Analysis of the Play the Oxcart - Book Report/Review Example

 Analysis of the Oxcart (La Carreta) Characters Chaguito: a young guy who is very pugnacious Gabriela: Chaguito’s and Juanita’s mother, and step mother of Lius Lius: The oldest son of Gabriela. Juanita: Daughter of Gabriela Paco: radio announcer Isabel: Employer of Isabel Matilde: a 35 year old friend of Juanita Introduction The plot of this play revolves around migration, the migration between the Puerto Rico and San Juan. The family moves to the city for the sake of economic opportunities but in the city, they had to face a lot different circumstances than they were expecting. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The father of Luis mortgaged a land which they were unable to get back, and this gave them a thought to not to live in the useless place ( Marques 1969) They could not get what they were expecting from the city and caught the evils of the rural living style due to the innocence. The economical conditions are the main motive behind the migration to the rural areas and the rural areas has been developed by dint of the industrialization. The family values and the conservative culture have also seen to be affected by the migration for the ‘so called’ prosperity which has evils exceeding the benefits in this case. Role of Migration The migration has played the lead role. Migration is the change of place of living. Migration is associated with many opportunities and a solution to many problems which can not be solved due to specific conditions related to any area. The oxcart, which is leaving the family to some place, has been the main symbol of the migration (Marques). The family, which is the center of gravity in this play, belongs to village. Gabriela has a view that her husband died because he was born under the wrong star, and his fate was destroyed as he was not successful in cropping coffee and sugar cane (Marques P.13, 1969). The Villages have conservative environment and is not affected by the never ending lust of money and prosperity as in the cities, where the economic desires of the person or group stimulates and stimulates. Migration is sometime useful but the net affect of the migration is necessary to understand and money can not compensate for any personal happiness caused due to specific lifestyle. Urban and rural culture The positive image has been casted on the canvas of this play and the rural life has been portrayed positively. The conservative approach has been provided and the source of tragedy is narrowed down to the life style of the city. The family pride view of her thoughts is shown by the saying of Gabriela when she says the young people don’t get married according to the law of God (Marques P.17) Characters are seemed to be disturbed by this migration and especially Juanita seems to be most disturbed and become a victim of immoral practices. The goods and evils never relate to any specific area but they vary from place to place (Marques), and personal capacities for the morality may also depend on the culture. The condition of Juanita shows the loss of control of life, and the blank point where the indoctrinated belief does not matter. Economic Factors Due to failure in the mortgage payments the family loses it farm where they used to produce the resources for their livelihood. Luis is seen presenting a view about the absurdity of land property, when he says land is not full of worth until someone has a lot of it, and machines have now replaced the men (Marques). The cities are said to have more opportunities as above mentioned as they are affected by the industrialization but the factors like family relations and the traditional cultural values are lost during the struggle for the better economic conditions. This is the overcompensation for any economic advantage they family could have had. Social Factors The social factor also has deep affects. Juanita and Chaguito (Marques) fall in the illicit activities and Juanita is persuaded for the prostitution by her friend Matilde (Marques) and tries to commit suicide (Marques), after abortion. Juanita is proposed by Paco who is from San Juan. . Luis tells about the social factors when he talks about the urban background of Paco (Marques). Chaguitio on the other hand, gets involved in the illegal activities and is sent to the reform school for the better nourishment of the character. The family honor has deeply suffered in the consequences of this migration and even this migration does not serve the purpose for which it was taken place. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea There are several moral dilemmas as the play moves to its tragic end. Luis who took an initiative to move to the city gets involved in an extra marital affair with the wife of his employer named Isabel. Juanita accepts his circumstances. Luis works for five year in a factory and could not succeed for the hi-fi style of the village which he was idealizing. A brief fornications and moral dilemmas make the viewer better understand how these evils are incorporated, the neutral view has been presented, but it unintentionally deviate the reader from the lifestyle of the city. Though it does not set a negative view for any specific condition and the failure approach has been used to define the morality of various things. The Perspective of the Play to the audience The play has been focused to the evils of the city life and this idea has been connected with rationality by giving the brief elaboration of the affects of the village life. The pessimist view is the main idea, and striking psychology has been presented by the tragic view of this play. The theme of the play is returning back to the origins. This is the curse of the land which they have left behind, and when they, the Gabriela family, will go back to their land so the curse will not pursue them (Marques P.153). The philosophy behind the play is every one has to return to its original place; either alive or in coffin. The coffin may be expensive or cheap depending on the lifestyles and the circumstantial backgrounds. References Marques, R., 1969. The Oxcart (La Carreta). Scribber. Read More