Article in New Yorker Magazine - Essay Example

When you boil it down to the fundamentals, the similarities in the scene consist of a person a) having two black bags and b) rushing to meet a deadline.  The differences, however, are significant.  The deadlines are different – a lecture and an airplane.  The person in the play has a big black bag in addition to the carry-on, instead of just the carry-on.  If someone did a poll of all plays written, there would certainly be any instance of someone rushing somewhere with a black bag.  And that Lewis chose to highlight this particular scene means that it seemed especially flagrant to her – one usually selects the best evidence to support one’s point.  So, while the broad sweeps of this play seem to copy her life significantly if the details are no closer than this, I would say that it is possible the play is original and uses her life in acceptable ways.