True West by Sam Shepard and Bug by Tracy Letts on the surface seem vastly different, but in fact they share similar themes revolving around abuse and gender roles and how status affects those factors. True West features two brothers, trying to take the upperhand in their relationship between one another, all while trying to compete for the same job. Bug coroncials two anti-social shut ins who a feed off of one another 's insecurities and paranoia. Rooted in both of these situations is constant emotional abuse which comes to a head through physical abuse. Also, Gender affects the way the characters interactions by feeding into the theme that men are dominate and fight for dominance, while women are complacent and follow the man’s lead. In True
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Due to the socioeconomic status of Jerry and Agnes the domestic violence seems almost expected. The simple slap seems just that, simple, where if in a Doll 's House __ was to slap __ it would be the most shocking part of the play. Currently, many people associate low socioeconomic status with inevitable violence against women. In fact, Browne, Salomon, & Bassuk “found that women who resided in households that earned less than $10,000 annually had a 4-times-greater risk of experiencing violence than women in wealthier households” which helps aid the argument that domestic violence is related to socioeconomic status. By default, the shock value of the scene in which Jerry slaps Ange is loss due to these preconceived status notions on violence. In True West, the sibling on sibling violence is extremely startling and upsetting. In the scene prior to when Austin attacks Lee the two boys are getting along but once their mother comes home everything goes south. Lee bails on Austin, so Austin loses his inhibitions, “I don’t know if I’m killing him. I’m stopping him. That’s all. I’m just stopping him”, and Lee and Austin are no longer separated by their intelligence status, only their physicality at the moment (Shepard 57). The abuse emotional has emerged physically because of the building tension that seemed years in the making. Furthermore, the fact that Austin can not comprehend what he is doing is symbolic of the power of the urge to commit physical
Due to the socioeconomic status of Jerry and Agnes the domestic violence seems almost expected. The simple slap seems just that, simple, where if in a Doll 's House __ was to slap __ it would be the most shocking part of the play. Currently, many people associate low socioeconomic status with inevitable violence against women. In fact, Browne, Salomon, & Bassuk “found that women who resided in households that earned less than $10,000 annually had a 4-times-greater risk of experiencing violence than women in wealthier households” which helps aid the argument that domestic violence is related to socioeconomic status. By default, the shock value of the scene in which Jerry slaps Ange is loss due to these preconceived status notions on violence. In True West, the sibling on sibling violence is extremely startling and upsetting. In the scene prior to when Austin attacks Lee the two boys are getting along but once their mother comes home everything goes south. Lee bails on Austin, so Austin loses his inhibitions, “I don’t know if I’m killing him. I’m stopping him. That’s all. I’m just stopping him”, and Lee and Austin are no longer separated by their intelligence status, only their physicality at the moment (Shepard 57). The abuse emotional has emerged physically because of the building tension that seemed years in the making. Furthermore, the fact that Austin can not comprehend what he is doing is symbolic of the power of the urge to commit physical