.

However, I did find the first Act of the show intriguing. I thought it was interesting how different “top girls” from different time periods came to Marlene’s celebration dinner for her promotion. It was interesting to see the similarities between the women’s stories and accounts even though they came from different time periods and walks of life.