Initial Response: The Niceties
POSITIVES (+)
- The first positive moment can be located in act one, where Janine is conversing with Zoe and complements Zoe of having an excellent choice of words. Janine tells her that she had never had a student use the word “bedeviled.” It is her first time to see a student use the term. This statement of appreciation is a crucial positive moment for both the reader and Zoe, who responds by accepting the gratitude. The audience listening to the play can appreciate the change in tone and attitude in the play (Burgess, 2019).
- The second positive moment is realized when Zoe admits to Janine that her son is in the same junior class with her and that the son is brilliant. Janine accepts Zoe’s appreciation of her smart son, and she sounds happy in the next statement that she makes. This decisive moment in the Niceties is symbolic as the scriptwriter uses the decisive moments to depict a good relationship existing between Janine and her student Zoe (Burgess, 2019).
- The third positive moment is where Zoe puts up an incredible story in her write-up Janine admits that Zoe was very original in her work. However, she realizes that most people who have studied American history will not agree with her theory. Zoe insists on her theory being right, and that must be accepted, which causes Janine to differ with her. In this case, the difference in ideologies held by Janine and Zoe depicts a positive moment in which democracy prevails as Janie appreciates the varying ideologies of Zoe (Burgess, 2019).
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- The fourth positive moment arises in the play where Janine comments Zoe of being a bright student and that she should aim to achieve the best instead of merely meeting the bare minimum. This moment was critical, especially to the reader, as evidence of excellent performance is seen in the play. The play not only entertains but also helps to promote good morals fabric in society (Burgess, 2019).
CHALLENGES (-)
- The first challenge in the play is located where Janine narrates a story of the revolution in the USA to liberate the slave. It is very difficult to stage such a story and still maintain the attention of the audience. The challenge here is that even the actors are not in agreement about the possible outcome of slavery in the USA. Janine explains that the period of slavery was truly justified, but on the other hand, Zoe holds an entirely different idea about the scenario (Burgess, 2019).
- Another challenge in the play is where Janine explains that she had a professor at a pedagogy workshop keep confusing the information found on the revolutionary website with the concept of technological savages. This point is not quickly passed, and the audience may fail to recognize the intention of the scene (Burgess, 2019).
- Janine presents another challenge by trying to explain to Zoe that she was not happy having a son because, according to her, she would impair her son. The previous conversation between the two was that the men had lost direction and a sense of belonging in society. The men did not know to argue with women. This character of men was criticized by Janine. After that, Janine is worried that she may not bring up her son in the right way. The importance of this challenge is that it makes it difficult to depict men as superior to women (Burgess, 2019).
CRACK/THREAD (*)
The play brings forth a relationship that I can connect to, especially in terms of my academic journey, during which time I was involved in scriptwriting. It was especially hard to fathom and comprehend what my professor meant when he kept saying that the play I wrote was out of place. However, what strikes me in this play is that the student, Zoe, gets it all correct in her first attempt. She presents her work to her professor, who commends her excellent work. That never happens to me. The play is also instrumental in facilitating the understanding of the theoretical and ideological position of different characters in a play. Zoe takes her to stand about her to believe concerning slavery in the USA. She is not intimidated by her professor; instead, she expresses her dissatisfaction with the way people are Swayed to think of what has been taught to them without questioning the concepts (Burgess, 2019).
In her paper, Zoe presents a novel theory which she defends well, but Janine feels that the theory is not valid since many people who have studied American history will not agree with it. I can connect to this scene in the play as there are moments when I felt that my beliefs and theories were not accepted because they suggested contrary to what has already been proposed in the literature. There was no opportunity to defend my new creation and respond to criticism. However, it is impressive to read in the play how the professor was receptive and accommodated Zoe’s thoughts and suggestions concerning her new theory (Burgess, 2019).
CONCRETES (/)
- Act 1 Page 42: Zoe picks up her phone: She was not happy about the racism displayed by Janine, then take her phone and records her. This moment shows the need to go the extra mile in the fight against racism (Burgess, 2019).
- Act 1, Page 39: Zoe flips through the pages of her notebook to provide evidence that will prove Janine wrong. The importance of this concrete is to show that despite Janine trying to convince Zoe about the American history as she claims to understand it, Zoe takes her stand and is willing to provide evidence and prove her point. The importance of this concrete was to symbolize that the fight against racism is far from being won.
- Act 2 Page 67: Resentment: Zoe declares that she gives up trying to convince Janine in vain. According to Zoe, she has decided to prove to her many times, but she still can’t agree to let go of her racist beliefs. This moment depicts how hard it is to fight against racism.
AUDIO/VISUAL MOMENTS (A/V)
- Act 1, Scene 1 (page 9) Academic atmosphere: The play starts with the description of an office at a college. The opening of the game paints a picture of an academic environment when the office is described. This A/V moment in the play helps to explain the situation/setting of the play just before it begins (Burgess, 2019).
- Act 1 (page 14). Dissatisfied. The professor is unsatisfied with the work done by the student and tells her that she has a lot of re-writing work to do. She flips the front of the page do demonstrate to the Zoe the areas that require re-writing. This A/V moment was particularly important in the play as it helped to show that despite the play setting being a formal setting of interaction between a professor and her student, the student can still give her views, which ended up annoying the professor.
- Act 1 Page 20: Laughter: Zoe laughs to the funny statement made by Janine. This moment is essential as it helped to ease the tension between the student and the professor.
- Act 1 Page 21: Library-Janine gets a big heavy book from her office library to demonstrate to Zoe how to write the paper without many flaws. The moment helped to demonstrate the academic setting of the play. The fact that the professor gets a big book and uses it to illustrate how to write, the student felt intimidated by the professor’s move (Burgess, 2019).
- Act 1, page 42 Misunderstanding and struggling: Zoe records their discussion and miss-understanding with Janine. When she realized that she is being recorded, she forcefully takes the phone at tries to delete the record in vain. This AV moment demonstrated the moment of a heated exchange between Janine and Zoe.
- Act 2 Page 56: Beat- the moment with a lot of silence is connected with a beat. The beat was a sound frequently used to ease the tense atmosphere in the room (Burgess, 2019).
Synthesis
This play was indeed an excellent insight into American history and the fight for the rights of women of color. The playset is in an office where a black student seeks the guidance of a white professor. The professor does not allow the student to explain her perspective because she feels that the student is against her beliefs (Burgess, 2019). Unfortunately, the professor’s arguments are racist, and the student is irritated by the professor’s case.
Furthermore, it can be seen that the argument of the student against racism was valid, but the professor could not tolerate them. At the beginning of act one, I was, however, impressed by hoe freely, the student could express her views and the complements that the professor gave to the student. As the play progressed, Janine turned into a racist and refused to listen to the point made by the student. This part of the play did not go well with me. There were various concretes that was evident in the play and have been highlighted in the concrete section. They were crucial for making the play more realistic. Moreover, I was able to connect with the play through the scene where the student (Zoe) disagreed with Janine about American history and racism (Burgess, 2019). The audio and visual moments in the play made it more interesting for the reader to understand the play better.
Reference
Burgess. E. (2019). The Niceties. Samuel French Acting Edition. Pp 9-71