At the moment i am trying to write a practice essay about the topic below, just having trouble getting started and writing an introduction.
Anyone care to shed some light?
Ive managed to write an essay about the below topic, and generally i would like to hear what you guys think of it, i would appreciate it when reading for use to be as critical as possible, and provide some constructive criticism in order to help me improve my crappy English skills =]
Thanks in advance
“Who says life is fair? Life is not fair.”
To what extent is life unfair to the characters in Inheritance.
Hannie Rayson’s play, Inheritance, explicitly portrays the struggle and plight endured by the rural community of Rushton as a result of rural recession and natural disaster; as a result the notion that life is unfair is echoed by many of the characters throughout the play, most notable embodied, but for different reasons, by Nugget, William and Lyle. Whilst certain aspects of life may be unjust, the plights many of the characters experience, such as Lyle, are a result of their own hand as a result of their inability to accept responsibility for their decisions and mismanagement.
Throughout the play Lyle is portrayed by Girlie as a victim of circumstance, as she believes he is cursed by bad luck rather than accepting that he is guilty of bad management. This portrayal consequently results in Lyle’s inability to accept advice from his peers and recognize his mistakes, often blaming others for them. As the play progresses it is evident that Lyle is unable to cope financially as he asserts little to no economic independence, heavily relying on Maureen’s paycheck to keep the farm running, his reliance on others makes him bitter as he puts ‘in the work’ but gets no ‘rewards’, further fueling the notion to the reader that his life is undeservingly unfair.
Atop his financial situation and failing farm, Lyle is faced with a drought which is worse than the drought of ’82, and remains unappreciated by his family for his efforts and good intentions, more often by Maureen who is often condescending of Lyle’s ideas and efforts. Rayson is portrayal of Lyle as the Aussie battler, is successful in encapsulating the struggle farmers dealt with at that time, and as a result she is also successful appealing to the audiences empathy, causing them believe maybe Lyles life is unfair, yet remaining critical of how Lyles financial situation and life has evolved throughout the course of the play, and whether his situation is truly a result of “… the luck of a speckle-arsed rooster”.
As Lyle desperation to save his farm increases, his sense of rationality all but dissipates, which is clearly depicted when Lyle foolishly borrows one hundred thousand dollars from the bank, placing his house up as collateral. When his decision backfires and the Delaney’s loses there farm and Lyle attempts to relinquish his fault by blaming his situation on Nugget claiming he ‘backed out’ of the deal. These chains of events clarify to the audience, how Lyle imperatively plays role in his own downfall, as a result of his inability to accept liability for his poor choices. Rayson again solidifies this during Ashleigh’s outburst towards Lyle, “You don’t borrow money when you’re like up to your eyeballs in debt”, but this time the message is not only evident to the audience, but also Lyle, as effectively depicted by the stage direction when Lyle ‘checks himself in time’ before his strikes Ashleigh and exits the scene.
Similarly as the play progresses the homophobic prejudices of the rural community of Rushton, with its ritual ‘faggot races’ invite the audience’s sympathy for William as he his treated unfairly due to his sexual orientation. William is also subject to hostility by Farley, who overtly conveys great disappointment in William and shows no respect towards him because he believes William is unable to overcome his ‘weakness’. Though William implies to great effect that his life has been unfair, due to prejudice and mistreatment he has endured both by the rural community and his family, the audience whilst able to sympathise with him, is also consciously aware of his motives.
Though William is a victim to prejudice, his actions largely encompass his eventual ironic self-dispossession of Allandale. As the play unfolds and William becomes increasingly intolerant and self-righteous as he begins to realize that he must act quickly if he wants ‘a piece of the action’, William eventually confronts Dibs, and reveals Farley’s will, and condones its destruction for his own personal agenda, which is not only immoral but illegal. This scene in conjunction to Williams response to the arrival of the Delaney’s, referring to them as ‘parasites’ and Rayson’s clever structure of scene placement, enables the audience to consciously and critically rethink Williams self-claim that his life has been unfair, as it begins to be more self evident that his actions of bitterness, manipulation and selfishness are what leads to provocative nature of those around him and his eventual disinheritance.
Rayson makes it clear and evident, whilst some things may be out of our control and their effects on our lives, unjust or cruel. The life of an individual is heavily influenced by their own hand, and failure to acknowledge so, results in the eventual downfall of the individual.
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