Imagery in Arnold Wesker's drama

Résumé du document

The British literature in the 20th century is marked by a wave of anti-conformist writers who adopt a different style in their writings. In effect, after the two world wars, many illusions disappear and the literary field is where people's concerns are much illustrated. Among others, drama is a literary genre that underlines many trends in relation to the period and people's concerns. It is in this sense that, in the 1950s, a tendency in theatre begins and constitutes the contemporary British drama.

Actually, that period witnesses a realism that is manifested in a faithful representation of the society after the war. Disillusionment and disenchantment inhabit people, mainly intellectuals. A group of young dramatists, known as the "angry young men" commit themselves to depict the social reality of their society after the war and all the problems that derive from it. Arnold Wesker is one of them. Wesker is politically committed, and alongside with his political orientation, people's aspirations and preoccupations are deeply present in his dramatic production.

Extraits

[...] Pearl's comment illustrates their concern with food “that's all this family of Bryants ever do is think o' their guts”.p In Jerusalem, we are back with Sarah's regard to food. At any occasion she is ready to provide with food. It is in this logic that we can understand the fact she put some soup in a bottle when Ada and Dave were moving in their house. p.161. Nevertheless, she is not the only character who cares much about food. In addition to Beatie in Roots, we have Esther and Cissie in Jerusalem. [...]

[...] In effect, making tea and preparing meals are appropriately described in the plays of Wesker. The opening scene in Chicken Soup presents Sarah preparing and bringing the tea in the room for the members of the family who are present. After the tea she proposes to make sandwiches. Even Prince's objection we've eaten, Sarah” does not stop her, and as an answer, she replies “Eat. Always eat. You don't know what time you'll be back” p.21. The second act is similar to the first in the repetition of drinking tea and eating. [...]

[...] In his Trilogy, as well as in The Kitchen and Chips[1], Arnold Wesker uses a various images or symbols to meet his ideology. We can focus, on some. In the Trilogy, the plays follow the same story, referring as a description of imagery people and events, which is written or told in order to entertain. However the plots or the connected series of events which make up the story are different. In fact, Chicken Soup portrays the disenchantment of British anti-fascists after the Hungarian debacle of 1956. [...]

[...] The firing of Mr Byant in Roots is illustrative. Because of his illness, he is sacked to the profit of another healthy worker. He is not given the chance to recover from his illness; rather it is temporal job that he can apply for. Chips follows the same trend even if the context is different. In effect, instead of a worker-employee relationship, we are at the presence of hierarchical relationships. In Chips, Wesker uses the divisions of the Royal Air Force between the officer-class and the ordinary ranks as a microcosm of class division in British society. [...]

[...] Literary, it means small hard seeds in a fruit such as an apple. Similarly, in the play he embodies a kind of rebellion by refusing to obey orders (scene 5). But his inferior status as a conscript can not allow him to defy the authorities. Conclusion In definitive, we have survey some of symbolical images in Wesker's drama that inform us a lot about his concerns or his personal background. Indeed, some of the images enlighten the significance of his plays, while others make clear his life history which is deeply rooted in his drama. [...]