The Open Hand by Robert Caisley was performed at the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Lab Theatre April, 2016. This production reminds audiences of the importance of giving to others that is often forgotten in the self-centered modern day society. Thus, a major theme throughout the production was generosity. It was through the theme of generosity that many other themes could be found, such as humility. Through various aspects of the production, the Lab Theatre masterfully emphasized the theme of humility in Caisley’s The Open Hand. To begin, while a major theme of the show was generosity, Caisley also used his play as a reflection of the essence of generosity. In other words, Caisley used this play as a way to look into what it means …show more content…
One of the evident components of generosity that was demonstrated in the show was the humility one must have to both give and receive sincere generosity. Various aspects of the Clarence Brown’s production of The Open Hand helped to accentuate the theme of humility throughout the show. The first of these aspects were the costumes. While all of the costumes were in neutral colors, the character David, who was the example of generosity in the play, had the least extravagant of all the costumes. Allison’s costume had jewels around the neckline, Freya had gold detailing on her shoes, Todd was the only character wearing white (the brightest color on the stage), and Jack wore a jacket that had a metallic sheen. David however wore a solid navy outfit with the only break in color being a single thin white line across the chest of the sweater. While all the costumes were in muted tones like black, white, grey, or navy, the least embellished of the costumes was David’s. This was to set him apart from the other characters, as he was the example of generosity. In turn this allows for the audience to see that David’s character being set apart from the rest in his attire, he is the example of the humility it …show more content…
Often times in today’s society even when someone does something that is seen as generous it is still for the self-pride or the recognition of others that one has done a good deed. This is a paradox that Caisley points out in his show when Freya was talking about how Allison does not want presents on her birthday to seem humble, and in turn it makes others look bad for not being generous enough to get her a gift. Generosity is used as a way to make one look better than others who do not give, which annuls the important component of humility it takes to sincerely be generous. Also, as demonstrated by Allison’s character, humbling oneself to receive help when needed and not need to return the favor is a lost reality in today’s society. People are always worried about having to owe someone for a kind gesture, rather than just receiving it with gratefulness. These reasons are why the Clarence Brown’s production of The Open Hand is worth
The theme of this play is centered around time; the value of the little time we have been given and how that time should be used to live for what is right and what truly matters.
the play. It looks at the person he is and the person he becomes. It
One example on how he shows generosity is when he kills Duncan out of mercy by shooting him so he won’t suffer getting burned from the fire. Another act of kindness would be when he goes and rescues Cora and Alice, putting his own life in danger to protect them. Some more examples would also be when he tracked Cora and Alice and then he escorted them to Fort William Henry. He showed great kindness and sympathy to Cora when he broke the news to her about her father being dead.
project of the play, of which is touched upon in Act One. It is this
Not only was John Brown honest and fair, but also he was courteous and generous towards others even outside his well-taken care of family. To prove his points, the author includes several stories of things John Brown did in his life that exemplify his unselfishness. Upon hearing that a family miles away was starving and living in poverty one winter John Brown went to the man with a business offer to help the man because he wouldn’t accept just donations. The offer gave the man food and clothing in exchange for his labor the next summer. When the summer time came around, John Brown didn’t even let the man work for him. This is showing the good nature of John Brown’s pers...
Schwartz consistently grants the other the offering of acknowledgement, and the narrative centers upon the reciprocation of those gifts by Albom. The book recounts the 14 Tuesdays in which Albom was able to converse with Schwartz, transforming Albom’s worldview by accrediting the notion of selfless acknowledgement. The artistic means by which Schwartz gifts, and Albom returns, is the sheer definition of love by means of acknowledging the other, especially as to acknowledge one's existence is the greatest display of love a person can give to another. By the simple speech act of acknowledging the other, man is able to transform the other into a moralistically complete person, and himself, the giver of such a
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
When applying it to our daily lives we see that we are more likely to deem a person ‘good’ or ‘generous’ if they spared their time to go and work with displaced people from war struck regions of the world out of compassion and the need to give back to the society, as oppose to those who go only because they feel it is their duty.
My attention was also drawn to several questions in this podcast, which made me eager to find the answers to these questions. For example, one interesting question I heard was “when you do see generosity how do you know it’s really generous” (Levy, 2010). This question stood out to me because it is one particular question I don’t think about often and made me wonder whether people help someone out because they see it as a duty. However, I believe the best answer to this question is the portrayal of the concept of norm of reciprocity, which indicates “the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future” (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2013, p.303). This is true because “generosity” happens when both persons are nice to each other and if an individual helps another person then it’s easy to assume that the person who was
reach into the ideas and themes of the play so we will have a good
Even forms of human beings preforming selfless acts derives from ones desire to help others, which in a way makes that person feel importance. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa, devoted her life to helping those in great need. To many these acts may appear as selfless and gallant acts that are not performed by anyone with any type of ego. Yet when taking a psychological look at why she performed such acts they may appear a somewhat more for herself. Every time anyone does anything, even when for someone else, they are doing it for some type of feeling that they experience. With the holiday season approaching, there will be a specific emphasis on giving unlike any other time of the year. We give yes to show gratitude for someone we love, but also to experience the joy in seeing someone enjoy something they them self-caused. Even while being selfless humans have the unique ability to still be doing something that involves caring for them self. This outlook toward the human condition completely debunks Wolf’s claim that “when caring about yourself you are living as if you are the center of the universe.” When choosing to do anything positive or negative, for others or for yourself, you are still taking your self-interest into consideration, making it
Indeed, the pioneer aviator and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh puts it best when she says, “to give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own” In Charles Dickens’s A Tale of two Cities, Dickens shows the inherent goodness of his characters. By exemplifying various acts of sacrifice, he demonstrates that the character’s gifts ultimately bring about great change, often changes that facilitate the revival of their loved ones. The very first signs of sacrifice are noted in the opening scenes of the book. Dickens writes of a “fated revolution” by metaphorically comparing the woodsman and the forester to the creation of the guillotine.
themes of the play and helps us gain insight on other characters. I find the following quote to be
...esult, the more directly one sees their personal efforts impact someone else, the more happiness one can gain from the experience of giving. Sometimes generosity requires pushing past a feeling of reluctance because people all instinctively want to keep good things for themselves, but once one is over this feeling, they will feel satisfaction in knowing that they have made a difference in someone else’s life. However, if one lives without generosity but is not selfish, they can still have pleasure from other virtues.
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...