Theme Of Struggle In The Drawer Boy

Every good play has several themes that add depth and meaning to it. The playwright Michael Healey exemplified the use of many themes in his play, “The Drawer Boy.” The play has many dimensions, each adding a significant and entertaining purpose, which make the script very interesting and exciting to read. Of the many demonstrated, the universal theme of struggle is clearly evident through the play and The Drawer Boy would not be the same without this important element. The theme of struggle and hardship is displayed through the general occupation of farmers, and also through the specific characters Morgan and Angus. In The Drawer Boy, struggle is apparent in Morgan and Angus’ lives as farmers. First, they make very little profit as farmers …show more content…
When Angus starts to remember something from the past and his head starts to hurt, Morgan orders him to go to sleep. However, in doing that, it puts a larger burden on his shoulders to complete the duties of the farm for that day. After Miles questions Morgan and his head does begin to hurt, Morgan becomes annoyed and says, “You upset him, he spends the day in bed and I have to do everything by myself.” (Healey 18). Having to take care of Angus and then complete all of the farm tasks on his own is a major struggle for Morgan, one that not many could handle. Moreover, Morgan is faced with the struggle to have no resentment towards Angus for what he did to Sally. Sally left Angus after he hit her, taking Frances, Morgan’s wife, along with her. Once the truth was revealed, Angus said, “That’s what I did to you. God, you must hate me” and Morgan replying, “I guess I did, Angus.” (Healey 59). Angus’ actions took Morgan’s love away from him and he has to wake up every morning knowing that the man sleeping in the other room is the reason his wife left him; an ultimate testament of struggle. The theme of struggle is universal in this example because every person can relate to the challenging action of forgiveness, and the inner hardship to free yourself of any anger towards that person. Hence, the theme of struggling is apparent in Morgan’s …show more content…
The obvious struggle that Angus faces is to remember. His memory became extremely minimal after he got into the accident at war, and ever since then it has been hard for him to remember even the simplest of things. As Morgan describes Angus’ condition to Miles, he states “Only thing that makes Angus different is he can’t remember from one minute to the next. He only know right now. He won’t remember you.” (Healey 11). His lack of short term memory makes it very difficult for him to complete a task he has not done countless times before, and it is something that he struggles with every moment of his life, even if he may not realize it. Also, when he does remember the past, he struggles with believing it, and gets angry at Miles for helping him regain his memory. After he does remember what he thinks is the truth about what happened in his past, he acknowledges Miles by saying, “You’re the man who did this to me.” (Healey 45). The context of this line did not have a happy or thankful connotation, and it is almost more devastating to Angus to know of his past than to be unaware of it. Angus’ struggle of coming to terms with the truth of this past is a very hard and painful thing for him to experience, and one can empathize with Angus’ character during this period of the play. The theme of struggle, specifically inner personal struggle, is universal because this theme has been translates throughout many different pieces