Carry Campbell Dotson Seminar September 16, 2013 Anna In The Tropics By Nil Cruz It has become common today for somebody to dismiss the dramatic world of a play. In Eleanor Fuchs Essay Visit To A Small Planet’ she explains how a play is constructed and the different elements that are contributed to make up the dramatic world. She tells the reader that nothing is an accident and everything has meaning. While taking the knowledge taught by Fuchs, I applied it to the reading of Anne In The Tropics .
Anna In The Tropics is a play set in Florida in a Cuban American cigar actor, with the lower class making the cigars, it shows the social aspect of relationships, and the tradition of a Elector reading to everybody while they work. While the tradition and relationships get intertwined, nothing will break their ongoing passion for cigar rolling. In Anna In The Tropics the element that I was intrigued with the most was time.
The ongoing theme of time is shown through the time of year, as in winter or summer. The book is set in the summer, which in Tampa is both hot and humid. The climate during the summer represents the ongoing tension and stress in the book. This is shown through the dialogue when Offline says, ” there is nothing like reading a winter book in the middle of summer. It’s like having a fan or an icebox by your side to relieve the heat and caloric nights. (pig 28) The tension is presented to the reader in the TLS scene tot the play when Santiago NAS run out tot money, and en begins asking Check for it, persuading him to eventually hand it over by say that if he doesn’t pay him back he can be a partial owner of the cigar factory. The tension only grows as Check has encounters with the lecture that he automatically hates u to the fact that his wife left him for the last lecture. The feeling of stress and tension in the book is what drives the plot and eventually the ending scene.
Winter is represented as a time of comfort and tranquility. The cool air relieves most tension and shows comfort. Comfort in the winter is shown through the use of the coat that Marcela wears after her unpleasant encounter with Check, after the reader is left in the dark. When her sister asks why she is wearing the coat she responds by saying ” Some coats keep winter inside of them. You wear them and you find pockets full of December, January and February. All these months that over the earth with snow flakes and make everything still.
That’s how I want to be, layered and still. ” (pig 80) Through this quote the reader understands that she is very disheveled and scared, she shows that the coat reminds her of winter and comforts her with good times. The ongoing element of time plays a big role in the play Anna In The Tropics, explaining a lot about the characters and allowing you to become more aware of their feelings, almost as if the reader were there watching it. Applying Fuchs essay to this particular play you learn to appreciate the elements that you would have never thought about, like time and season.
