Day Of Absence And Happy Ending: Play Analysis

On Friday, October 21, 2016, I attended the play Day of Absence/ Happy Ending. This play consisted of two short one act plays. Both plays were set in the mid-1900s. Day of Absence was set in the south and Happy Ending was set in New York. The first play was Happy Ending. I did not enjoy this production. The actors played their characters very well. I appreciated how well the actors committed to their role. However, I did not like the idea that the characters justified stealing from their boss because their family needed help. The story portrayed the black women as uneducated and unwilling to advance from their positions. Also, Happy Ending was set in the New York in the 1960s. The play revolved around the idea that two domestic workers were afraid they were going to lose their jobs because their boss was going to divorce his wife because she had cheated on him several times. …show more content…
Each play tackled the idea of race perception. Race relations are currently very poor. Many black people have been killed for no reason. A lot of people assume that black people look and act a certain way, thus police officers or other officials are authorized to demonize, assault, and humiliate people of color. Some people say that people of color, specifically those who protest racial injustice, should leave the country. However, if we were to leave the country then people would suffer. The play Happy Ending is relevant to the movement known as the fight for $15 minimum wage. Domestic workers, like certain fast food workers, do not make enough to support their families. The lack of money allows employees, that are like the characters in the play, to justify stealing or borrowing to ensure that their family can survive. Consequently, the combined theme of the two plays is that both blacks and whites are dependent upon each other. This is relevant to current society because people need to understand that we all need each other to