Time and Scene: A Southern plantation house, at night. It is the spring of 1864, one year before the Confederate Army’s surrender at Appomattox. Brothers Earl and Paul, fighting on opposite sides of the war, have both died in a recent battle. Union General Creon has requisitioned the plantation as his command post and has declared martial law. A bugle sounds in the distance as two Union soldiers enter from the right side of the scene. The soldiers remove a Confederate banner that hangs from the building and replace it with the Union Flag. The soldiers exit to the left as the sounds of the bugle fade. Enter Annie through the plantation door, who walks to a small fountain at the center of the stage. She is followed, moments later by
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As Stephanie McCurry suggests in her book Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, “Men were parties to war, women and children the parties to be protected” (McCurry). However, as McCurry goes on to explain, the notion of feminine nonpartisanship in wartime was sorely tested. Women on both sides of the conflict served as spies and abettors, even as soldiers. However, the perceived roles of women are tested throughout the adaptation. After Annie reveals her intentions to Irene, Irene attempts to dissuade her sister: “Remember we are women, we’re not born to contend with men” (62) she says, affirming the traditional place of a woman in this society. While Irene feels the same blood obligation as her sister, she is more mindful of her duty to family and the law. In contrast to the young and headstrong Annie, Irene is portrayed as the elder sister; she is composed, refined, and graceful in her actions. She reminds her sister that they are alone now, their family having been spent on the war and that the responsibility falls to her to protect what remains. This sense of obligation is reinforced when she says “I’m forced, I have no choice—I must obey/the ones who stand in power” (62) in reference to the Union forces that now reside inside her own
As Stephanie McCurry suggests in her book Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, “Men were parties to war, women and children the parties to be protected” (McCurry). However, as McCurry goes on to explain, the notion of feminine nonpartisanship in wartime was sorely tested. Women on both sides of the conflict served as spies and abettors, even as soldiers. However, the perceived roles of women are tested throughout the adaptation. After Annie reveals her intentions to Irene, Irene attempts to dissuade her sister: “Remember we are women, we’re not born to contend with men” (62) she says, affirming the traditional place of a woman in this society. While Irene feels the same blood obligation as her sister, she is more mindful of her duty to family and the law. In contrast to the young and headstrong Annie, Irene is portrayed as the elder sister; she is composed, refined, and graceful in her actions. She reminds her sister that they are alone now, their family having been spent on the war and that the responsibility falls to her to protect what remains. This sense of obligation is reinforced when she says “I’m forced, I have no choice—I must obey/the ones who stand in power” (62) in reference to the Union forces that now reside inside her own